About Music for Figure Skating

A figure skater's music is a very important, and it is common for skaters to use the same piece of music for an entire competition season. The music a skater performs to should inspire a figure skater, so the skater must really like the music he or she skates to.  

When selecting music for a figure skater's program, the age and skating ability of the skater should be considered. It is common for new ice skaters to use music from movie soundtracks and classical music.

Many ice skating coaches arrange music for their figure skating students. Expect that there will be charges for the time this takes. Pre-cut pieces of figure skating music are available.

Once music is selected, a skater's program is usually choreographed by his or her coach or choreographer, and certain figure skating moves, depending on skating level, are required to be included in an ice skater's program.

Example:  Figure skaters competing at the Pre-Preliminary level skate to music that is one and one-half minutes long. The music a figure skater skates to is custom made to the correct length.  After the music is arranged, it can be put on a CD or an iPod or similar device.

For many years, some skaters put their music on cassette tapes and used a pause button to "cut" the music from a master CD, but now, the standard for skating music is CDs. Some arenas are no longer using CDs; skaters bring their music to the rink on iPods or phones.

Before tapes, skaters had custom records made for figure skating and it was common to see young skaters entering an ice arena with skates and a record case!

If a skater uses a professional music editing service cut music for ice skating or purchases pre-cut figure skating music, there will be charges for the time it takes to find the best music for a skater and there will be additional fees for the time it takes to put the music together.

Until recently, vocal music was not used unless the program was for a show, exhibition, or artistic event, but times have changed. Skaters that compete can skate to either vocal or instrumental music.

Some figure skaters will skate to the same piece of music for an entire year, so it is recommended that skaters and coaches listen to many pieces of music before making a commitment to a certain musical selection.