WAG Optional Floor Music Overlap

[cbifoja]

I was wondering how common it was to go to a meet and have two gymnasts in the same session with identical floor music?

DD received her list of possibilities recently and picked one. Don't get me wrong. I think she made a good choice but I also think that it will be somewhat common for her age group. As a matter of fact, someone on CB has a gymmie who is also using the song. Obviously, I don't think we will ever run into each other at meets but it did get me thinking about the topic on a philosophical level.

Are judges affected at all when they hear the same floor music? It seems to me that it would be quite difficult NOT to compare one routine to another.

And as an aside.....thanks Energym! DD loved your version of her floor music and we purchased it last night!

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

At one meet in level 7, I had to go directly after a girl who had the same music as me! She was the only other person in my level who had it. I don't remember being scored any differently than usual.

 

[Natasha]

At larger meets I have heard some songs 2 or even 3 times. I don't think it is too much of an issue, however, I know a L7 last year that used Jordyn Weiber's floor music and every time I heard the music I wanted to see Jordyn perform and it always felt like a letdown.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

I think it depends on how big the meet is and how popular the song is. I'd say the more "popular" the song the greater chance of hearing it more than once in a session. Working at meets I have heard the same song in Optional sessions before. IDK if it affects scoring/elicits comparisons between the two routines with the judges or not.

 

[B&M's mom]

I've worked meets where the multiple girls have had the same songs. I can think of three off the top of my head that I've heard repeatedly at the same meet. It's rare that the same song has been played in the same rotation though I did see that once. I doubt that it will impact the judging as the judges are looking at how well the routine fits the music, not how it compares with another child's routine.

 

[Empowered]

Several of the gyms in NorCal use a compulsory style routine for level 7, meaning the whole level 7 team uses the same music. In fact the number one team up there does this every year. They change the routine every 2 years so judges are seeing identical music/choreography from 15-18 girls every meet and they score incredibly well, even in out of state meets.

 

[Energym Music]

And as an aside.....thanks Energym! DD loved your version of her floor music and we purchased it last night!

Our pleasure!!! Thanks for using Energym Music!

We love our Chalk Bucket friends!!!!

 

[fuzi]

It's pretty common, especially with the popular or newer songs. Even the one day I was working L9 Westerns, I heard the same "Pirates" song at least four times.

As a judge, I don't let it effect my score, beyond maybe 0.05 for "unoriginal choreography" if the dance is similar to all the other routines to the same music. It's more of a (hopefully hidden) sigh of "this music again...."

 

[lhmom]

As a judge, I don't let it effect my score, beyond maybe 0.05 for "unoriginal choreography" if the dance is similar to all the other routines to the same music. It's more of a (hopefully hidden) sigh of "this music again...."

I took DD a few years ago to watch her older teammates compete at a meet (excel platinum). I swear that I heard the Harry Potter theme about 9 times within an hour. I always wondered how the judges felt about hearing it that many times. But then I figured if they also judged compulsories, hearing the same music a few times was not quite as bad.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Certain pieces tend to come into and out of popularity. There was a stretch of four years or so when every gym in existence had a kid doing a routine to the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. "Explosive" (and most of Bond's pieces, actually) have had cycles like that as well. Lindsey Stirling seems to be gaining popularity lately -- I predict that over the next few years, her pieces will reach the point where you hear a couple of them twice or more at every meet -- then, like all the rest, coaches will get sick of them and stop using them. And then some other music will come along, rinse, repeat, etc.

Just like the popularity cycle of music on hit music radio stations, except each cycle lasts a few years instead of a few months.

(This, by the way, is why I love getting routine music from OverClocked ReMix; it's still obscure enough that if you use an OCR track at a meet, you'll probably be the only one to do so. I have no idea how long that will remain the case, though; it's such a great source of routine music that I can't imagine more people won't start using it in the coming years)

EDIT: And then, of course, there are a few classics that will probably always show up at least once at every meet. Pink Panther, the Mission Impossible theme (or some variant thereof), and several others.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Hear repeats of music a lot. Our own gym has our level 7s share routines (3 girls have the same music and routines), so you're guaranteed to hear that music three times at least! (the gym does it to cut costs for the girls just starting optionals)

 

[Mustanggal99]

In Xcel/prep op this past season, many of my girls chose "popular" music as this was their first time getting to pick music. We only had one girl have her same music played and it was a different division and different rotation. This was also at AAU Nationals with 1400 gymnasts there... So I guess it just depends

 

[my4buffaloes]

We ran into this 1 time in dd's level 7 season. Then at state meet the girl was in the session before us, so we heard it while we were waiting to warm up, but I don't think it was a big deal. Actually the first time we heard it - late in the season - my dd was on beam when that girl was on floor and she heard it. I can't remember if it affected her routine on beam or not.