There are a lot of choices for music, and the skater may choose an instrumental piece or a song with lyrics. Here are some tips to keep in mind when choosing music.

Like Your Music

Choose music that you like – you’ll be listening to this music A LOT so it’s a good idea to choose something that you really like so you don’t get tired of listening to it. Also, music that you like will be meaningful to you, which will, in turn, show in your skating. It’s also a good idea to consider your audience, specifically the judges. Since most judges are quite a bit older than most skaters, they may be unfamiliar with more current music that young people like. Although it’s very unlikely that a judge will deliberately deduct points for not liking or understanding the music, they may better understand the skater’s interpretation for music that they are more familiar with.

Focus On Your Strengths

Choose music that fits your style. If you’re a strong, powerful skater, choose strong, powerful music. If you’re a flowy, graceful skater, choose something more drawn-out and elegant. If you’re good at quick footwork, choose fast-paced, light music. While you will need to show some range in your program, give the most emphasis to the elements in which you are strongest. In other words, don’t try to put a square peg into a round hole!

Be Age-Appropriate

There’s a lot of music out there, and a lot of it really isn’t age-specific. However, some pieces are. It isn’t a good look to have an adult skating to cutesy music meant for children (think “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo“) or a 9-year old skating to sultry or more mature music (think “Lady Marmalade”).

Start Gently

Ideally, you should ease into your music and build gradually. The start of the music should be loud enough to be heard, but not so loud or sudden that it startles everyone. It can be difficult to catch up if you start with a bang and miss your cue – you don’t want to spend your whole program chasing your music! On the flip side, if your music begins very quietly (or you absolutely have to skate to something with a quick start), consider recording a beep or a click a few seconds before the music begins. This way you’ll know the music is about to begin and you’ll be ready. Doing this won’t cause any issues with program length limitations since the referee doesn’t start timing until the skater actually starts to move.

Limit Your Range

Choose music that has some range to it in regards to volume, but don’t go overboard. Having a program with both very quiet and very loud parts is just asking for trouble: you (and your audience – and the all-important judges) either won’t be able to hear the quiet parts, or the loud parts will blast out your eardrums. Some range is good – too much is bad.

Start Fresh

When you start putting together a new program when you move up a level, it’s best to choose new music to go with it. Even if you really love your old music, using it again with a different program is risky. After all, you’ve probably been skating your old program to this music for quite a while, which means that you know which elements should happen at which parts of the music. Your new program will have different elements, potentially similar but not quite the same, or possibly the same elements in a different place. Using the same music runs the risk of skating in “autopilot” and switching back to your old program rather staying with the new one – a mistake you definitely want to avoid. This is less likely to happen if you go back to music you used several years or levels ago, but it is definitely a risk for a current program.