Huge congratulations to Cheryl Stenz and the Newtown High School dance team! After winning their conference title a few weeks ago, yesterday they won the Connecticut State Championship in the lyrical category with their Turn To Stone routine. The music for this routine was edited by Squirrel Trench Audio. Here is their winning routine:
Tag Archives: lyrical
Ready for some musical inspiration?
Dance teachers, and studio owners, this post is for you.
Right at the peak of Regionals competition season, heading into recitals and possibly Nationals, there is much that needs to be worked on. Some of you are also getting ready for a new season of routines, which means new choreography, which means new music.
When you are ready to start working on the next season, and need musical inspiration, then look no further than a Squirrel Trench Audio custom remix. Every piece of music is worked on individually and uniquely for YOU and your dancer’s needs. There is no cookie-cutter process, and you will not hear your music used by another dance studio. For dancer teachers who love great music, we think the difference between a piece of music which is custom crafted just for you and your dancers is a difference that can be FELT throughout your process of working with your students. You KNOW that this music is YOURS and YOURS ONLY which is something you can feel great about.
We’ve created custom remixes for a number of dance studios throughout the country, including Beatles remixes, Michael Jackson remixes, Janet Jackson remixes, hip hop remixes, movie/Broadway soundtrack medleys, and many others. We’ve also done scary horror-movie themed remixes, and Dancing Through the Ages medleys. We can do recital opening/grand finale numbers such as this fun Wizard of Oz production.
If a Squirrel Trench custom remix is just the ticket to get your choreographic creative juices flowing (especially for your teen, junior and senior groups), then the process is easy. Just email me (morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com) or give me a call at 413-535-0621 to discuss the ideas you want shaped into the music for your routine. Pricing varies depending on the complexity of the project, but is generally in the range of $89 to $129.
Call or email me when you are ready to get started!
Brianna Roland wins Starbound Senior Overall
Congratulations to Brianna Roland for earning Elite Gold in both of her solo performances at the Starbound regional competition in Springfield, Mass. yesterday. These fierce performances earned her both First and Second place in the overalls for her age category. Her jazz routine Lady Jackson features an original Squirrel Trench remix of Janet Jackson’s Nasty, and her lyrical routine features a Squirrel Trench edited song by OneRepublic.
Time to choose songs for the 2012-13 dance season
Recitals are wrapping up, or are done, and now on to Nationals for many competitive dance studios. That means now is the perfect time to finalize your song selections for the coming 2012-2013 dance season! When you have selected your song, and you need it edited, cut, or remixed to competition length, then email me, and I’ll make it happen for you. I can also speed your song up, slow it down, or raise its volume without distortion.
Here are a few songs to get your musical creative juices flowing:
Jazz:
Tenderoni – Chromeo
What Is Hip? – Juju Orchestra
Who Do You Think You Are? – Spice Girls
Lyrical:
Against All Odds – Academical Village People (a cappella cover of Phil Collins)
Slow Me Down – Emmy Rossum (nearly a cappella)
Slow Me Down – The Illinois Rip Chords (purely a cappella cover)
Graduation (Friends Forever) – Vitamin C
She’s Got A Way – Dear Abbeys (a cappella cover of Billy Joel)
I Am – Nichole Nordeman
Tap:
Let’s Go Crazy – Dear Abbeys (a cappella cover of Prince)
This Love – Academical Village People (a cappella cover of Maroon 5)
This Love – UVA Academic Village People (a cappella cover of Maroon 5)
If you need more suggestions, check out these pages which are chock full: Jazz • Lyrical • Tap
Congratulations to the Dance Mom of the Year
Dancemom.com‘s online competition for the Dance Mom of the Year has just wrapped up. Squirrel Trench Audio is proud to be a sponsor of the contest, and will be providing a free music edit to two winners from Week 2 of the contest, and two music edits to the grand prize winner.
You can view the entries from the three finalists to win the grand prize.
Congratulations to Savgirlsmom for winning the Dance Mom of the Year title! Also, congratulations to MelPadgett and BerriCre8v and all of the other “momtestants.” You are all winners in my book.
In addition to the two winners from Week 2 (PinnellMom and GumbysMom), and the grand prize winner (SavgirlsMom), Squirrel Trench Audio will also be giving two free music edits to the runners-up, both MelPadgett, and BerriCre8v.
Another title win with a Squirrel Trench Audio track
We are pleased to report that dancer extraordinaire Brianna Roland has won yet another title award, this time at StarQuest competition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, winning the title of Miss Starquest, with her lyrical performance called “Looking Back”. The music is an edit of a Sigur Rós track called Samskeyti.
For a one-minute excerpt of this fine performance, you can view it on YouTube. Unfortunately the audio quality in the linked video is very poor. However, the music sounded fantastic in the auditorium.
Winning the title is nothing new for Miss Brianna, as she has already done so several times this year, and has in previous years as well.
Another routine performed at Starquest using an original Squirrel Trench Remix soundtrack won Classic Top Score Duo/Trio, but I’m not going to provide a link because the audio quality is so poor.
Welcome to Squirrel Trench Audio!
Welcome! Squirrel Trench Audio is proud and honored to be the official sponsor this week of DanceMom.com’s Dance Mom of the Year Contest! It’s only fitting, since this week, the contest is all about the music used in dance. Break a leg to all of the Dance Moms competing! And we are also excited that we will be giving the winner a FREE music edit!
The mission of Squirrel Trench Audio is to ensure that all dancers have gorgeous, beautiful, funky, grooving, and/or soulful music to dance to. Towards that end, there are many things you may find valuable on this site. We have:
• Tips for all you music editors out there, including how to Avoid Awkward Fade-Outs, Understanding Song Structure, and CD Care Tips
• Songs that are a little off the beaten path in the categories of Jazz, Tap, and Lyrical
• For those of you looking for a professional music editing service, we also offer song edits for $39, or custom remixes starting at $74. Some samples are here, and Testimonials are here. We can also fix music that has already been edited, but that still have jumps, clicks, or glitches in it, as well as master music for proper volume, if it has sections that sound too soft in competition halls.
Feel free to browse this site, and ask me any questions at any time. I can be reached via email at: morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com.
Break a leg, all you Dance Mom of the Year contestants, and break a leg to all the other dance parents and dancers as you enter another year of exciting competitions!
More group CDs bound for competition!
Here are just a few of Squirrel Trench’s original remixes for small to large groups in jazz and tap categories that will be competing (and in most cases premiering) this weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts at USTD.
I can’t even begin to fathom the number of hours that went into producing these gems… a true labor of love. We’ll see if it translates into scoring well for the dancers. I can’t wait to see them performed!
Testimonials for Squirrel Trench Audio
Normally I like to contribute many ideas and techniques for how YOU can edit your own dance routine music better, but I would be remiss if I didn’t occasionally post some of the glowing testimonials that are coming in for my Squirrel Trench Audio music editing and remixing work. It is truly a pleasure to make so many dance parents, dance teachers, and dance studio owners happy by providing solid, click-free, glitch-free, well-structured music for their superlative choreography.
Here are a couple testimonials; more can be found on the Testimonial page:
“You are a rock star! This is amazing! I can not wait to see her rock out on stage to this version!”
— a dance mom in Texas,
December 17, 2011
“Oh my goodness! This is great! I can’t wait to have her listen when she gets home from school today. I will have her bring it to gym and see what the coach thinks about timing. I’m sure it will be great. Thanks so very much! That was fast!”
— parent of a gymnastic student in Ohio,
who needed a music edit/remix for a floor routine
October 11, 2011
“It sounds great; I love your work!”
— Miss Daysha, dance teacher at
OnStage Dance Studios, Cedar City Utah
February 21, 2012
“Thank you! It’s perfect….I’ll be sending some more requests soon.”
— Miss Kimberly, dance studio owner at
Dance for Joy, Brielle, New Jersey
November 2, 2011
Soloist’s CDs are ready!
It’s that time of year… when the anticipation reaches a peak with the first dance competition of the season coming up in just days or weeks. The students have been rehearsing for months. Costumes have been selected and have arrived. Now it’s time to make sure that all of the studio’s music is perfect too. Squirrel Trench Audio has been busy burning-competition ready CDs on high quality Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs, complete with competition-ready labels. Note the nine rectangular spaces on the lower part of the CD; these spots enable the studio to write the number of the routine on each CD for every competition entered.
If you are a studio owner, and you want to make your music prep this easy, contact me about our Studio programs— a full service where you simply select the music for each dancer, and receive a set of rehearsal CDs for each student, as well as competition-ready CDs for performance. With this program, it is possible for the studio to make a small profit on their music each year instead of incurring an expense.
For more information, email me. The sooner the better, because the 2012-2013 dance season will be here before you know it!