ScottishDancerMum Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) In trying to pick solo music for E's first competition, I've run across an old favourite. I first saw it in a figure skating competition many years ago but have always loved it. Although it's been used in a Frederick Ashton piece (Rhapsody) and I was wondering if it was too well-known for a competition piece (she would not be doing pas de deux so the choreography would be very different)?I was told here to avoid "typical" ballet pieces, but is this a typical piece? Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini Here with Baryshnikov/Collier and here with Polunin/Ryzhkova Many thanks for reading x Edited January 10, 2017 by ScottishDancerMum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Hi Scottishdancermum - our teacher also follows this policy. I think this piece of music (it's lovely )is pretty well known. Personally I get distracted at festivals by well known music and I don't think it works in the child's favour. Our teacher chooses and edits the music so I don't envy you! One thing our teacher does is sometimes use a slightly well known piece for a short time in a dance which is cuts of various pieces. So maybe use the piece you like for part of the dance? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 Thanks Sarah x. That's exactly what I needed to know. Our teacher is not familiar with the current competition scene... She thought we should use something from the Nutcracker. I'm thinking of using the theme from The American President instead, but I need Teacher's blessing first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 It's a lovely piece of music, but in all honesty not one I would personally pick for this purpose, though I am struggling to articulate exactly why! But from my years of festival going, my gut feeling is no. Remind me how old your DD is again (quite young I think?)and I will trawl my memory banks for what DD and friends danced to at similar ages. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 She's 7, PupsMum. I'm grateful for the help! I have a pretty broad music collection but I don't have the familiarity with ballet applications. I've also considered the theme to the movie Cocoon, and Saving Mr Banks. I also adore David Foster's Piano Concerto in G (the movement starting at 0.22 sec). Plus Canon in D, but I think that would also be on the “overused” list. Also, does anyone know about editing software? I don't really have a clue about such things, or where to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) The theme from Forest Gump is very pretty and can be cut easily. I have heard it used for ballet but not often so not too common. Also the sound track to Pride and Predjudice is worth a listen too. Edited January 11, 2017 by Loulabelle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParentTaxi Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Audacity (free download) is easy to cut music with. It's a bit of a pain because you have to add on another bit of software to export the result as an MP3 file, but I'm no tech genius and have found it fairly easy to e.g. match sound patterns at splice points so that it doesn't 'jump' and that the beat remains constant. i only do music for DD to choreograph to, though - never had to do a ballet piece - so I don't envy you at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 Okay, I installed Audacity, and am now picking through the instructions. An online friend told me she used to use this in high school to make ring tones.... I guess I need to find a talented 14 year old to pick through this for me!I'm looking forward to learning how to do it myself - it would save a lot of time and frustration in asking someone else to put what's in my head onto the track! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 WavePad audio editor in the App Store is the one dd's teacher recommended. Dd downloaded the free one and was easily able to do what she needed with cutting to 1 minute on her iPad. I think teacher has a more sophisticated version which cost about £8. I'm sorry I can't copy and paste the link on my phone, but it did the job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I heard a lovely piece of music on the radio on my way into work this morning. It is by Leroy Anderson and called (I think) Forgotten Dreams. I have seen it use at festivals but not by loads of people and it's not so well known that people will be bored of hearing it! Look it up on youtube or something and have a listen - I think it would be lovely for a little dancer's first ballet solo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildflowers Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Never done a festival so this is more of an anecdote.... when my dd was younger, she needed a solo for an audition and her then teacher choreographed a lovely little ballet dance to some piece of music he had come across, 'it's from some film apparently' he said with a dismissive wave of his hand......it was the piano version of the Harry Potter theme tune lol! Still can't listen to it without his voice in my head bellowing out the steps! What I can add that might be useful, is how different it sounded when only played by the piano, perhaps a different arrangement of your favourite piece might work? Good luck with it all! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 I heard a lovely piece of music on the radio on my way into work this morning. It is by Leroy Anderson and called (I think) Forgotten Dreams. I have seen it use at festivals but not by loads of people and it's not so well known that people will be bored of hearing it! Look it up on youtube or something and have a listen - I think it would be lovely for a little dancer's first ballet solo. That's pretty - I've not heard it before! I'll put it on my futures list So, here's our short list so far. I listened to all the options I'd found with E last night, and she culled a bunch of them... said they were too boring. Sometimes I wish I was better at dance so I could do this myself, but alas, I can't make her dance to songs she hates! 1) Love Them from Star Wars, "Across the Stars" ** E's favourite, as she's a SW junkie at the ripe age of 7. I'm just afraid it's a bit dour. 2) Improvised Piano Version of Albioni’s Adagio (from movie “Fame”) 3) Theme from movie “Cocoon” (main theme starts at 1:14) 4) True Colours (piano instrumental) or (guitar instrumental) I'd be grateful for opinions, if you have time? I'm taking these to her teacher this afternoon to see her take on them, and we can make a decision and finally get going. I'm all set to do my editing on Audacity (I have instructions now!) so that's my project for tonight. Her tap number is going to be "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" (a kids game show from the 90s with a very catch acapella theme song). This tap number is for an older group, but we're working on a solo version (different choreography). Her teacher suggested Good Ship Lollipop, but I was thinking it was 1) overused and 2) a bit babyish for 7. I'm just hoping she doesn't veto it completely - I wanted her to see the video as it's obviously worked as a tap song before (the group won). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 All the ballet ideas were shot down as being too slow and not lively enough. Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixiewoo Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Oh dear I just found music on YouTube called 'space music - the cosmic Galaxy' ... DD ballet music is several different pieces cut together to vary the tempo/feeling. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Never done a festival so this is more of an anecdote.... when my dd was younger, she needed a solo for an audition and her then teacher choreographed a lovely little ballet dance to some piece of music he had come across, 'it's from some film apparently' he said with a dismissive wave of his hand......it was the piano version of the Harry Potter theme tune lol! Still can't listen to it without his voice in my head bellowing out the steps! What I can add that might be useful, is how different it sounded when only played by the piano, perhaps a different arrangement of your favourite piece might work? Good luck with it all! i get distracted by a piece that gets used in class that is or very close to one of the songs from My Fair Lady ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAIRBELLES Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Hi Check out David Plumton's CDs . He has an array of CDs you can listen to snippets of the tracks on YouTube . Dance teacher can listen before you buy. When my dd did festivals it was always the teacher that supplied the music. Good luck finding something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 We had a meeting today with E's teacher, and picked "Kindome Dance" from Tangled for her ballet number, and "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" for her tap number. Teacher's happy, child is happy, mum is happy Thank you all for your fantastic suggestions! I'll be saving this thread for the next time I need to search! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Kingdom, not Kindome (somehow it won't let me edit the spelling) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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