Dressage to music, music help please

[Sammy1983]

hi all
ive finally plucked up the courage to try a dressage to music its only an intro one so getting into it gently. now ive started looking for music and didnt realise it was so difficult. How do you decidw which music to use? i know my boy is 73 bpm in trot and 47 bpm in walk but how on earth do you find music that matches this there are so many different tunes all i know is id like something fairly upbeat any help or suggestions gratefully recieved.

 

[josie_s]

Not a flipping clue but I'd be interested to know too

 

[ivandenisovich10]

There is a page on Facebook called hoofbeats dressage music the girl that runs it is lovely and I'm sure might be able to help. She is member on here but I cast remember her name.

 

[Hedwards]

I've recenetly done some music for a friend of mine (elementary level) - we firstly videoed the test/floorplan - played selections of music while watching the video to see what worked didnt work, then using some free online software (name escapes me but can confirm if you'd like) and cut/edited the music to fit the test. I dont know what kind of horse you have, hers is a 16.3 TBxWB - I did her a beatles medly (let it be for walk, she loves you & paperback writer for walk & all you need is love for canter) also, sledgehammer by peter gabrial worked really well for canter!

I'd be totally happy to help as i really enjoyed the process, would just need video & and idea of the kind of music you'd like...

 

[Chirmapops]

The free software is called Audacity - it's really easy to use.

When it comes to choosing your music I'd recommend signing up for Spotify and listening through film soundtracks, London Philharmonic/BBC Phil albums etc. There is an online database that's quite useful, it's http://equimusic.com/instructions.php. Enjoy!

 

[Hedwards]

I use something else, not audacity, but will find out!

 

[Sammy1983]

Hedward have pmd you

 

[Britestar]

I find the easiest way is to hire a school, and take a whole heap of cd's with me, and work my way throughout them. i think its important that the horse has been ridden to the music. You may think it funny, but some of them don't like particular types of music. Also you'll find they adjust their stride to the beat.

We have one who hates anything disco-y, and another who prefers orchestral music on the whole. This horse completely picked up the rhythm of his current canter music (elem), and will adjust in the test to make sure he lands exactly on the beat.

I use mixmeister to make the cd's.

 

[khalswitz]

I like kareoke versions of rap songs... My horse just STRUTS to Eminem.

I use iMovie and Garageband to work mine - video test, then mix music over videos test, then Export music. Then run through!!

 

[Feisty Mare]

Go to songbpm.com and you can find out the beats per minute of the music you like.

 

[Chirmapops]

In terms of the actual process this is how I do it:

Sketch out a floorplan based on the moves allowed as listed on the BD test sheet. It’s worth thinking about how you can position things to make them more interesting – for example for my novice I ride on the left rein from the bottom corner to the three quarter line, do my right 15 meter circle so it touches the track and end on the three quarter line, then ride to the top corner – it’s more interesting than just riding a 15 metre circle on the track.

Film the test being ridden – make sure your camera is bang on C.

Choose the music (using Spotify, and then I download the tracks I want from Amazon) and edit to fit the video. Remember that you should avoid vocals and if you’re doing it BD there’s some licensing bits to consider. I’ll assume that you’re doing unaffiliated, but if you want to know about the licensing just shout.

Ride the test to the music with a helper nearby. If there are bits that don’t quite fit I yell out notes and she takes them down for me (eg "trot music too short - needs 3 seconds more").

Re-edit the music if necessary.

Practise, practise, practise! And I listen to my music about a thousand times so if anything untoward happens in the test I know exactly where in the arena I should be and I can adapt my floorplan on the hoof if necessary.

We’ve done quite a lot of freestyles now and qualified for the BD regionals. We regularly get over 70%, so I must be doing something right!

 

[Chirmapops]

Oh, I forgot to also say, I've done quite a few blog posts on freestyles, including some lists of the music used at the Olympics. They're here: http://dressageadventures.wordpress.com/category/freestyle-2/

 

[Hedwards]

OP - i have replied to your PM, but on my phone, did it come through!

And plllleeeeeasse dont be put off having vocals in your plans - there is NO rule that states not to have vocals, so long as they are not the primary focus. its Very common practise to use vocals, and if the correct song is picked can work brilliantly!

 

[Chirmapops]

This is also a really useful document OP, it's the British Dressage guidelines for judges judging freestyle: https://www.britishdressage.co.uk/u...elines for Judging Dressage to Music 2010.pdf. There's a section about vocals and lots of stuff about choreography, scoring etc, what I would say is that vocals make it harder to edit (especially if you're not having your editing professionally done) and it's a fine line between what's considered distracting and what's not. I do use some vocal bits in my music, but my OH does my editing for me nowadays and he's a professional sound engineer - even then he says it's a pain in the proverbial. I saw an amazing freestyle once where the canter music was Rihanna's "Diamonds" and all the vocals had been stripped out apart from the "shine bright like a diamond" bit - that bit was timed absolutely perfectly to hit the simple changes on the serpentine. It looked amazing but must have been fiendish to choreograph and perfect. I've seen a lot of tests where the riders have just used pop songs complete with lyrics, cut off halfway through a bar as the pace changes and it's really, really obvious - using instrumental only is simpler if you're just starting out.