2007 KUR
In 2007 Zena and I decided
to stay at the Second Level to get a 2nd Level Freestyle
scores that we need for the USDF Bronze Freestyle Medal.
For my birthday, my hubby gave me a new Dressage
Divas, Freestyle To Music software program
and a couple of books on dressage musical freestyles. Even
though he was the one who was complaining that he can't
listen to my endless computer editing of the same old same
old music a couple
of years ago, he claims that he is willing to go through
this music dezavu again. New this year is the Equimusic,
Freestyle Music Database for the walk, trot,
and canter gaits should make it much easier to find the
correct music. Also the new Dressage Divas, Freestyle To
Music should make it easier to edit music, create the choreography,
follow the rules and even practice in the virtual arena.
Come back in a couple of months to see our progress!
Update: unfortunately, my mare
Zena, came up lame in February 2007 and had to have 6 months
off. In June 2007 she had a mild colic as well. After a
careful and slow rehab that was prescribed by a Pioneer
Equine hospital vet, I was able to bring back Zena to walk/trot/canter
Training Level work under saddle for 5 days per week in
August of 2007. I'm hoping Zena will be able to stay sound
with increased collection work needed for 2nd-3rd level
work.
| 2007 Musical Freestyle Second
Level (work in progress) |
I'm looking for the new music
now. Thinking about doing something with bells. |
Evolution
of the "Tribal" Musical Freestyle, 3 years with
the same theme: 2004, 2005, 2006
2006 KUR
Zena and I moved up
to the second level for dressage musical freestyle and I
commissioned my first professional freestyle ($750) from
Diane Kernodle of Center Stage Musical Freestyles in November
2005. I wanted to continue to evolve the tribal theme, and
Diane Kernodle of Center Stage Musical Freestyles found
several trot music selections for me to choose from. The
old trot was replaced first and I showed with an old walk
and an old canter until June 2006. In June 2006 Diane Kernodle
of Center Stage Musical Freestyles found new canter music,
but was still looking for the ending for a final halt.
The CDs created by Diane Kernodle of Center Stage Musical
Freestyles kept skipping the music at the local shows and
we could 't figure out why it was doing that. The CDs played
just fine at home and the show system was playing other
people's CDs fine as well. After showing several times with
some parts of the music missing, my husband and show manager
figured out that the CDs were mixed for Stereo and the show
only had a Mono system. The Mono speakers didn't pick up
some of the Stereo Tracks. I received some negative comments
from judges that they couldn't hear portions of my music.
2006 was the first year that I didn't qualify for the Freestyle
Championships, but we did qualify for a regular 2nd Level
Dressage Championships. Lessons
learned: check if the CD is recorded in Mono or Stereo and
check if show equipment is in Mono or Stereo to avoid skipped
sound tracks.
| 2006 Professional Musical Freestyle
Second Level "Pocahontas"
(professional work in progress) |
Update: I'm no longer hoping
to use this freestyle, link was deleted. After a year,
unfortunately this professional freestyle was still
never completed fully. |
2005 KUR
In
2005 Zena and I were still riding First Level. I decided
to have a continuous tribal theme in my KUR. I'm a big fan
of the "Lion King" so I took a chance and incorporated
two of the songs from The Lion King into my freestyle for
the entrance and trot. I received many compliments from
judges about the walk music that I had in 2004, so I decided
to keep it the same. For the canter music, I found a nice
violin with the tribal voices. Again, I mixed my freestyle
myself on my computer, recorded it onto a CD and I was ready
to go. Right away I had comments about my choreography being
too test like. I found out that creating choreography is
the hardest thing for me, so I hired the professional musical
freestyle designer Diane Kernodle from Center Stage Musical
Freestyles to create the choreography for Zena and me and
that helped with my scores. Some other negative comments
about my 2005 freestyle was that Lion King music did not
match my mare's beat and the canter music was too background-like.
Still, we had a great year with the 2005 freestyle: we qualified
and showed at the USDF and CDS Championships for the 1st
Level Freestyle. Lessons
learned: Even if the music is pretty and everybody loves
it, but it's monotone and doesn't have enough variation
in it, this is not music that judges will like.
| 2005 Musical Freestyle First
Level "Lion King" (2/3 home
made, 1/3 pro) |
click
here to listen (large
file) |
2004 KUR
Our first freestyle
music in 2004 was found by a Zena's original owner Shareen
Purcell, she also helped us with the choreography and we
got some good marks on it. Shareen gave me several original
CDs and I mixed my freestyle myself on my computer, importing
parts of music from those CDs and putting them together
for a final freestyle mix. That was a lot of fun and I enjoyed
playing with the music. I also mixed two FEI freestyles
for Shareen as well and put them on CDs on my computer (you
can listen to them below). Mixing is not hard, it's fun
and easy to learn, but it does take a lot of time and patience,
because the files are so huge and it takes a long time for
computers to process any command. I still would encourage
riders to try mixing music themselves. Our 2004 music was
not in the continuous style: we started in Africa and finished
in Spain. I got negative feedback from judges about not
having continuing style of music and having too many disruptive
vocals. that was our first freestyle and my introduction
to the exciting world of Dressage Musical Freestyles. We
qualified for the USDF and CDS Championships for the 1st
Level Freestyles. Lesson
learned: have a continuous style of music throughout the
entire freestyle. Avoid vocals if possible.
| 2004 Musical Freestyle First
Level "From a Jungle to Spain" (home
made) |
click
here to listen (large
file) |
There are two freestyles that I was
asked to mix by Shareen Purcell on my computer and I just
had a blast doing that. I did not find the music, it was
already pre selected for those freestyles by the client.
I was given the CD's and description what sections needed
to be mixed up. Enjoy!
