Auckland Manukau Dressage Group - Guide to Musical Freestyles

THE AMDG BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FREESTYLE TO MUSIC

Everyone loves watching the Grand Prix Kur. The harmony, the tricks and the horse looking like it is actually dancing to the music. But we all need to start somewhere and that start can be daunting. Fortunately in 2017 we have plenty of tools to help us. Freestyles of the past were created by videoing on the old Sony then patiently sitting with the old metronome in front of a double cassette recorder or the stereo system while watching, rewinding, blending or if you were fortunate enough paying a professional to edit your music. Now we have technolgy, phone cameras, computers, iTunes, You Tube. We just need the time.

There are some very good articles on these two links about doing a freestyle.

Christina Keim - CREATING A MUSICAL FREESTYLE THAT WORKS: TIPS FROM THE TOP

Freestyle Dressage Productions - Freestyle Dressage to Music Made Easy

Starting Out

Write for a freestyle! Sounds boring but it opens your eyes to what the judge sees and has to listen to and gives you a whole look into the inside world of a musical feestyle test. What is good and what is not.

Design your floor plan
Where you are going. It doesn't have to be fixed but it is good to have some idea of what you are going to do and which direction you will do it. Check the required movements for the level you are doing and the time it is to be done in then get someone to video you riding it. Without music.

Find your music
Your life is about ot be consumed by listening to music. SHAZAM is a great free app on your phone which will tell you what the song is called. Use your Memo Function or Voice Recorder on your phone to jot down the name of that awesome trot music you heard on the radio this morning because you will forget when set with the task of downloading music.

Choose your music
So you maybe a diehard AC/DC fan but hard rock music isn't going to cut it for your 15.2hh Bay TB mare. Try and keep the same genre and match the music to your horse. The beat should be in time with your footfalls. A big black gelding will suit something rock or big band. Fine boned chestnut mare something light and floaty. Lyrics are optional but very distracting. You need a melody some tempo, something that will get the judge tapping her toes (and they do you watch them when they sit at tables!) and something that you yourself likes. If you hate it you aren't going to enjoy riding to it.

Get your music
These day we just download it offline or if you are old school you can uplod it from a CD. Either way you need to get your song files into your editing software. Some tips where to get it below.

Edit your music
You need an entry, a first halt, three paces and the final halt. Try and match the music to what you are doing. Tinkly for the leg yeilding, stronger for medium trot. If the judge shuts their eyes the music should tell them what you are doing. There are some great free software downloads online that you can use and you don't have to be a music producer to use them. MixPad and Audacity are two that are quite good and are free software to download. Both have functions to change the tempo of the music and burn to MP3.

Blend your music
Try and blend your music together so that the change of song is not abrupt or with a gap. If you are going trot to walk try and use music which winds down to the slower pace. Vice versa for into the canter, have the music build up. Use the fade to fade in and out or add some extra clap sounds or pings etc at the change of gait to help smooth it into one track.

Burn your music
Save it as an MP3 file and burn it to CD and a USB stick and keep them together. It is dangerous to use a Audio. or Wav. file as not all playback devices at events will play them and you do not want to be that person halted outside K with a disc that will not play! For peice of mind save the file to your phone or to cloud storage like iCloud or dropbox because it can then always be accessed from the internet and played via your phone over the mirophone. It wouldn't be the first time!

Practice
Load it on your iPod or phone and ride it at home. Listen to it in your car going to work. Drag the old boom box out the cupboard and take it down the paddock or park the car next to the arena and use that remote you've never used in the glovebox. You need to know your music so that you can change gait right on the change in music or if your plan is not happening ie scary plant at E, then you can deviate and not fall to pieces. If you have the time in your plan then leave a spare 20 secs to do a movement taht didn't go so well again. The experienced riders often have a "spare line" in case their tempi changes or extensions etc don't go to plan. If they miss their 1x tempis and they become 2x tempis they don't panice, they just whip them out again on the spare line and have another go to perfect them.

Horses Gait Range (in BPM)Average BPM

Trot 132-168 BPM Average 145

Walk 98-112 BPM Average 106

Canter 92-105 BPM Average 96

Passage105-116 BPM Average 110

Helpful Technology Tips

SHAZAM a great music identifier. Free app on iPhone and Android.

PHONE MEMOS very useful place to write down any music you hear which would be great for freestyles

MIXPAD AND AUDACITY Two user friendly music mixing programmes which are free to download

YOU TUBE a great place to find instrumental or karaoke versions of the song you want to use and if it is on YouTube then it is your to download

YOU TUBE TO MP3 a great free online tool for converting those YouTube videos to MP3 files so you can edit them Click here

ITUNES AND GOOGLE MUSIC thousands of songs available from thousands of musicians and you can buy just one individual track instead of having to buy the whole album

Got to the bottom of this page and just cannot be bothered or don't have a musical gene in your body? Then Marvin Music is your saviour. A Dutch compny online and reasonably priced in Euros they will email you a music file and a pattern that goes with it. Just tell them what NZ level you are doing and they will do the rest. OK so you may end up with the same music that 5 others are using but it can save a lot of time. The Beatles track download above was purchased from Marvins many years ago. To visit Marvins Music Click here