USDF Convention: Cadence, Computers and Choreography

Cadence, Computers and Choreography
Alexsandra Howard and Bob Wiens

USDF Convention
Thursday, December 4, 2003

Musical freestyle differs from standard dressage tests in that it is a performing art, but execution is still the most important part.

HOW:

Determine horse’s trot, canter and walk tempo by looking at the front legs; they should exactly match music in the final project (but music can be adjusted to a limited degree to MAKE it match—so don’t worry if you find something that is close)
Choose music that has distinct phrases that suggest different movements
Music should have a robust energetic sound
The music should make your horse look better—you can test this either by riding your horse to the music and stopping/starting the music (it will be obvious) or by starting/stopping the music while watching the horse on video
The music should have sections of heightened intensity, as well as quieter sections

EQUIPMENT:

Metronome
CD player and music in CD form
Computer and editing program (program demonstrated was Sound Forge, which is entry level and has some limitation, particularly in the ability to edit the “sound envelope,” other programs exist. Check out discussions on dressage bulletin boards, etc., to get an idea of what’s out there.
Boom box or sound system for the arena
Dressage court that is ACCURATELY measured

WHERE TO FIND MUSIC:

Look through your music collection and see what you have. Note the beats per minute and length of your non-vocal selections (vocals are generally not recommended for freestyles), and whether or not they are potentially usable. Ms. Howard generally leaves post-it notes on the covers of her CD’s with this information. This gives you a list of potential ideas for trial later at the arena. Do the same with your friends’ collections, and also collaborate with your riding friends. You can also explore internet collections. Certain artists/groups have more music at usable tempos than others. Other places to check are music stores, college music libraries and the radio.
Try out your possibilities at the arena. Test the music against the horse. Does it make the horse look better, worse or the same? It’s not about how YOU feel about the music, it’s really about how it makes the horse LOOK. Note that the music you use doesn’t have to be top-of-the-line connoisseur stuff. Some of Ms. Howard’s best music has been cheap rockin’ out classics for kids that she got as multi-CD sets at Costco.

Music choices should be cohesive. Look beyond slight differences in tempo. You can fix those later.

After you’ve chosen the music, listen to it several times. Are there places that say extended trot? Listen for the places that are beginnings of phrases, and that suggest places that you can add movements to interpret the music?

Ms. Howard diagrams her music. She breaks the music up into groups of 4 beats, and then divides those groups of 4 beats into phrases which she assigns letters. In music, phrases are often repeated. A common pattern is often something like AABA or ABAB, then a musical bridge, which she would label C, followed by a repetition of the previous pattern of phrases.

Next to this information, Ms. Howard also makes a note as to where in the file the phrase begins so that she can find it again for easier editing. Mapping out the music in this way gives her an idea as to how many steps (strides) she has to work with so that she can decide where in the arena she wants to place her movements.

NOW—armed with decisions made regarding the music—i.e., assuming you know what your entrance, trot, walk, canter, exit music will be, you can make your rough cut of your music.

Editing in sound programs is analgous to working in word processing programs with regard to selecting, cutting, pasting, etc, except that you will have RIGHT and LEFT channels to work with and you want to make sure that you are always working with both of them simultaneously.

First: fix the tempo so that it matches the horse. Digitally altering the tempo is not the same as speeding up or slowing down a record—the pitch does not change. However, if you make too drastic a change, it WILL feel wrong to the listener.
Second: mark key spots, i.e., where you’ll want to make volume adjustments later.

In order to do the choreography, you’ll need to do some homework first. This will take the help of a friend. First you’ll need to know how many steps it takes your horse to do the movements that you’ll use in your freestyle. Make a list of all the movements that will be included, for example, your canter list for a First Level Test might look like this:

Between letters = 5
Around corners = 6
15 meter circle = 20
counter canter 1/2 20 meter circle = 14
short diagonal at medium = 10

and so forth. Your list will need to be specific for your horse.

Equipped with your music diagram, and your list of steps/movements, start playing around with combinations and see what you can make of things in the arena. Some combinations will put you into places you can’t get out of, others will not display the horse to its advantage, and still others will be too difficult. The first attempt will almost certainly not work. Have LOTS of sheets of pre-drawn arenas to play around with, and DRAW, DRAW, DRAW until you come up with a pattern that works.

You’ll have to learn to think in a new way like: a phrase is 32 steps but a circle is 24 steps, which gives me 8 steps to “use up” before the next phrase, but I can’t go too far or I’ll be in the wrong place for the next movement.

In freestyles, you make patterns larger to take up more steps, and you cut corners to make them smaller. YOU DO NOT GO SLOWER OR FASTER!!! In general, if you get many of them on the phrase, the judge will be impressed, and won’t notice the few that were close but not quite on the spot. The transitions between the gaits and the halts are probably the most important, unless your music between gaits has a little natural “vagueness” to it. Transitions and movements DO NOT have to occur at letters.

ALWAYS keep a copy of your music diagram so that you can make future changes to your freestyle. Ms. Howard frequently uses the same music for multiple levels and even for regular freestyles AND quadrilles.

ALWAYS keep a copy of your choreographic diagram so that you can ride the test again in a few months.

Ride with your music a few times to learn the placement and phrasing.

Ride without your music a few times to learn the technical aspects.

After that rehearsals should be in the barn aisle or at home—either in your mind’s eye or on foot.

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