Ice Dancing Music

[miraclegro]

Hello,
I have learned some ice dances previously, but am just now going back and wanting to be more serious about it.  However, some of the songs that are on the CD I simply can't endure, me thinks..... .  When I viewed some of the tests on YouTube, several of them were using songs that were instrumental but were songs such as "Can I have this Dance for the Rest of My Life," etc.  I simply loved that.  Is there somewhere to get these songs and know they have the required beats per minute?  Has someone got a site up and running where I might order these alternative songs?

Thanks!

[pegasus99]

Good luck - I tried Ice Dance for a little while, and the music was a factor in my deciding I couldn't do it. It's like elevator music... but worse....

I looked around for anything with the required beats that didn't make me think of watching Lawrence Welk with my grandma... but all ballroom dance music sounds about the same.

If you hear a song from YouTube, your best bet is to find the titles and search them on Amazon or iTunes and purchase away. But for preliminary dances, I was told we didn't have much choice. (Not true, I chose the door.. LOL!)

[icedancer]

There is better music out there!!  I wish I had some links for you - but trust me that the higher up you get in dance the better the music gets.  I absolutely love the waltzes for the Starlight Waltz for instance.

Plus a lot of the music are classic old standards.  It is true that they have been "dumbed down" a bit so you can hear and feel the beat - a lot of music is more syncopated and this does not work for ice dance.

[nicklaszlo]

It's tough.  The best luck I have had is checking on ice network to see what other people are using.

[sk8lady]

I've ordered ice dance music from:
http://www.ncassociates.com/icednce/default.asp?BROWSER=ns4
and found them to be okay--I checked some of them against a metronome and found them to be accurate. Still not a lot of music you would listen to by choice but at least it's not all organ, all the time!

[AgnesNitt]

A few years ago I found a video of the 14 Step done to the Bridge over the River Kwai. OMG. Music from a war movie about abused prisoners of war is probably not a good pick for ice dance.

[icedancer]

A few years ago I found a video of the 14 Step done to the Bridge over the River Kwai. OMG. Music from a war movie about abused prisoners of war is probably not a good pick for ice dance.

It's a march.  That's all that counts.

We got some GREAT music that they play in Sun Valley for their ice-dance sessions.  I doubt if it is commercially available - all sorts of good stuff.

[Query]

You need music with a "strict rhythm" - i.e., a strong exactly even beat. Because you are supposed to stroke to an even beat.

That's why it sounds like elevator music. Real music typically has "expression", which partly comes from a slightly uneven rhythm. In addition, real music often emphasizes off-beat notes, which would be more confusing to a dancer, especially if you aren't musically inclined.

Most aerobics workout music is also strict rhythm.

But you also need it to be at the right number of beats / second (there is fancy software to adjust that, but it may not be worth the effort), and the right number of beats / measure.

[Bunny Hop]

Previous coach used Kiss From a Rose by Seal for Dutch Waltz, which works really well. Better Be Home Soon by Crowded House works for Swing Dance, and when I was learning Fourteen Step and couldn't do it ot speed, we used Four Seasons in One Day (also Crowded House), then moved on to Staying Alive when we got closer to speed (which always seemed appropriate...).

He also used Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits for Blues, though I never got that far.