Christmas Music for Preliminary Ice Dance

[KevinVeit]

We had an idea to skate an Ice Dance to Christmas music at our Christmas show.  This wouldn't require any choreographing (maybe some extra at the beginning and the end), just a little practice.  I've only worked through the Preliminary dances, and wouldn't have enough time to work on any higher level ones right now (my partner has tested through Silver, so she won't have any problems).

Does anyone know of Christmas music that would work (appropriate tempo, etc) for either Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango, or Rhythm Blues?

Thanks!

[KevinVeit]

I found a song that is same tempo as Rhythm Blues (88 bpm).  Lea Michele's version of Auld Lang Syne is absolutely beautiful.  I'm going to try to skate to it tomorrow and see how it feels.  It won't have the Rhythm Blues expression, but we should be able to still do the same steps.   Most of the audience won't know what dance it is anyway.   

Look up her song on Youtube and let me know what you think.

[Clarice]

Audacity is a free editing program that makes it very easy to adjust tempo.  That is how I handle most things - find a song I like, then tweak the tempo if it isn't ideal.  Of course, you can only deviate so far from the original tempo without totally changing the character of the music.

A couple of years ago I had a preliminary dance couple do a Dutch Waltz to The Christmas Waltz and a Rhythm Blues to a version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - I think it was Ella Fitzgerald's.  I had to fix the tempos on both.

[sampaguita]

Clarice -- I know that you can alter the tempo in Audacity, but you do it via a ratio method, i.e., you can decrease the tempo, by, say, 10%. Is there an easier way (other than comparing to a metronome) to see if you already have the correct tempo in bpm?

[Clarice]

You can also change it from one metronome beats-per-minute number directly to another.  Of course, this means you have to know the original metronome number first.  I own a Dr. Beat metronome with a tap-in feature, so I time the original track that way.  I just tap along on the Dr. Beat to find the bpm, then can convert it to the bpm I want.  Of course, for freestyle programs it's a lot easier - I can just tell Audacity what I want the finished program length to be and it will compress or expand directly to that.

[sampaguita]

Ooh I should try that. Too bad Audacity can't detect the bpm automatically. Thanks Clarice!

[alejeather]

I use this site to tap out BPM: http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
It works on phones and tablets as well.

I know for a fact (though I wish I didn't) that the The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Christmas Time is Here) can be used for a Golden Skaters' Waltz.