Do you ever watch figure skating muted?

[Anna K.]

This has become my new obsession
It is a great chance to evaluate the plain physical delivery of a skater; to pay attention to what skaters actually physically do. It's paradoxical but watching sans music helps to evaluate how musical the performance is: does the movement keep any rhythm pattern? Does it build any structure, any character, or tell any story?
It is interesting to watch first without music and guess what the music could be. But it is also interesting to do a muted re-check without music that I know very well.

Have you ever tried it? What are your most interesting discoveries?

 

[rabidline]

No. The reason I fell in love with figure skating is because it is a sport where its athletes are able to express music with their skating on ice. Muting the program takes away that very reason, so unless it was a program deliberately made to be skated without music, I don't do it.

 

[Karoltyna]

Sometimes, when I want to look at skating skills. Or when I know that used cover will hurt my ears.

 

[ladyjane]

I am sorry, I hardly ever have. If it occurs, it's because someone calls, and I usually find the mute button earlier than the stop button. and even then I try to turn it back to where I was when the call came in. I have seen a few from the US, but that's because there wasn't any music on the video (a rights problem I guess), but I then stop watching. I need the music to enjoy programmes.

 

[TallyT]

Only when I seriously cannot be having with that music thankee not at all, or I love the music but cannot be having with what they have done to it. I admit, I pay far less attention to the skate, just get through it till they stop and I can turn it on for the next one. Music matters.

 

[jorge2912]

I am sorry, I hardly ever have. If it occurs, it's because someone calls, and I usually find the mute button earlier than the stop button. and even then I try to turn it back to where I was when the call came in. I have seen a few from the US, but that's because there wasn't any music on the video (a rights problem I guess), but I then stop watching. I need the music to enjoy programmes.

Is better with music because is enjoyable and adds the right meaning to a program also there's relationships space - music - technique and every move must be linked with music rhythm and bpm and without that information can't evaluate it correctly figure skating

Without music would be moves in the field evaluation and for that don't need music because it evaluate only technical skills

 

[TallyT]

I think it can be fascinating without music if we have the sound of the blades on ice and the right skater. Which isn't muting, of course.

 

[Magill]

I think it can be fascinating without music if we have the sound of the blades on ice and the right skater. Which isn't muting, of course.

That's right, but then it is done on purpose, and "choreographed" accordingly. So you can think of silence as this particular piece's soundtrack and enjoy it as such. Therefore I think of music (or the intended lack thereof) as an essential part of any figure skating performance that actually makes it into what it is.

 

[Anna K.]

From my experience, watching without music does not take away the enjoyment from the performance of high-class skaters. Their performance still has rhythm, flow, phrasing, and build; depending on the class of the skater; there may be all above named qualities but even one of them is enough to easily add music in my head when watching and fully enjoy it as a musical performance.

After that, it is interesting to compare the music I imagined with the music that actually sounds. Sometimes it surprises me a lot. For example, when I watched Alysa Liu's long program, I got an impression of her skating to a danceable energetic mid-tempo piece without a build, Daft Punk possibly. I very much enjoyed her performance as such, as a dance on one breath, keeping same energetic rhythm of movement from beginning till the end. Just imagine my surprise when I realized that the piece actually starts as a lyrical pop song and the actual dance beat only kicks in in the middle First of all, Alysa earned a full bag of credit points from me for her musicality. The tempo of the song was the same all through but not every person would be able to spot it without hearing the actual beat. The other takeaway was that the added dance beat created an illusion that her skating was more energetic in the second half of the program although in truth the rhythm was exactly the same. In fact, her push on her moves was slightly less energetic because she was getting tired. So, the music was kind of meant to compensate that. Although imo there wasn't much to compensate. I'd prefer her to do a piece that was with energetic vibe from the start... Well, yes, I admit I liked better the music I had in my head than the music that was actually played

 

[Anna K.]

I think it can be fascinating without music if we have the sound of the blades on ice and the right skater. Which isn't muting, of course.

It isn't muting. It's a run-through in training I'm guessing that it is even more telling than watching a recorded performance without sound.
From what I heard from our Latvian judge, judges are actually attending training sessions exactly because the sound of the skate tells a lot about the skating skills (the quieter the better). Given that skating skills cannot change rapidly, judges use these takeaways later when they award PCS.

 

[FaustinaF]

Wow!! This is what I always thought: "let's follow this performance without music, muted"! I do it many times, especially when I look at the short-cut videos or edits I find, you know those short videos, I don't know what they're called, because I have the same intention as you @Anna K. have, to pay attention to so many details that are often covered by the music since we're also listening to something and our mind pays a little less attention that way. I begin to do that since I once heard the commentators Massimiliano Ambesi and Angelo Dolfini on Eurosport (Italy) who suggested the tv audience to do this experiment. They said, you will concentrate much more on the details, also you'll find out if the skater is really telling a story with his emotions and expressions.
I tried many times this experiment, for example with Anna Shcherbakova's Master and Margarita, with Nathan Chen's performance of Elthon John's music, with Adam Siao Him Fa, with Malinin, especially these lasts programs, with Mikhail Shaidorov, and so on. I made interesting discoveries: many times, I could better value the skater's art and ability of expressions, even facial expressions to tell a story, it was as if I were percieving some music following the gestures of the skater, because many time he or she did gave a real sense of musicality.
My former professor of art and sculpture at the high school once said me, "If you want to create a masterpiece, it must have naturally a sense of musicality itself, as if it were speaking with musical words, given by lines, form, concept, expression, representation." He was right! Music plays always a role in whatever we do or see.
Other times, it happened, with other skaters, that I confirmed my impression: "man, I'm sorry, but this representation is.. quite boring".
So, yes I do believe this is an interesting and also a detailed method to better understand figure skating in its whole, and I recommend it a lot!

 

[Diana Delafield]

This has become my new obsession
It is a great chance to evaluate the plain physical delivery of a skater; to pay attention to what skaters actually physically do. It's paradoxical but watching sans music helps to evaluate how musical the performance is: does the movement keep any rhythm pattern? Does it build any structure, any character, or tell any story?
It is interesting to watch first without music and guess what the music could be. But it is also interesting to do a muted re-check without music that I know very well.

Have you ever tried it? What are your most interesting discoveries?

I live in an apartment building that mostly has great sound-proofing except between me and the penthouse upstairs, because my sitting area off the kitchen where I watch videos is underneath their patio that doesn't have the same soundproofing their living areas do. Watching late at night, or rewatching the same performance over and over, I mute in case they can hear the music. (Although they've never mentioned that.)

Interesting discovery? That many of the "great performances" that bring the audience to their feet are kind of generic without music. Or at least, aren't any better than any of the others in their group in an event. The audience seems to be reacting to the music as much as to the skating.

 

[Anna K.]

I tried many times this experiment, for example with Anna Shcherbakova's Master and Margarita, with Nathan Chen's performance of Elthon John's music,

I will add these to my re-watch list!

 

[Anna K.]

Interesting discovery? That many of the "great performances" that bring the audience to their feet are kind of generic without music. Or at least, aren't any better than any of the others in their group in an event. The audience seems to be reacting to the music as much as to the skating.

Music is the most important tool that allows linking with the audience in the arena, that's for sure.

 

[gkelly]

I live in an apartment building that mostly has great sound-proofing except between me and the penthouse upstairs, because my sitting area off the kitchen where I watch videos is underneath their patio that doesn't have the same soundproofing their living areas do. Watching late at night, or rewatching the same performance over and over, I mute in case they can hear the music. (Although they've never mentioned that.)

Yes, I usually leave the sound off on my computer when I'm working on something else and I won't turn it on if I click on a skatnig link to check something late at night. But I'd only watch a whole program that way if I have a particular question about the content program or some other point of information that can be seen in the video -- I wouldn't watch for pleasure without the sound.

 

[Diana Delafield]

Yes, I usually leave the sound off on my computer when I'm working on something else and I won't turn it on if I click on a skatnig link to check something late at night. But I'd only watch a whole program that way if I have a particular question about the content program or some other point of information that can be seen in the video -- I wouldn't watch for pleasure without the sound.

When possible, I just turn the sound way down. I miss phrases of music and most of any lyrics then, having not had 100% hearing since I was 4 years old. Sometimes my muting choice is all or nothing, though. Depends on whether it's a streamed competition and I can just turn the volume down, or a specific choice of one event or competitor where the choice is on or off.

 

[Arigato]

If the music is horrid, I do.

 

[TallyT]

If the music is horrid, I do.

If the music is usually decent but they appear to have taken to it with Leatherface's chainsaw, I do.

 

[elektra blue]

i only tell you we had a synchro mute team on the live chats...

 

[Azikin]

I watch it muted when someone skates to Billie Eilish or some other unlistenable music.