Does anyone else remember not that many years ago when we used to go to competitions and our teachers had to cue our cassette tapes for each of our dances?
Well I want this CD burning thing to officially become something of the past as well! I don't know if I'm alone here, but I do not like burning 100 CD's for competition every year, then labelling them, and putting them in order for every competition. I don't even teach with CD's anymore to be honest.
Were living in a world of such advanced technology and yet I have to bring CD's to competition for each routine. You'd think that with all these other advancements that competitions have made, like Video Judge, computer scoring systems, and flashy stages/lights, they could purchase an iPod cord for their sound system!
I have heard of a few American Competitions doing online music downloading prior to your competition weekend, or other mp3 player options, and I think that's really great. Not only is it saving me a lot of time before and during competitions from organizing all that music, but it would probably help the competition to run smoother. I know that at American Dance Awards for their National Title Competitions we have to hand in their music a few days earlier so that they can download all of it onto their computer and put it in order. It helps the evening run professionally, and then someone doesn't have to sit and leaf through CD binders looking for the next piece of music.
Now, there is no technology that is fool proof and you're running your risks either way. CD players are starting to become really sensitive to reading burned CD's, which is a major problem if you're a dance teacher. CD's get scratched really easily and then they're virtually garbage. However, iPods can also be considered a gamble, as they do have problems if you mis-treat them. But if I had to pick one for ease of use, my iPod will win out every time.
When I'm planning my classes now I can organize a playlist for each class that changes on a weekly basis. I have several songs ready in order for warm up, across the floor and then their routine. It has saved me time in classes searching through CD's for appropriate music and then putting them all away after.
Instead this year I am investing $200 into purchasing a shiny little red iPod that is specifically for competitions only. It will have all our music on it, and then for each weekend I will be able to put them in order with their category number listed. It doesn't need to be a fancy 85GB one... I will not be having 16,000 competition routines anytime soon! They even have a fun little engraving feature on the Apple website now, so I can proudly put my studio name on the back of it.
I am officially making a stand that I will not be burning CD's this year for competition. I think it's about time that I have the option of simplifying my life a little bit for competitions. I will be showing up with my iPod Nano thrown in my purse, as my coffee will be in one hand, and my program will be in the other. I'll even bring my own iPod cord in case the Theatre you rented, or the state of the art sound system you provide doesn't have one!
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