Love Playlists for Jazz & Hip Hop

Posted in Music by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

And we have come upon our last Valentine’s playlist! Click here for previous weeks (tap, children, lyrical).

This week’s playlist is everything else I found that didn’t fit under certain heading – mostly for jazz or hip hop, with a little classical ballet mixed in at the end!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little series… have a great Valentine’s Day!

JAZZ
Stereo Love – Edward Maya ft Alicia
Somebody To Love Remix – Justin Beiber ft. Usher
Seasons of Love – RENT
One Love – David Guetta
Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Groove Is In The Heart – Dee Lite
Heartbeat – Enrique Inglesias

HIP HOP
Love Lockdown – Kanye West
Countdown – Beyonce
Good Feelin – Flo Rida
You Make Me Feel So – Cobra Starship
BALLET
DJ Got Us Fallin In Love – Sunny Choi
Love Story – Taylor Swift
The Heart Asks Pleasure First – Ahn Trio

4Feb2012

Video: Fading Music Using GarageBand

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

The Dance Buzz debuts its first video!

If you’ve ever needed to fade a song to fit a time limit or your choreography, the OS X program GarageBand has some great features that make it really easy to do.

GarageBand was made for recording music or making podcasts, but we are going to use it to end a song early and fade it out. This is one of the easiest and simplest edits to do.

For those who want technical nitty gritty: I’m using GarageBand ’11 (version 6.0.4) on my MacBook Pro, which is running OS X Lion.

Give me a shoutout in the comments if you found this video helpful or informative – I’d like to do a series of videos showing more complicated edits. Would you be interested in that?Video transcript and more tips (not included in the video) after the jump:

Continue reading →

30Jan2012

Love Playlist for Children & Tweens

Posted in Music by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

This playlist is super sweet!

Until Valentine’s Day, I’ll be doing a different “Love” themed playlist every Monday. (See previous here).

This week’s playlist is for children and tween classes.

Enjoy!

http://widgets.itunes.apple.com/itunes.html?wtype=4&app_id=null&country=us&partnerId=30&affiliate_id=http%3A%2F%2Fclick.linksynergy.com%2Ffs-bin%2Fstat%3Fid%3DQaW75AlCQx4%26offerid%3D146261%26type%3D3%26subid%3D0%26tmpid%3D1826%26RD_PARM1%3D&ww=300&t=Children%2520%2526%2520Tween%2520Valentines&d=Sweet%2520little%2520Valentine%2527s%2520playlist%2520for%2520children%2520and%2520tweens.%2520From%2520The%2520Dance%2520Buzz%2521&pl=0,328975652,253615319,25516790,284401623,274594,280215891,219582775,61676286,330879379,287347170,394755226,373014284,283992711,444901560,258604737,303289570,107654365

Tween songs are further down on the playlist.

Using a blog reader and can’t see the playlist app? Click the “read more link” to see the full playlist

Continue reading →

23Jan2012

Love Playlist for Lyrical / Contemporary Class

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

Until Valentine’s Day, I’ll be doing a different “Love” themed playlist every Monday. This week’s playlist is geared towards lyrical or contemporary dancers. After I made the playlist, I realized it tended to go to the darker side of love – the heartache or wanting. All the better to ’emote’ with, I guess! As my students would say, “this song needs an angsty lyrical face.”

[Links open up in iTunes]

Love Remains The Same – Gavin Rossdale – an uplifting song
My Love – Sia – hauntingly beautiful
She Is Love – Parachute – simple and soft acoustic guitar
A Little More of You – Ashley Chambliss – mellow
Like You Do – Angel Taylor – very “pop” and bubbly
I Will Show You Love – Kendall Payne – updated love ballad
Be Be Your Love – Rachael Yamagata – 3/4 rhythm, bluesy
The Book of Love – Peter Gabriel – beautiful song for all ages
Thinking About You – The Big Scary – slow and steadily tugging on your heartstrings
Fools In Love – Inara George – another 3/4 time! Lamenting about fools in love
Jar of Hearts – Christina Perri – no need for description, there’s a reason it’s overplayed…
Piece of My Heart – Keri Noble – song about leaving a piece of yourself behind – I used this as a duet for sisters when one of them was a high school senior

18Jan2012

SOBuzz: Music Licensing Break-Down

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

I will dance to a different drum…
unless that drum beat is owned by BMI.

It's that time of year again… music licensing! If you're like my dance studio, you may have recently gotten an invoice from ASCAP and are contemplating hiring a band of musicians just so you don't have to pay the necessary evil that is music license fees every year.

(Dear ASCAP, BMI & SESAC… just kidding – I will still be paying you this year!)

I get many requests for what I actually pay for my studio's music license, so I thought why not do a post now?

Before you scroll down further, if you're a new dance studio owner, fitness instructor or dance teacher and want more information about WHY we you may need to pay music license fees, check out my previous posts on music licensing:

FAQ's about Music Licensing for Dance Studio – this is the most popular post on The Dance Buzz. Great discussion in the comments as well.

License-Free Alternatives – really don't want to pay BMI, SESAC or ASCAP? Use only live musicians or license-free music. Check out the pro's and cons here.

Ok. All studied up? Alright, let's move on to the money.

9Jan2012

NMM: Katie Herzig – Lost & Found

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

I love this song – I heard it on Grey’s Anatomy a few months ago and needed to have it immediately! I finally found out that it is Katie Herzig’s “Lost and Found” from her album “The Waking Sleep” that came out in September 2011. Grab the song on iTunes here:

I’ve been using it in my jazz & contemporary warm-ups and cool downs. The beginning starts off slowly, but make sure you listen through until about 2:10 when the chorus starts in and the song really starts to take off… it has such an uplifting feeling! My teens really enjoyed this song and the lyrics are PG enough to use for younger students as well.

19Dec2011

NMM: Hey Ya – Obidiah Parker

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

This one’s been around for a while, but I recently re-discovered it in my playlists.

Today’s New Music Monday song is an acoustic cover of Hey Ya by Obadiah Parker

I like to use this song in my modern and contemporary classes and also for a cool-down in jazz class. The only problem is for the first few times you play it, the kids will be concentrating on figuring out why it sounds so familiar. I know I was!

Click here for all contemporary New Music Mondays

********
And there’s ONE MORE DAY LEFT to VOTE FOR US for Top Dance Blog of 2011 by commenting on the post (click this link). Thank you!

12Dec2011

NMM: Jungle – Emma Louise

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

Today’s New Music Monday tune is Jungle by Australian singer Emma Louise. Enjoy!

I’ve been using the “TapeGun” remix below for my jazz and contemporary classes, which you can download here (for free!). I like the intro of this remix and that it is a little faster than the original. We used it for a combination that only used the first minute or so. After the chorus it gets into the more “remixed” feeling and dubstep, which doesn’t inspire my lyrical-leaning choreography, but you might like it!

Click here for all contemporary New Music Mondays

********
And there’s ONE MORE WEEK LEFT to VOTE FOR US for Top Dance Blog of 2011 by commenting on the post (click this link). Thank you!

6Dec2011

NMM: Holiday Music Round-Up

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

If you enjoy this post, take a moment to VOTE FOR US for Top Dance Blog of 2011 by commenting on the post (click this link). Thank you!
*********************************************

My students performing "Winter Song" (2010)

I started writing a post about holiday music, but I realized:

1. I did that last year and I still use the songs on the list.

2. Other dance bloggers also have some great suggestions.

3. It's not Monday, so I guess this isn't a "New Music Monday".

So instead, I'm pointing you in the direction of some already awesome posts about holiday music! Ok, so one of them is my own post, so technically I just called myself awesome.. but let's let it slide, ok? 'Tis the season!

The Dance Buzz Holiday Music – Full albums and individual track recommendations

And because I can't resist, here are a few more "winter" and holiday tracks to keep your playlists updated!

5Dec2011

Music Monday: License-Free Alternatives

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

If you enjoy this post, take a moment to VOTE FOR US for Top Dance Blog of 2011 by commenting on the post (click this link). Thank you!
*********************************************
Our most popular post to date has been Dance Studio Music Licensing FAQ. If you haven't checked it out, it's worth a read whether you're a studio owner or instructor – including the comments!

After seeing more comments pop up, I became interested in researching royalty-free music. While there are not that many specifically for dance studios, I did come across some alternatives.

My favorite alternative for royalty-free class music is the use of live music! However, when live musicians are not easily available (or affordable), you maybe looking for some options.

You will notice that the prices for license-free music is much higher than the 99 cent or $1.29 per track cost of licensed music. Because license-free artists do not receive royalties, the prices are higher. Either way, here are the tracks which you can use in class or for performance without paying ASCAP, BMI or SESAC:

1) Lynn Stanford's Ballet CD collection – I love Lynn Stanford's ballet music – possibly because my ballet teachers used his CDs throughout my childhood and then again in college.

The only one available on iTunes is #8301 "More Music For Ballet Class" , but you can find the rest on danceclassmusic.com – The ballet music titles that are without license are: #8001, #8301, #8403, #8712, #9121, #9122 (prices range from $16.00-$30.00).

He also has Music for Modern Class ($26.00).