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So the father of the bride wasn't an engineering professor like mineWell, Wind Beneath My Wings was my (our) wedding song.
Sorry
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What are the three worst musical themes in figure skating?
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So the father of the bride wasn't an engineering professor like mine
No engineers, unless you count Roman aqueducts.
But we tend to suspend belief/disbelief, otherwise we would never watch a sword and sandals or legal drama, and we do watch them. 
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For the same reason many of them are popular in ads (and film/tv/cartoons and...) It's like why cliches are cliched... people like them.
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Still, there are lots of songs that people like to listen to, but this doesn't make them specifically skating war horses. I had in mind tunes like Nessun Dorma, with its climactic swells that seem to beg for a pair of figure skaters to visually match and complement what the music is bringing,
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Or sometimes even one skater could be enough provided they have enough of dramatic performance power (yes, you may guess which skater I have in mind)Still, there are lots of songs that people like to listen to, but this doesn't make them specifically skating war horses. I had in mind tunes like Nessun Dorma, with its climactic swells that seem to beg for a pair of figure skaters to visually match and complement what the music is bringing,
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Nessum Dorma also seems to be a show producers' favorite for a finale which I think only strengthens your point that some things are simply more skateable than some others.Many of those musical pieces that some people here like to complain about are actually truly liked not just by the general public but also by skaters themselves. Is it because they have musical qualities which make them particularly suitable for skating, or is it because they see them as their trade classics they wish to confront and challenge creating their own versions stamped with their particular style, I don't know. But if you think of all the greats who skated to Carmen or Bolero, or Turandot, I highly doubt it is because they or their well-paid-for choreographers did not have any other ideas, or were lazy, or wanted some people to hate them. It seems like an intentional choice to skate to this particular music and confront all the tradition behind it which I personally respect and find interesting provided they are able to find an interesting corner to their take. Some of these musical pieces are among the most iconic programmes of all time, no wonder so many others want to take them on later. Some younger skaters could literally dream about a time when they would skate themselves to this or that piece.
But I do admit when I watch skating, I see skating and music as a whole, and I almost never mind the music, and literally never mute it as then watching skating does not make much sense to me at all.
OTOH, I also admit what I find really boring is seeing these multiple "worsts" lists which I find somewhat unhealthy and unwholesome, and I fail to see the point. Just my opinion, of course.
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I feel the exact same way. The story disgusts me to the core of my being, and I cannot enjoy the music.Madame Butterfly.
As a Japanese woman, I don't like this Opera. I admit the music is very beautiful, but I dislike the story.
I am not comfortable watching any skater skating in kimono-like outfits to this music, even if it is Mao Asada, my favorite skater of all time.
I am wondering if the Chinese people feel the same way about Turandot.
Please don't get me wrong, I love Italian Opera in general
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Well, on that note here is my advice to coaches and choreographers anyway, Stay away from Bach's Toccata and Fugue iand Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, The music overwhelms the skating, which then seems to be only an afterthought, and not always a poarticularly welcome one.
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Yes, European art, literature and music of the early twentieth century has much to be embarrassed about. Turandot (referenced by Lady Bee), for instance, was actually Persian (Turan was a district in the Persian empire and "Turan-dot = Turan's daughter" meant the daughter if the king of Turan. People in Puccini's time and place knew (or cared) nothing about either place, China or Persia, so...
By the way, this contributes to the debate as to whether it's pronounced TuranDOT or TuranDOE. Pronouncing the terminal T is correct in Parsi. but there is some internal evidence in the lyrics of the opera to suggest that Puccini himself preferred DOH to DOT.
My favorite example of ... um ... Euro-embarrassment came to light when Jason Brown recently skated to the music from Disney's version of "White Skin" (Tar-zan in the language of the "anthropoid apes" that raised this fellow from helpless infant to Lord of the Jungle.
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Of the two, though, Danny Boy is the more maudlin. What is a figure skating choreographer to do with the lyrics: “But when ye come, and all the flowers are dy-y-ing, and I am dead, as dead I well may be.You’ll come and F-I=I-IND the place where I’ll be ly-y-ing,” etc,
Come to think about it, I guess that IS the plot of many works of literature and of many an opera.
Here is the one-and-only taking on the challenge and knocking it out of the park.
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This is why I prefer instrumental versions of songs with skateable melodies but whose lyrics are irrelevant. In this case, he does a great job giving the gist of the grief emotion without having to pantomime all the words -- and anyway, how many people know that "Danny Boy" is a father talking to his son, not a girl to her lover? He gets the mood across without needing the details.Of the two, though, Danny Boy is the more maudlin. What is a figure skating choreographer to do with the lyrics: “But when ye come, and all the flowers are dy-y-ing, and I am dead, as dead I well may be.You’ll come and F-I=I-IND the place where I’ll be ly-y-ing,” etc,
Come to think about it, I guess that IS the plot of many works of literature and of many an opera.
Here is the one-and-only taking on the challenge and knocking it out of the park.
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It's like some of the warhorses (all art forms have them) used at funerals, where nobody actually listens to the lyrics. I'm thinking mainly of Amazing Grace with the Wretch Like Me, but when my husband and I worked the wedding/funeral circuit, twice we had to gently dissuade parents planning a child's funeral asking me to sing "O Mio Babbino Caro", beloved worn-out encore used by sopranos everywhere from opera singers to crossover pop singers. Cautious interrogation revealed they thought the word was "Bambino", and we had to explain that a) the word was "babbino" which translated as Papa or Daddy. And b) the singer isn't even saying how much she loves her dear Daddy, she's pleading with the old grinch to let her marry her boyfriend or she'll commit suicide.
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He brought that out and it immediately shot to many many fans' list of most dearly loved. I admit, when it was announced I thought "oh no...", I both can't stand and always giggle at the vocal piece even with Javier, and with him putting so much into it. But Yuzu's version to the Londonderry Air on piano is so delicately haunting, in a darkened rink at shows it's positively unearthly. It can be a lovely piece in itself when treated with absolute simplicity (Yo-Yo Ma plays it beautifully).Of the two, though, Danny Boy is the more maudlin. What is a figure skating choreographer to do with the lyrics: “But when ye come, and all the flowers are dy-y-ing, and I am dead, as dead I well may be.You’ll come and F-I=I-IND the place where I’ll be ly-y-ing,” etc,
Come to think about it, I guess that IS the plot of many works of literature and of many an opera.
Here is the one-and-only taking on the challenge and knocking it out of the park.
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I'm not anti-vocal music in skating - the human voice is after all one of the most glorious instruments - and allowing lyrics was imo a vital part of trying to update the sport's image and attract more fans, but just sometimes I feel that vocal is much better in a language I don't know....
Back to bad music choices and can I just say though I don't at all dislike the music itself I would be perfectly happy never to see Schindler's List on a program choice again? There have been some wonderful ones but oh god, when they're bad they're really really bad. (Also, anyone see John Williams saying he doesn't like film music?)
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I have mixed feelings about vocals in figure skating. I do not like them at all in Ice Dance and for singles and pairs I think it depends on the music. Some of the music that's out there already is just dreadful. There are times when I'd kill to hear POTO or something else with a melody and no crashing metal sounds.
In Bolero's defence, my experience is you have to obligato watch it live. In a concert hall, preferably from a balcony right above. It's a show, action with the instruments joining in and giving each other the tune. It starts with a percussion solo, then a flute steps in, and then another flute picks up, and they give the tune to each other for a while. Then other wind instruments join in one by one and do the same, then the double basses, then other strings, and then a whole row of percussions. It kinda floats and travels all over the orchestra and builds. Warming up the orchestra sounds about right, but if the orchestra is good and is on, it is cool, and they have a blast performing it.
But on Youtube - yes, skip it.
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i would say these are three of mthe most used not sure about the worst. I would suggest :
Candyman
Bolero (hard piece to skate too)
Lacrymosa
Swan Lake
e, Carmen, POTO, Turnadot, Vilvadi's Four Seasons, Otonal, Scheradaz????, Madam Butterfly, Ave Maria, beethoven classics, Rachmanioff classics,
I don't know why people insist on skating to Liebestraum no.3, last season Isabeau, now Jia, when there are a few pieces along the same lines:
Soneto de Petrarca 47: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhFN50pb8
Schubert's impromptu Op.90 no.3, it's a bit more monotonous and is more of a prayer than love dreaming, but it doesn't all have to be about love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyzUc2vC4JI
Brahms's Intermezzo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Gb0JcviRA
Benediction de dieu dans la solitude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRsujXlVEOo&t=579, this is where the piece builds and has a climax
If one wants glitter, one can use Ricordanza etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjdtRcYZ4aA
Soneto de Petrarca 47: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhFN50pb8
Schubert's impromptu Op.90 no.3, it's a bit more monotonous and is more of a prayer than love dreaming, but it doesn't all have to be about love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyzUc2vC4JI
Brahms's Intermezzo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Gb0JcviRA
Benediction de dieu dans la solitude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRsujXlVEOo&t=579, this is where the piece builds and has a climax
If one wants glitter, one can use Ricordanza etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjdtRcYZ4aA
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I quite agree that these are completely different questions. There is a reason why skaters flock to Swan Lake, Carmen. Turandot and the like -- the musical structure supplements with sound what skaters try to produce visually. (Not so much Phantom of the opera, though -- a little too schmaltzy).
What is a more precarious choice is blockbuster classical music that overwhelms any mere skater. Fumie Suguri
is an example of a skater (choreographed br Lori Nichol) who presented one classical masterpiece after another, such as Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Mozart's Piano concerto 23. and then was faced with the challenge of filling the ice surface as completely ar the music fills an auditorium. (Surguri is still very active in skating activities, by the way.)On the other hand who would guess Mahler's fifth symphony would be antything that you could do an ice dance to -- yer Virtue and Moir made it their iconic masterpiece.
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