Dance is an all encompassing art form. It is music made physical. It is experienced visually, audibly and kinesthetically. When all of these elements come together perfectly, we have an emotional experience that we carry with us for a long time. But when one of those pieces is lacking or not seamless, it throws off the whole experience. It leaves us, subconsciously sometimes, stuck in that moment of disconnect. The obvious issue is that a bad edit just doesn’t sound professional and, subconsciously, lowers the quality of the work in the mind of the audience or judge. Perhaps more importantly can affect the choreographer in the sense that they are trying establish a flow of movement that is natural and progressive. Having an awkward cut can throw off the creative process making the movement awkward or out of synch with what was originally intended. The choreographer and dancer have to find a way to compensate for the glitch and transition through it rather than simply allow the flow of the intention and movement to carry them through.
As you know, music is a structured art form. It deals with chord structure, chord and melodic progression and time. There are limitless structural patterns in music, but most music is structured in 8 bar phrases. The most common is the AABA variation. A melody is established in the first 2 bars (8 counts), repeated in the next two, varied with a leading melody for two and then completed, usually with a variation on the original two bars. If you’re dealing with the standard (4/4) time signature, the standard verse will come out to 32 counts. Occasionally, you will be in a waltz time (3/4) signature and that of course is 24 counts. Quite often, there are musical bridges between the chorus and the next verse in which key changes happen. You also need to be aware of odd bars. These are extra measures added in between, or even in the middle of, verses to allow the composer to transition to the next phrase without having to start a whole new verse or chorus. When editing music, it is essential to be aware of all of these elements in order to ensure a clean and seamless edit.
I’ve been teaching dance for a long time and I’ve judged a lot of competitions over the past few years. I’ve watched a lot of dance. As a choreographer, I know you’ve spent a lot of time putting together your movement and staging to give your dancers the best piece you can. So why would you let them be on stage without the best quality music edit supporting and carrying them through it? Now you’re thinking 'I agree with you – but I teach 25 classes a week. That’s a lot of energy, patience and time in front of a computer just to learn how to use the program to its potential, let alone produce the perfect edit.' That’s where we come in. At Marquette Productions, we specialize in creating the highest quality music edits for your competition team, recital or company. We can change tempos without affecting pitch. We can suppress inappropriate lyrics. We can create beautiful and seamless medleys for your production numbers…all at a price that won’t blow your budget. For small orders we guarantee a 48 hour turnaround; one week for larger orders of 50 songs or more. We provide multiple options of media creation (cd, dvd ,flash drive, mp3 files etc.) so you’re always backed up. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed. We’ll keep doing it until we get it right.
Check out our website at www.marquetteproductions.com and read the testimonials from some of our clients. Marquette Productions for all your production and musical editing needs. Always doing our best work so you can do yours.