Music talk

[AsteroidB-612]

1 hour ago, Sombreuil said:

I don't understand why everyone seems to default to film scores for musicals when there are recordings of stage versions with usually better (though less photogenic) singers.

I think film is more accessible to people than theater ... So for light musical fans(or average onlookers), they probably only heard of the film version and went with it... But I do agree that stage musical singers are usually much better! (but only rarer do they actually hire stage musical singers to play their characters on film..too often it's some big name in Hollywood who may or may not be able to sing...)Sigh...

[Murieleirum]

10 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

Warning: do not listen if depressed.

 

This should be applied to 80% of Radiohead's tracks 

[sallycinnamon]

10 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

I was listening to Jeff Buckley the day before I heard about P-chan's boring, boring FS music (Jeff Buckley is my one and only but please, no more Hallelujah.) and thinking I'd love Yuzu to skate to something by him. 

 

Also, if R+J3.0, Radiohead, please. 

Warning: do not listen if depressed.

 

I am bored by every Hallelujah covers except by Jeff Buckley's, whose version I like a lot.

 

Why would you choose this song by Radiohead? I think Exit Music would be hard to skate to even as an exhibition program.

[Yatagarasu]

12 hours ago, Sombreuil said:

I had 'Epiphany' or 'A little priest' in mind - cut with some of the opening and incidental music.  I much prefer Sondheim to Lloyd Webber.  

I almost put this in the post about PotO on the main thread but didn't and now I'm glad- I've woken up to a frenzy of reaction over there- we are all badly in need of some real news !

 

Soon, not too long to go! Early August means first ten days so probably another 10 to 14 days to go. Considering how long we've waited, it'll be a breeze!
Epiphany would be really good!
In general it pains me how much good music is left behind and I don't understand why teams don't talk to those whose profession is music, in various ways, to see what else is out there. No, they can't skate to everything but there's way more on offer than the same narrow number that keeps repeating.

[Sombreuil]

I know- it wasn't til I watched Evita and Phantom recently that I realised how much gets overlooked for the marquee songs - and I don't really like ALW, I was keeping someone company who is a major fan and needed a distraction.  Then I thought about ST and got the disc out.  Is it all chance and the coach/choreographer/ occasional skater who really cares about the music?  Because if so that's relying on the personal tastes of a group of musical amateurs and the music they happen to have been exposed to/ discovered.  Professional musicians can't make the final decision but they might be able to offer other options for consideration?

[Yatagarasu]

24 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

 Because if so that's relying on the personal tastes of a group of musical amateurs and the music they happen to have been exposed to/ discovered.  Professional musicians can't make the final decision but they might be able to offer other options for consideration?

 

As far as I know, yes. It's the choreographer/coach, for those skaters who aren't that involved or all together if they are, sometimes some fans will send music or on very rare occasions, they'll have music composed for them but that's about it. There's the conventional wisdom about warhorses and easily recognizable music for the audience themselves to get them involved but yes, I do think going outside the box would be very good and would 'spice' things up a bit. They could definitely offer options and then the teams could decide what is appropriate for skating (this season while Jason's music was composed, the composer worked with Rohene piece by piece, so it is doable).

[Sombreuil]

Seems like a wasted opportunity- I really like some of the music, but when you watch the whole competition (or as much as the country you live in allows ) you do see an awful lot of repetition and mediocre/ tedious/cliched music, badly chopped together.  I suppose it comes down to money in the end- do you need another expense - and more importantly I suppose, would the judges notice?  Can the majority of the people involved in the sport tell the difference?  I think the reaction to Seimei shows that people do respond to new themes if they are done well- and that's the crux of the matter - quality - carefully put together in that case but there is readily available good, different music out there if they went to look ( or employed a cash strapped musician to do it for them - and maybe splice the bits together in a musically acceptable way?)

[AsteroidB-612]

7 hours ago, Sombreuil said:

Seems like a wasted opportunity- I really like some of the music, but when you watch the whole competition (or as much as the country you live in allows ) you do see an awful lot of repetition and mediocre/ tedious/cliched music, badly chopped together.  I suppose it comes down to money in the end- do you need another expense - and more importantly I suppose, would the judges notice?  Can the majority of the people involved in the sport tell the difference?  I think the reaction to Seimei shows that people do respond to new themes if they are done well- and that's the crux of the matter - quality - carefully put together in that case but there is readily available good, different music out there if they went to look ( or employed a cash strapped musician to do it for them - and maybe splice the bits together in a musically acceptable way?)

But see how much effort Yuzu and his music editor had to put in to make Seimei the great program it is? I remember it was done over 57 different editing cuts or something, and even if you take into consideration Yuzu's particular pickiness over his musical timing, I am sure to make new,non-warhorse music skatable, all of the involving parties（choreographer, skater and a professional music editor!) have to be very willing to devote a lot more time and effort to strike the right balance of music edit...and seeing how many skaters basically just leave it to their choreographers and coaches to do the job of providing them with skatable music, and how often time famous choreographers have to do programs for multiple skaters all over the world, and of course the question of cost and benefit of time investment if all these effort don't make any differences with the judges...I can see why new masterpieces don't come along very often in skating...

 

But with all that being said, I still wish more skaters and choreographers would out some more time into creating new music for skating...for the sake of artistry! 

[SparkleSalad]

17 hours ago, sallycinnamon said:

Why would you choose this song by Radiohead? I think Exit Music would be hard to skate to even as an exhibition program.

 

If only you could see the perfect choreography and sublime twizzles he's doing in my head! The angst! The drama! The lack of sentimentality! It's the only R+J I think I could stomach. I will take a Johnny Weir version as back-up.

[Xen]

Well now that we know what he's doing SP and LP wise this season, maybe we can start plotting for next couple seasons? Yuzu always said he wanted to try a Jazz program, so let's reignite this thread. What Jazz pieces would we recommend? 

[XX001]

Rhapsody in Blue 

[Xen]

12 minutes ago, XX001 said:

Rhapsody in Blue 

hmmm, but Gershwin isn't 100% Jazz. But Yuzu doing Rhapsody in blue would also work. 

I was thinking a variation of "Fly me to the moon" would be interesting for an EX, but admittedly I don't listen to Jazz that much, so my impression of Jazz is that it lacks the crescendo needed for figure skating. I would not know where to stick the step sequence, for example. 

 

Santana would count more as Latin than Jazz right?

[XX001]

Careless Whisper by George Michael

[Murieleirum]

 

Speaking about Jazz and Classic...

 

Do I have an obsession with Stravinsky?

...only slightly. 

 

[Xen]

19 minutes ago, Murieleirum said:

 

Speaking about Jazz and Classic...

 

Do I have an obsession with Stravinsky?

...only slightly. 

 

 I'm all for Yuzu and Stravinsky!

I tried to search a bit more for classical musicians with some jazz influenced tunes, and also found a Ravel, though this one is slightly hard to choreograph around ( think Jeux D'eau is better):