Let's Talk Music - Chapter 1, Mozart on the Ice
Every sport has a defining element without which it cannot survive. Football has the ball, tennis has the racket and figure skating has the music. Yes, not the ice, not the skates, but the music because without it there'd be no figure attached to the skating.
I've been meaning to talk about music for a while now, but never really got around it before. So now I am dedicating the next five posts to this wonderful invention that gave colour to the world and helped create our favourite sport.
There is only one genre of music you can begin this discussion with; the father and mother of all melodies, the king and queen of grace, the god and goddess of sophistication: classical music.
Classical music started it all. If today we have the likes of Rihanna, Coldplay, Adele and millions of other performing artists, it is because hundreds of years ago, people like the Italian named Andrea Amati (allegedly) sculpted a violin out of a piece of wood. It's a shame then that today few people appreciate the origins of music, while the majority disregard classical music as outdated. Not figure skating enthusiasts though. We know that what makes this genre exceptional is exactly what others find boring about it: the lack of words. For what other genre can tell a story so accurately without lyrics? What other genre can spark the imagination, allowing you to create your own story to go with it?
Throughout time, many figure skaters have created iconic programmes on classical music, reinforcing a bond that will never disappear no matter how much modern music influences the world outside the ice rink. People like Patrick Chan, who broke all kinds of records in 2013/2014 on music by Sergei Rachmaninoff; or Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who took the world by storm when they won the Olympic gold in 2010 on Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 5. Ballets such as The Swan Lake and Giselle have created champions and figure skating legends because classical music requires a softness of movement and lyricism that only the best of skaters can achieve.
Last season, classical music played a particularly important role in the ice-dance competition. Almost all the top couples chose it as their free skate music. Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte danced to Danse Macabre, Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje chose The Four Seasons... However, the couple on whom classical music had the biggest impact were the European and World champions, Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron, whose style metamorphosed from edgy and alternative to sophisticated and classical in just one season.
France's national champions were already seen as the worthy successors of Natalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat in keeping French skating one of the best in ice-dance, but at the start of the 2014 Grand Prix Series, their conquering the most important podiums in the world seemed still a couple of seasons away. Mozart's Concerto No. 23 sped things up.
The rather simple melody allowed Gabriella and Guillaume to showcase their presentation skills, while giving Marie-France Dubreuil, who choreographed it, space to come up with daring lifts that emphasised their skating abilities. As it's often the case with great skaters, rather than making the routine boring, the soft music contrasted greatly with their movements, which made them stand out. That's something that only classical music can do. The gentle flow of the music also stressed the impression of flying, which figure skating already gives you, making their routine run smoothly from beginning to end. The effect was rather calming to the viewer, because instead of trying to pay attention to every single element and inflection in the music, they could simply sit back and enjoy. Even when the frantic piano came in, it didn't take the focus off the elements, because it was masterfully paired with a spin.
And that's how you sync the choreography with the melody on this type of music. Sure, that's how you sync it on any type of music, but choreographers pay more attention to phasing the elements correctly when it comes to classical music because often that's the only thing they can link the movements to. Unlike soundtracks or musicals, classical music doesn't have lyrics or, more often than not, even a story (unless you're talking opera, which I will discuss separately in another post). What it does have is lots of changes in the melody, and it is those changes that dictate the choreography. Now that might be troublesome for some choreographers, but it also gives them a freedom no other genre does, not only in creating the movements themselves, but also in coming up with a story.
Concerto No. 23 goes from Allegro to Adagio and back to Allegro (or from happy to sad to happy again, in simplified terms), but has no story to it. Gabriella and Guillaume used the Adagio part, but told a love story on it, from the butterflies-in-the-stomach beginning to the teardrops-on-the-piano end. There wasn't much there to tell us the story, except their body language and their facial expressions, but because the music was unassuming, the story could shine through. This is not something I've seen skaters do often with classical music. Mostly, they simply interpret it, but because Gabriella and Guillaume are a couple, it makes sense that they came up with a story for it.
There were a lot of other terrific skaters who chose classical music last season. Anna Pogorilaya's Adagio (with lyrics!) was superb, re-assuring the ISU that they made the right decision when allowing lyrics into the single and pair competition. Qing Pang & Jian Tong made good use of the new rule both in their short programme (Moonflower by Secret Garden) and free skate (Io Ci Saro by David Foster and Walter Afanasieff) - I guess they didn't want to retire without trying it on - and the result was breathtaking. And of course, Yuzuru Hanyu was ever the living legend on Ballade no. 1 by Chopin. But because of the change in style and the consequences that came out of it, no other classical routine could match up to Gabriella and Guillaume's level of success. They are well on their way to becoming figure skating legends, but they couldn't have done it if a little boy from Salzburg with an almost impossible name (Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart) hadn't had a maddening passion for music more than 200 years ago.
I've been meaning to talk about music for a while now, but never really got around it before. So now I am dedicating the next five posts to this wonderful invention that gave colour to the world and helped create our favourite sport.
 |
| Patrick Chan performing his 2013/2014 free skate Photograph: Robert Cianflone / Getty Images Europe |
Classical music started it all. If today we have the likes of Rihanna, Coldplay, Adele and millions of other performing artists, it is because hundreds of years ago, people like the Italian named Andrea Amati (allegedly) sculpted a violin out of a piece of wood. It's a shame then that today few people appreciate the origins of music, while the majority disregard classical music as outdated. Not figure skating enthusiasts though. We know that what makes this genre exceptional is exactly what others find boring about it: the lack of words. For what other genre can tell a story so accurately without lyrics? What other genre can spark the imagination, allowing you to create your own story to go with it?
Throughout time, many figure skaters have created iconic programmes on classical music, reinforcing a bond that will never disappear no matter how much modern music influences the world outside the ice rink. People like Patrick Chan, who broke all kinds of records in 2013/2014 on music by Sergei Rachmaninoff; or Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who took the world by storm when they won the Olympic gold in 2010 on Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 5. Ballets such as The Swan Lake and Giselle have created champions and figure skating legends because classical music requires a softness of movement and lyricism that only the best of skaters can achieve.
Last season, classical music played a particularly important role in the ice-dance competition. Almost all the top couples chose it as their free skate music. Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte danced to Danse Macabre, Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje chose The Four Seasons... However, the couple on whom classical music had the biggest impact were the European and World champions, Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron, whose style metamorphosed from edgy and alternative to sophisticated and classical in just one season.
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| Gabriella and Guillaume's presentation skills impressed both the judges and the fans Photograph: Xiaolu Chu / Getty Images Asia |
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| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is possibly the most famous Classical composer in the world |
And that's how you sync the choreography with the melody on this type of music. Sure, that's how you sync it on any type of music, but choreographers pay more attention to phasing the elements correctly when it comes to classical music because often that's the only thing they can link the movements to. Unlike soundtracks or musicals, classical music doesn't have lyrics or, more often than not, even a story (unless you're talking opera, which I will discuss separately in another post). What it does have is lots of changes in the melody, and it is those changes that dictate the choreography. Now that might be troublesome for some choreographers, but it also gives them a freedom no other genre does, not only in creating the movements themselves, but also in coming up with a story.
 |
| Yuzuru Hanyu skating at the ISU World Team Trophy Photograph: Atsushi Tomura / Getty Images Asia |
There were a lot of other terrific skaters who chose classical music last season. Anna Pogorilaya's Adagio (with lyrics!) was superb, re-assuring the ISU that they made the right decision when allowing lyrics into the single and pair competition. Qing Pang & Jian Tong made good use of the new rule both in their short programme (Moonflower by Secret Garden) and free skate (Io Ci Saro by David Foster and Walter Afanasieff) - I guess they didn't want to retire without trying it on - and the result was breathtaking. And of course, Yuzuru Hanyu was ever the living legend on Ballade no. 1 by Chopin. But because of the change in style and the consequences that came out of it, no other classical routine could match up to Gabriella and Guillaume's level of success. They are well on their way to becoming figure skating legends, but they couldn't have done it if a little boy from Salzburg with an almost impossible name (Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart) hadn't had a maddening passion for music more than 200 years ago.
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