Good Music/Music Cuts

Notable Music/Music Cuts

Sometimes we watch skaters skate to programs that do not really appeal to you, but the music is actually nice. So maybe a choreography problem?

We can list the music/music cuts we really like. For example, Gracie Gold's SP for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 was the Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto. The program was just meh to me, but I really loved the music. You can also list certain programs that had good music cuts. So if you think that Elena Radionova's 2014-2015 Rachmaninoff FS was a decent or not that good program but still had a good music cut, you can post it here.

By reading the comments of other people we can start paying attention to not only the skating but also the music as well when we re-watch a skater's performance. Through this we can start enjoying the music that figure skaters love to use.

EDIT: Okay, you guys can post the music/music cuts of programs you like too. I realized that people were limited on programs that they did not really like. As a result, I've changed the title to Notable Music/Music Cuts. We can see programs that had music that was worth noting.

So for example, I liked Satoko Miyahara's music cut for Miss Saigon, but I also liked her program, so I can post it here.

Charlie White's cut of Scheherazade. Whether you liked the program or not, he did a genius job of cutting that entire symphony into a program that not only incorporated all of its most famous sections, but flowed seamlessly. Really, if I were a coach, I'd hire him to do the same for my skaters. He's got the ear.

I suspect it was exactly his good ear for what works that led Charlie into cutting D&W's music-so many programs have choppy cuts, it must have driven him nuts, to saying, I can do that so much better.

I liked what he did with Scheherazade, but his Giselle SD was genius IMO.
Here's my best guesses. They are all from Act I of Giselle:

Opening bits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EQX1a87YV78#t=81s

Circular step
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6msXAYo3aEM#t=51s

The toe dancing as a pair piece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6msXAYo3aEM&feature=player_detailpage#t=165s

Polka part
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EQX1a87YV78#t=394s

Last bit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EQX1a87YV78#t=525s

Compare to clip of Meryl & Charlie's SD at Skate America (wish I had a better one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLXmf7g79c

dorispulaski said:

I suspect it was exactly his good ear for what works that led Charlie into cutting D&W's music-so many programs have choppy cuts, it must have driven him nuts, to saying, I can do that so much better.

I liked what he did with Scheherazade, but his Giselle SD was genius IMO.

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You're right. I forgot about Giselle (the coffee hasn't kicked in yet).

Add that to the list please. He really should be hired immediately by the USFSA to create music programs for skaters. Immediately.

I once posted what the cuts were- I just hunted the old post up and pasted it into my previous post. Charlie did their music perhaps the whole 2011-2014 quad, AFAI could tell from an icenetwork article prior to Giselle.

Hey nice comments so far! I just want to remind you guys that I've updated the title to Notable Music/Music Cuts so you guys can list music/music cuts of programs you like as well. Ex: The music was one of the main highlights of the program.

This is a little less well-known than most of the programs mentioned here, but I thought Park So-Youn's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini free skate last season was not only gorgeous but perfectly cut! I have not listened to the full work, but from what I've heard, she didn't use just one movement. At the time, however, I thought it was just one section-that's how well the cuts flowed. (It also helps that it was really well choreographed and her costume was gorgeous .)

Adam Rippon's cut of Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 this year to his FS was *huge* in my enjoyment of this program, and I did love this program. I believe Lang Lang was the pianist too, which surely helped. But whoever cut this music should arrange 90% of the programs out there.

I think the mashing up of Moon River and the piano concerto was brilliant for Zijun's LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7DI9l4SCoA

Of course, I love Yuna's Adios music cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vWzo0s-i7I

How I wish for someone to use Dabin's Grand Polonaise music. (Yes, I know Miki also used this before but I prefer DB's music cut and b/c it's longer )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlW7QPt7ZX4

And here are the rest:
Kyu-eun's Interview with a Vampire
Sui/Han's Stray Cat Strut


What I don't like:
V/T's Jesus Christ Superstar
-The first section makes think about me getting abducted by aliens. The second section is a mish-mash of a royal court and an opening of a concert. The third cut is a void. Almost like some funeral music (sorry, but I'm not sorry saying that :disapp. Lastly, the final section was the razzle-dazzle fireworks musical cut that I really think they should've focused on. I'll be honest-I don't know the musical and I know that Morozov (or their other choreographer) is mainly to blame here. I do wish V/T said something about it. However, if the duo did like the music cuts, well....I still don't want to hear their program music.

Soyoun's R and J
Maybe I was expecting more from DW, but the way her music was pieced together is not my cup of tea. It just made her look slower.

I always thought Beatrisa Liang had wonderful music.

It is great when you get a medley of songs and the changes are so seamless that you don't even realise that you have moved onto a different song.

The most recent example I can think of is the Muse medley that Duhamel / Radford used in their FS this season (2014 GP Final – their Personal Best FS). As somebody who was not familiar with the songs beforehand, I could spot the change from the first song (“Neutron Star Collision”) to the second (“I Belong to You”). But the change to the third song (“Uprising”) was so smooth that I didn’t even realise that it was a different song!

Re-winding a couple of seasons and another good example is the Queen medley used by their compatriots, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch (2013 Four Continents – their Personal Best FS at the time). I am a massive Queen fan, but the transitions between the songs (and transitions between different parts of the same song, in the case of “Bohemian Rhapsody”) were so smooth that even I couldn’t spot them. And I still can’t work out what the music was after “Who Wants To Live Forever”! Of course, the difference here is that it was not recordings of the songs edited together, but rather a recording of the medley being played in one go.

Of course, the best shortening of a single piece of music has to be the version of Ravel’s “Bolero” used by Torvill / Dean in their 1983/84 FD (1984 Olympics). I may not have seen many programmes from before this Millennium (this one was from before I was even born!), and so do not have a full picture. But surely this cannot be bettered! (Just like Jayne and Chris’s scores!)

sunny_stars said:

What I don't like:
V/T's Jesus Christ Superstar
-The first section makes think about me getting abducted by aliens. The second section is a mish-mash of a royal court and an opening of a concert. The third cut is a void. Almost like some funeral music (sorry, but I'm not sorry saying that :disapp. Lastly, the final section was the razzle-dazzle fireworks musical cut that I really think they should've focused on. I'll be honest-I don't know the musical and I know that Morozov (or their other choreographer) is mainly to blame here. I do wish V/T said something about it. However, if the duo did like the music cuts, well....I still don't want to hear their program music.

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Agree with sunny_stars that the editing used in Volosozhar / Trankov’s 2013/14 FS was awful (2013 Skate America – World Record FS). As I said after seeing it for the first time at the Nebelhorn, they should have used the “Overture” in its entirety. Let’s face it, the Overture is EXACTLY the right length for a FS (4m30s), and so would not have needed editing.


But for me, even worse was Roberta Rodeghiero’s FS from this season (2015 Europeans – not her PB, but the sound on the Ondrej Nepela FS video was awful). It was a real hatchet job.

But, this thread is supposed to be about good cuts and edits, so let’s keep it positive.

CaroLiza_fan

I thought Evgenia Medvedeva had a very strong FS and the concept of modern vs classical came to life not only on the ice but within the music too. I just thought the music worked really well and the good results became a bit of icing on the cake.

I liked the music cuts of Yuzuru's Phantom

I really liked Anna Pogorilaya's Firebird...or the idea of it at least...the actual execution in terms of cutting wasn't great...a bit jarring. Likewise, I did not like the Romeo and Juliet program that Yulia had...it has that really blah-sounding middle section (there's a similar section in the program of South Korea's Park, but her's does work a little better as a whole) and coincidentally (or not) thats where the program starts falling apart for her. Every. Single. Time. I'm aware she's had technical and psychological issues all season, but its uncanny how the program just goes flat during that one transition and the mistakes just pile up, especially when she does just fine with Megapolis at every competition. I do believe R & J is totally Yulia's music (even just going off of name, lol) but if she ever goes back to it (wonder if it'll ever happen again given this season...) it needs to be a much more compelling cut...like Sasha's Olympic music or even her own 2012 version.

As far as a cut that actually worked, i liked Hongo Rika's Carmen...it's just unfortunate that it was well...Carmen. :/

Unite said:

As far as a cut that actually worked, i liked Hongo Rika's Carmen...it's just unfortunate that it was well...Carmen. :/

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I really liked it too! I hated that it was to one of the two most overused skating music, but the transitions from one part to the other were all very smooth, as if the whole music was just one part.

Anyways, I'd like to also point out Akiko's programs, especially her most recent ones, because they had notable music cuts. Along with being spectacular programs, her 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 programs showed that Akiko and her choreographer are really good at choosing fitting music. Kill Bill's music cut wasn't as good as the other three, but it still is better than some cuts from other skaters. Her O and Hymn a L'amour music were simply gorgeous. I actually liked her POTO out of all of them, because all of the cuts included parts that Akiko was able to skate really well to.

randomfan said:

I actually liked her POTO out of all of them, because all of the cuts included parts that Akiko was able to skate really well to.

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The cuts in Akiko's POTO all worked really well for her. The program as a whole was absolutely stunning, talk about the perfect music choice.

This season, I really enjoyed the cuts in Denney/Frazier's LP. I know a lot of people were put off by the fact that they skated to The Lion King, but they performed it extremely wel during the first half of the season and the pieces of music they chose from it were gorgeous! WeaPo's The Seasons also had very good cuts and translated beautifully onto the ice.

As for music cuts that weren't that great, I think Maria Vigalova and Egor Zakroev's POTO, a junior pairs team from Russia's, was among the worst. I hate to pick on juniors, but it was not good at all. Very choppy, and ruined the program, in my opinion.

For me at least, the queen of good music will always be Sasha Cohen.:yes:

actualrealliveanna said:

This season, I really enjoyed the cuts in Denney/Frazier's LP. I know a lot of people were put off by the fact that they skated to The Lion King, but they performed it extremely well during the first half of the season and the pieces of music they chose from it were gorgeous!

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I wasn't put off @ all by Denney & Frazier's Lion King program. OTOH, I loved it, and agree that the music cuts were gorgeous (actually some of my favorite instrumental parts of the Lion King).

as a musician, someone who is used to hear symphonies/concertos in their complete form i have a hard time with anyone going from one movement to another etc.... i really don't like cuts... it just ruins it for me. I prefer by far when skaters use a long stretch of music for the entire program or a medley rather than extracts from one piece... for instance, patrick's chopin medley works better as it takes an etude, then a prelude and later on if I recall, the etude comes back... but these pieces aren't related... so it works better for me than when we hear a bit of a first movement of a piano concerto, then a bit of the third movement, and then a bit of whatever... it just drives me crazy but i guess that's not about to change

4everchan said:

as a musician, someone who is used to hear symphonies/concertos in their complete form i have a hard time with anyone going from one movement to another etc.... i really don't like cuts... it just ruins it for me. I prefer by far when skaters use a long stretch of music for the entire program or a medley rather than extracts from one piece... for instance, patrick's chopin medley works better as it takes an etude, then a prelude and later on if I recall, the etude comes back... but these pieces aren't related... so it works better for me than when we hear a bit of a first movement of a piano concerto, then a bit of the third movement, and then a bit of whatever... it just drives me crazy but i guess that's not about to change

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I'm a cheerleader so I'm used to a lot of mixes. However, since cheerleading produces a more exciting and sharp-movement and fast-paced vibe, the mixes are able to be better integrated by sound effects like bells, whistles, lasers, voice-overs, etc and also the pace of the songs are sped up and there are like at least I don't know like 3-5 songs in a mix on average maybe. I know that for skating, mixes can be a little more tricky since they don't use the sound effects and speeding up of the songs like cheerleading does.

From listening to lots of theme songs and shorter songs in the past month for me thinking of great ideas, mixes could work if

1. The songs are by the same artist/band because a similar sound will create a better flow somewhat
2. If the tunes are very similar. Like the "Babar" theme songs and the song "I don't want to live on the Moon" from "Sesame Street" or the "Sesame Street" 30th anniversary special "Elmopalooza" have a very similar tune if you listen carefully.
3. If you use like some software to make mixes that has settings to "blend" two songs together at the end of the first song and beginning of the second.