Skating to live music

[Serenity]

I don't like the increasing trend of skaters performing to live music performances (that is, the singer is there onstage performing live while the skater is skating). It's okay when you are actually in the audience seeing the performance in person, but on TV the cameras spend too much of the time zooming in for close-ups of the singers/musicians, and viewers miss part of the skater's performance.

I was especially disappointed that the Scott Hamilton and Friends special was ALL live music performances. I wanted to see skating, not Susan Anton's face or the drummer for that band (forgot the name already) or just a reflection of the skater against the piano. Also, I got tired of hearing the same singers over and over during the show. I would much rather hear a variety of music.

The few pro specials that make it to TV these days seem to be this type of variety show, where they combine the skaters, singers/musicians, dancers (Kurt's special), comedians (Scott's special-- he could DEFINITELY lose those comedians!), etc. I would rather that the skating shows just be skating!!

[Suzanne]

I totally agree!! The more live performers they bring in, the more the figure skating (& its coverage) gets compromised.

[jcspkbfan]

ITA with both of you--the only thing I find more annoying than cameras cutting away from the skaters to show closeups of the singers is when the skaters themselves only get to perform to about half the song! (ie. Steven and Kurt's second numbers)

I wonder why networks don't simply split the screen in half (ie. Kurt's 1992 CBC SOI broadcast performance of Bring Him Home with Michael Burgess singing live) whenever they televise skaters performing to live music. Shows like this would be much more enjoyable to watch on TV if we didn't have to miss out on seeing any of the skating (the reason why most of us tune into these kinds of shows in the first place) every time the cameras need to zoom in on a closeup of the non-skating performers!

That being said, I still enjoyed most of Scott's show yesterday afternoon (even though I wish Kurt and Steven got to skate a little more during their second numbers and agree those backstage comedians were generally a waste of time, but at least they weren't actually out on the ice!) I was especially impressed by Todd's second "drumming" number (well, the parts of it we actually got to see, anyway!) Quite a departure from any of Todd's competitive programs, that's for sure! :)

[meli]

Unfortunately, once something gets started in figure skating, the idea tends to get copied until it's beaten into the ground. The first special I saw them use this device was the Sergei Grinkov tribute and ever since EVERYBODY has had to do it.

*sigh* where is originality when we need it?

[tollerfan]

I totally agree with the consensus here. I find it very distracting and annoying when the cameras cut away to the musical artist. My reason for watching is also the skating and this sort of venue hurts the skater much more than the musical artist. After all, we are used to listening to our musical favourites on cd, on the radio, and at live shows, and you don't necessarily have to *see* the musical artist in order to enjoy the performance, but you *do* need to (have to) be able to see the skater in order to enjoy or evaluate the skating.

[IceDanz]

Maybe in the not too distant future, technology could be used so that the viewer could choose between watching the skaters or the musicians. I know that technology is available on DVD's as well as satellite TV systems. I'll certainly be watching the first time they televise an 'interactive' skating special.