Activities Sports & Athletics About Music for Figure Skating Share PINTEREST Email Print A Young Figure Skater. The Catcher Photography / Moment Open Collection / Getty Images Sports & Athletics Skating Basics History Gear Lessons Famous Skaters Inline Skating Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Jo Ann Schneider Farris Jo Ann Schneider Farris was a silver medalist in junior ice dancing at the 1975 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships and is the author of two books on skating our editorial process Jo Ann Schneider Farris Updated March 30, 2017 Figure Skating Music Can Make a Skater 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. Age and Skating Level and Music 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. Coaches May Choose a Figure Skater's 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. Choreography 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. Figure skating programs need to be a certain length 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! Professional Music Editing and/or Pre-Cut Figure Skating Music 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. Ice Skating Programs Sometimes Include Music From Movie Soundtracks and Classical Music 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. Take Some Time Choosing Your Figure Skating 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.