Programs that make you like the music more

nolangoh · Jul 26, 2016

I was supposed to write "Programs that make you appreciate the music more" but it was apparently too long lol.

Is it there any piece of music that you, at first, thought it was not particularly beautiful/exceptional/stunning etc., but after you saw a skating program that used the music, you suddenly think that the music is extraordinary, that you feel so much emotion while listening to it?

For me, at first I thought the aria "Un bel di vedremo", while it is a beautiful aria, was not particularly moving. It is not as emotional as Vissi d'arte, it does not have a wide range, i thought it was just a sub-par operatic aria. But all of this changed after I saw Mao's FS last season. Everything suddenly became so sublime and serene, as if it was a totally different piece of music. And now I always listen to different renditions of this aria and it has become one of my favourite arias.

The second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto no.2 is the same case. Chen Lu's performance really brought out the beauty of this music.

Do you have a similar experience? Please share!

sammyott · Jul 26, 2016

I thought Gilles and Poirier's LP this year had music that I wasn't crazy about, but their choreography and unique interpretation made me like it a lot more.

cheerknithanson · Jul 26, 2016

There certainly are songs that skaters have skated to that has made me go buy it on iTunes. While most of the songs I'm referring to I never heard until they skated, some like "Thunderstruck" and "Reel Around the Sun" (Jason Brown's Riverdance FP music) I have heard of and it made me want to buy it right away. Well it took me about a monthish to eventually buy it. And also "Give Me Love." I mean I did hear it some when my ex-favorite singer covered it in a livestream and at a show he opened at (Which I went to) but I didn't really remember all of it. But when Josh Farris skated to it at 2015 Nationals.....oh my, the way he skated, how all the jumps, spins, step sequences, choreography, it was beautiful. Keep in mind, I saw via YouTube after the fact, but oh my. And same at the 4CC. And it made me want to buy it. Which I did. And I used it to practice the lyrical dance for my jazz class that semester in my head (Yeah funny thing is that when I took jazz, all 4 dances we learned (Minus the Broadway one cause it was a group dance) I used a song from my iphone for each to practice in my head. Yes I never practiced it full-out outside of class, but my technique worked. And plus I DID do ballet for 7 years before I quit to do cheerleading.).

invisiblespiral · Jul 26, 2016

The majority of them, honestly. :slink:

yume · Jul 26, 2016

riverdance (rika hongo's lp)
Jupiter (Mao's exhibition)
O (akiko suzuki's lp)
danse macabre (yuna kim's sp)
fantasy for violin and orchestra (Mao's sp)
zcardas (Mao's lp)
the lark ascending (yuna kim's lp)
romeo and Juliet (Yuzuru's lp)

MGstyle · Jul 26, 2016

In general I am not a fan of rock music, but if a programme is well choreographed and brings out the personality of the skater I do enjoy it. For example Black Betty by Javi and AC/DC by Kevin Reynolds.
I also must say my interest in classical music is purely stemmed from figure skating. I did eventually learn to enjoy it even without skating, but in the beginning I had no clue what so ever!

sabinfire · Jul 26, 2016

Hmm, can't think of a good example myself. For me, it's usually the opposite — 'Programs that make you like the music less' — I'd have a lot to add to that topic, should it ever come to pass.

Crossover · Jul 26, 2016

Sgoraet said:
Hmm, can't think of a good example myself. For me, it's usually the opposite — 'Programs that make you like the music less' — I'd have a lot to add to that topic, should it ever come to pass.

You mean a warhorse piece like POTO or Carmen?

gkelly · Jul 26, 2016

I don't like Don Quixote, especially the common selections that John Curry chose for his 1976 freeskate, but I love that freeskate.

noskates · Jul 26, 2016

I LOVED Javi's Black Betty. Had heard the song before, of course, and have heard it since. When I hear it now I can see Javi doing that little dance move with his hips and arms.

Notre Dame as skated by Davis & White. Actually, pretty much anything Charlie and Meryl have skated to! They've always been at one with the music and interpreted it so well. Hard to hear those pieces without picturing them skating to it.

Dante's Prayer - Michelle Kwan.
Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy - Michelle Kwan.

i'm sure I'll think of more.

eta: Exogenis - Jeremy Abbott
Concerto de Aranguez - Patrick Chan

Karpenko · Jul 26, 2016

"Somewhere In Time" Dubreuil & Lauzon
"Song of the Black Swan" Michelle Kwan
"Send in the Clowns" Yuna Kim

Mathman · Jul 26, 2016

Fields of Gold, Michelle Kwan
Bolero, Torvill and Dean
That song the Shibs used. (OK, I guess it didn't make me like the music all that much after all.

)
Carmen, everybody.

Singin' in the rain, Gene Kelly -- I mean Kurt Browning.

mrrice · Jul 26, 2016

"Close Without Touching" Christina Gao

"Scene D Amour" Maria Butyrskaya

"Song From A Secret Garden" Carolina Koster

edenlover · Jul 26, 2016

Exogenesis Symphony by Muse- Jeremy Abbott changed the way I thought of that music.

La Valse-- as per Paul Wylie's SP in 92

Notre Dame de Paris--MEryl and Charlie

Dorothy Hamill really made me appreciate Pie Jesu

temadd · Jul 26, 2016

Initially I really disliked Ashley Wagner's Moulin Rouge music. I found it cheesy and overly dramatic. But her incredible ability to bring a story and emotion onto the ice sold me on it. I still don't love the music but I appreciate it more.

Shibs' Fix You

jenaj · Jul 26, 2016

edenlover said:
Exogenesis Symphony by Muse- Jeremy Abbott changed the way I thought of that music.

La Valse-- as per Paul Wylie's SP in 92

Notre Dame de Paris--MEryl and Charlie

Dorothy Hamill really made me appreciate Pie Jesu

Agree with these except that Janet Lynn's La Valse made me a little obsessed with that music.

mrrice · Jul 27, 2016

Sgoraet said:
Hmm, can't think of a good example myself. For me, it's usually the opposite — 'Programs that make you like the music less' — I'd have a lot to add to that topic, should it ever come to pass.

Like "Red Violin" even when Michelle skated perfectly in 2000, I never liked that piece. Maybe it was the way it was spliced together but yikes. :eeking:

mikeko666 · Jul 27, 2016

Shibutanis - O (Fly On), Fix You
Jeremy Abbott - Exogenesis Symphony No.3

I am a neither Coldplay nor Muse fan, but those beautiful programs made me appreciate the songs a lot.

Blades of Passion · Jul 27, 2016

This is difficult to answer because programs frequently alter a given selection of music. So do I like the original music any better? Probably not. Instead, something different has been created from a source material.

There are many times when film scores aren't used especially well in the films they are made for, but then as stand-alone pieces work better. If someone creates a program to that music, it's probably still not going to make me like that music in the film any more, because it's two separate functions. Similarly, if I don't especially love a piece of music on its own, then I don't see why I would listen to it on its own. I would just go seek out the skating program it was used in and watch that.

So, that said, the biggest examples off the top of my mind of a skating program improving upon the music and/or usage of an original soundtrack are:

1. Kiira Korpi EVITA. I find the Evita music to be mostly annoying (can't stand the film especially), but I love the music of this program.

2. Todd Eldredge GETTYSBURG. His best program; music that hasn't been used any other time, as far as I know. It's beautifully grand and triumphant (which is exactly why it was wrong for the civil war film it came from).

3. Alexi Yagudin MAN IN THE IRON MASK. Way more depth, delicacy, and emotion here than the forgettable place this music came from.

4. Kanako Murakami MASK OF ZORRO. I liked this program a lot and didn't remember the music being particularly effective in the film. Evan Lysacek trying to skate to this music in 2008 certainly didn't change my opinion either. I've noticed quite a few skaters using this music since Murakami did it.

Anastasi14 · Jul 27, 2016

I've never liked (or perhaps haven't been mature enough) Rachmaninov, but Mao's "Bells of Moscow" and Concerto No.2 was just to goosebumps. And of course Patrick's Elegia - it's breathtaking. These programs have changed my mind/taste.

Tessa and Scott opened for me waltzes "Noce i Dnie" by Waldemar Kazanecki and "The waltz goes on" by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Programs that make you like the music more

nolangoh

Steps and Spirals enthusiast

sammyott

cheerknithanson

invisiblespiral

yume

🍉

MGstyle

Crawling around on the ice after chestnuts

sabinfire

Doing the needful

Crossover

All Hail the Queen

gkelly

noskates

Karpenko

Mathman

mrrice

edenlover

temadd

jenaj

mrrice

mikeko666

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

Anastasi14

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