The email I received was from our PSA District Representative, who is incredible at getting messages out quickly and correctly. She usually sends us things hours before anyone posts it elsewhere, so I'm sure a message will be arriving from your own rep.

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I wonder if it will this lower our Coaches' USFSA membership fee ($40 in addition to USFSA membership) since each membership included a new rulebook each year? The background check should be less expensive this year since so many people submitted to it last year. They can negotiate a better rate with the existing company or a new one.

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Ok, I'm a little confused here. Listening to all of you discuss the vocal music rule, it sounded like it could be used for Intermediate and below when 6.0 is being used (so basically always for pre-pre through pre-juv, and Juv and Int when IJS isn't being used). However, reading it, it sounds as if vocal music can ALWAYS be used up to Int, IJS or not, and can be used higher if it's 6.0 (ie, test-track).

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There two parts to the vocal music rules. Here's my take on the wording:

1) ...music with lyrics is permitted for Free Skate and Pairs tests.
Any skater taking a Free Skate or Pairs test can use music with lyrics.


2) music with lyrics is permitted for all short and free skate programs up to and including the intermediate level and for events using the 6.0 system.
Skaters competing in No-Test through Intermediate (inclusive) at an IJS competition are allowed to use lyrics.
Skaters in a 6.0 event can use lyrics at any time.

Skaters competing in Novice or higher IJS events are not allowed to use lyrics.

Is this correct?

NB: "lyrics" = "vocals"

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"Greased Lightning" is about teenagers having sex in cars. I cringe every time a little boy skates to it in artistic. I mean, the lyrics don't even try to be subtle. Look 'em up. They're dirty! LOL!

The wording is a bit cryptic (hey, it's figure skating, lol) but I believe those here who attended GC posted earlier that the lyrics rule applies to events through Int level that also use the 6.0 judging system. So that means all events in No-Test through Pre-Juv, and Test Track (or any other) events in Juv and Int where 6.0 is being used. My understanding is that for any event judged under IJS, lyrics are not permitted.

Back when I was a teacher (a former life, lol), the school where I was put on a Thanksgiving musical program. The teachers of the 3rd and 4th graders created this whole mini-musical using "Grease" songs. All the girls were Pink Ladies and the boys were T-birds. "Greased Lightning" became "The Mayflower" (and "Sandra Dee" became "Look at us, the Pink Ladies, cooking turkey, stuffing, and peas..."). It was very cute - no raunchy lyrics, lol.

My former skating club used "Grease" songs as part of the theme for its summer show one year, but the songs were edited to make them G-rated.

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http://www.lyricsdownload.com/grease...ng-lyrics.html

Holy carp! I never read the lyrics before. Maybe Hand Jive isn't dirty, but this certainly is!!

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You're absolutely correct about that song - I don't need to look 'em up, lol. Your exchange was tit for tat then! Was he skating to the vocals? Ewwwww....what were they thinking?

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LOL, no wonder my high school drama teacher banned "Grease" from ever being the school musical!

So did our skating school - it was the open pro number one year.

We had to wear a boatneck pink chenille sweater and a pair of lycra pants that fell down when you walked in them. Glad I found out before we had to skate in those pants! I used hundreds of safety pins for those shows and was very happy to get rid of the costume.

The music and the choreography was great though and yes, we did the hand jive!

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So since all comps are different, how would you know to use vocals or not? Like I said before IJS was used in west coast regionals down to pre pre. Our local comp last year ran IJS to pre juv.So unless you know every comp you do is just test track, it makes no sense to use vocals.

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The announcement should tell you how the competition is scored. If you choice to use lyrics don't enter competitions that don't use 6.0

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Yes, I get the gist. But since you pick music for the whole year, how do you know what comps offer IJS vs 6.0. You have no idea till the annoucments come out, that is the point. My skaters wouldnt use vocals anyway, but I am just playing devils advocate.
Those of us that only have one or two comps in state a year cant pick and choose what to attend.

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Then you don't use lyrics. It seems it's aimed more at skaters who will have no chance of doing an IJS competition, like test-track skaters.

Personally, I think the rule is stupid and still don't understand the rationale. YMMV.

I really don't think so, because it hasn't made a difference at all in synchro or free dance. A good skater who knows how to pick music that highlights their strengths as a skater and perform to it is a good skater and can put on a show regardless of whether they have lyrics or not. I really think people might get lazy and think "hey I have lyrics" and just kind of skate to the music without performing like they may do now to instrumental music.

I also think you do run more of a risk by using lyrics...what if you pick a song the judges don't like, or that they find annoying, or the cuts are distracting? I think it's easier to get over or ignore that with instrumental music.

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But then it comes back to one comp you might do test track, the next comp only offers well balanced, not test track.So it will be confusing to those that go back and forth. It seems like a huge hassel to coaches that have skaters that switch.
Its a shame that no one asked the coaches

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I think you're missing the point. It won't "come back" to anything if you just don't use lyrics at all.

Just pretend there was no rule change. That way, if there is any possibility, however remote, that you will do an IJS comp, your program will be OK. No one is forcing the skater or coach to use lyrics. All hassle can be avoided by choosing an instrumental piece to begin with.

That's how I understood it.

In other words, the only events for which lyrics are not allowed are for standard-track novice through senior freestyle and pairs competition. Everything else should allow lyrics.

"Vocals" in which the voice is used as an instrument, with no words, was already allowed, so the two things are not identical.

I only hope that skaters and coaches choosing to use music with lyrics will make their choices with good taste. And I'm thinking more that they will choose music that is still interesting as music, regardless of what the words do or do not say.

Um, it's a shame they didn't ask ANYONE!! This was presented as new business at the board of directors meeting on Wednesday at GC. They really snuck that in there, and it was the very last thing voted on at the general meeting, when people were already tired and ready to get out. I don't think anyone outside of GC knew this was even up for a vote. It seemed like it should have been something made known before GC.

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ITA, and this is exactly why I don't like the rule — the way it was presented. There was a lot of discussion on it as people started to realize what the rule entailed. But like Stormy said, people were tired and ready to be done. A lot of delegates seemed to just be "going along" with what the board already approved. Such a drastic change to the sport should be presented in the RFAs beforehand, not as new business.

I have heard that this is a movement by the ISU to have vocals in international competitions. They've already done it for Danbce a few years ago. They are getting tired of all the IJS programs looking the same and felt vocals could give a skater the chance to tell a story. They (USFS) apparently also want to try to apeal to a wider audience (TV ratings which we desperately need).

To be more "glass is half full" imagine a really strong skater skating to Nessum Dorma with vocals....rather than Brittany Spears

The rationale also was that the use of vocals would appeal to the younger kids and maybe keep them involved longer. I'm not sure how this accomplished that goal though.

I can see where they are trying to be more TV friendly. Also if the ISU starts allowing vocals and the US doesn't, it poses another problem. USFS only has so much control, the ISU drives most of the rule changes.

LW

I just read through some of the disillusionment with skaters who come back a little lower than they probably should to "test the waters..."

I started skating at 22....fortunately, because of my age, the competitive requirements when I was a kid were even enough with my current level's requirements that we seem to all be on a fairly level playing field. (I doubt our gold medalist skated competitively as a kid, and I believe last year's did not.) I can't tell you who skated as a kid and who didn't in my freestyle groups, for example.

Let's take two kids, born in 1988. One skates from 5 until 16, quitting as a competitive preliminary. The other starts in college, starting with standard tests and moving over to adult after her 21st birthday. Okay, a prelimary program circa 2004 looked very similar to an adult Gold program, if not Masters Novice. Even if you take into account that the kid skater didn't keep herself in shape during that five year layoff, there is no way these two skaters (one who competed prelim as a kid and one who just passed the bronze fs test in time to enter ANs) will look anything alike at their first adult nationals in 2010, even if the rules allow them to compete against each other.

I know it doesn't seem like an issue, but I certainly hope someone is paying attention to the skaters who start in their late teens/early 20s. It's a great group that can recharge the ranks of adult skaters because they have so much energy and enthusiasm--but aren't prone to burnout. Given that we have an age bell curve in skating, we need a lot more young faces in the adult ranks...so we do have to make sure they aren't being inadvertently "pushed out."

(and I was just wondering why Rob wasn't already on the Adult Committee...that seems about 5 years too late, IMHO.....)

I agree with you ! I am not a coach, just a mom. My kids have showcase and artistic and wouldnt use vocals for FS. I just think its a strange thing to sneak in, and since I have seen kids go back and forth with test and wb fs, can see some people using the wrong music!

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Couldn't agree with you more. This is a big part of the future of adult skating

Thanks for the nice note.

Part of the reason is that there have been 2 other people from my club on the committee at different times. Ginger was on it for a while, and then Davin was on the committee up until last year. I applied last year and didn't hear anything back. This year I was approached by the Eastern Section chair.

Rob

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2010 Adult Nationals - earning a gold - "Priceless"
2009 Adult Nationals - competing with a cold is not much fun.
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