Exclusive behind the scenes footage from Karl Hugo, our composer who arranged and performed the instrumental sections called Beyond Silence of their “Meant” Free Dance.
Full program
Category: Non classé
Did you know?
Google search results may reveal a lot about your favorite music guy but they can’t possibly tell you everything.
My knowledge of him is quite unique. We play important roles in each other’s careers, from when we were elite athletes to our professional lives today. I’m Elizabeth Hollett Shackett and I skated with the founder of Studio Unisons a.k.a. Sk8mix, Hugo Chouinard.
We first met in Boucherville, Québec in post-Olympic 1988. We were training with different partners in ice dance. Québec in the nineties was surging with elite skaters in suburban Montréal and we were part of it.
Our partnership was unexpected because I had quit skating and moved back to my hometown of Hawkesbury, Ontario. This after fruitless partner tryouts around Canada, some interest from the U.S. followed by a short partnership that left emotional wounds after my other half quit skating at 6:30am on my 16th birthday. Hugo’s former partnership amicably ended and he was in pursuit of a new path. Friend and fellow skater, Bruno Marcotte, convinced him to connect with me for a tryout. We formed our partnership in late spring of 1991.
We spent two intense months after pairing up preparing for our first competition, the World Junior Team selection event. Given our National level experience with former partners, we knew how to sharpen our focus to merit wearing the coveted maple leaf and represent Canada. We quickly rose to the International stage by placing 2nd in the Team selection. Only one berth was open to Junior Worlds that season so we were named team Alternates but assigned a Junior Grand Prix competition in Germany where we medaled. That was only 5 months into our partnership. We were launched!
Pokal der Blauen Schwerter Chemnitz GERMANY 1991
We made the 1993 Junior World Team the following season, competed more internationally and had a podium finish at Canadian National Championships. We also won the Bull Computers Future Stars Award for best performance in ice dancing at Nationals. Junior skaters weren’t “supposed” to win that accolade.
National Championships Hamilton CANADA 1993
Known for our passion for music and collaborative work ethic, we just “clicked.” We surrounded ourselves with an equally passionate support team consisting of Canadian Hall of Fame coaches Josée Picard and Eric Gillies, choreographers like Uschi Keszler, Jean-Marc Généreux, Julie Marcotte, and Paul Duchesnay. We dabbled outside the 90’s ice dance box working with Hugo’s childhood coach, David Wilson, who was just starting to make a name for himself as a choreographer then.
Echos Vedette Montréal French Newspaper 1991
Like most elite athletes, we cherished our individual outlets to the daily grind. Hugo’s unknowingly planted his roots to music design back then. He began editing our programs because the best service in town was typically on back order. He was definitely into buying the newest technology more than the after-training hours we spent listening to music and negotiating what to use. For me, I found escape in creativity. I kept a writing journal in both French and English and loved to choreograph programs for other skaters.
The Studio 1996
We parted ways with our own elite skating but didn’t stray far from design, creativity, language, and of course, figure skating. Hugo spent 15 years coaching ice dance and partnering skaters. He also spent 4 years coaching and choreographing synchronized skating while completing a University Degree in Industrial Design. As for me, it’s been 20+ years that I coach and choreograph grassroots to elite skaters in singles, pairs and dance in suburban Philadelphia and in Delaware. While we live in different countries, we are still a team… several years ago; Hugo called on me to translate his bustling online music design service website from French to English giving it a global boost. Did I mention I also do freelance translation work? We have been collaborating now for 27 years!
Hugo and I are both married and each have a single child. Their fathers’ love of music influence their lives. His son, Olivier Chouinard, is a budding pianist. My daughter, Meryl Shackett, plays drums. My husband plays in a rock band called DeadSight besides being a Mechanical Engineer. Both kids have set foot on the ice. Olivier has tried speed skating. Meryl currently skates pairs with Matthew Kennedy striving to make Team USA. Can you guess who their music designer is?
Oh and one last scoop… Hugo’s real name is Pierre-Hugues 😉
Written by Elizabeth Hollett Shackett Creativeskating.com
Behind the Scenes Helsinki Rockettes
Exclusive behind the scenes footage from Karl Hugo, our composer who re-arranged and performed a dubstep version for the Rockettes.
The full program
All That Skate 2018
Exciting collaboration with David Wilson on the 2018 Gala soundtrack design. A fantastic journey that began in 2006 when we created our first program for Yuna, The Lark Ascending.
Through the years, Hugo and David developed several other concepts for her such as The Bond Girl, Danse Macabre, Die Fledermaus, Scheherazade, Piano Concerto in F, Giselle, Adios Nonino, Les Misérables and many more.
How Adam Rippon chooses his music
Figure skating music, explained
By
During the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Adam Rippon skated to Ida Corr’s “Let Me Think About It” for his short program. It was fun, powerful, and most of all, different. This is the first Olympic Games at which figure skaters have infinite creative freedom with their music, as they now can skate to music with lyrics.
Figure skating was not always woven in with music and artistry — it was very much a technical sport. The skaters had to literally carve figures into ice. As figure skating evolved, it leaned more toward performance. For decades, figure skaters skated to the classics like “Swan Lake” and “Carmen.” They chose these pieces not only because it’s great music but because of the clear storyline and the quality of the characters in them. With operas, in particular, it is easy to take the audience on an emotional journey.
Hugo Chouinard, a music designer who mainly works with figure skaters, says, “The most important is that the skaters like the music. Because if they don’t like the music, they don’t feel the music; there’s no emotion to convey to the public.”
And that is what Adam Rippon did for his musical choices for the Olympics. During the interview, he said:
I like to have two different moods for the programs, just so that I can show that I can skate to anything … that I can interpret whatever piece of music. So for [a] short program, I want to do something that is really upbeat, that would get the crowd on their feet — everybody clapping. Short programs are only two minutes and 50 seconds, so you have not a lot of time to make a big impression.
And then in free skate, I wanted to show the softer side and I want to show off my lyrical skating style … something with long, sweeping edges and something that really made it seem like I was flying around the rink. I’m 28 and I’m going to my first Olympics; I’m going to skate to something that I really want to do. I wanted to really represent who I was. And I’m a fun-loving guy, so I just wanted to bring that to the competition.
Putting Their Mark on Olympic Skaters’ Music
Behind the Music of 49 Olympic Figure Skaters in Pyeongchang.
They are the music origin for the boundary-breaking North Koreans skating to the distinct voice of Ginette Reno in Pyeongchang. Behind Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s World Record. Music designer, Hugo Chouinard, put his mark on the music of 49 Olympic skaters’ programs along with composer, Karl Hugo, who collaborated on most projects.
The adventure started 25 years ago. At first on their own, but destiny soon brought these men together. Hugo Chouinard, a St-Jean native, is at the helm of Studio Unisons a.k.a. Sk8mix where he creates about 2000 audio mixes annually for figure skaters and artistic swimmers.
His work consists of adapting a song reaching both Olympic and artistic direction demands. “I create the canvas” explains Chouinard who was once a National Team figure skater himself. “The coaches and choreographers give me their ideas and concepts. Sometimes they have their music, other times they only have a theme and don’t know what music to choose.”
Concept
They develop a concept together then, conduct experiments alongside the coaches and choreographers playing with the set up and structure of the program. Chouinard explains that with the new judging system in figure skating, there’s a symbiosis between the music and the skater’s technical requirements. Plus it can bring higher scores.
“We organize our choices in such a way that music sections match the elements, spin, step sequence, etc.,” Chouinard explains. Interestingly, Hugo Chouinard often works with one of his own choreographers from his heyday, Julie Marcotte. “We then have to adjust the whole to the time length of each element…How long is the step sequence? It’s all counted to the nearest second. At the Olympic level. We play with seconds and half seconds.”
Composition
Many of the creations at Studio Unisons, need the intervention of composer, Karl Hugo. Starting out with the likes of Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler in the 90’s, he can very well add some instrumental music, a rhythm, or modify beginnings and endings.
His work is done at three different levels whether it’s composition, adaptation, or adding orchestrations and arrangements. “Music should have distinguishable pulsing so the judges can count it,” explains the musician. “I often add choruses, symphonic orchestrations, for example, in an a capella song or add a punch to an ending. All this adds to the theatrics.”
For instance, Canadian pair team Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford chose Adele’s song ‘Hometown Glory.’ The crux of the piece was notably modified by adding two string orchestrations giving it a breath of fresh air.
Constraints
There is obviously a tight frame of music for the athletes to work in. But priority is to adapt to their mentality and personality. “After that, it becomes mathematics. They’re music equations to fit within time limits, certain elements happen at certain places so the whole remains esthetic.”
There are rule constraints and from the athlete as well. He continues, citing the example of endurance varying at certain skating levels over the span of a career. Other times, restrictions can be about adjusting to the order of emotions that skater feels within the program.
In the case of the North Koreans, Hugo Chouinard proposed the work of Ginette Reno so as not to conflict with any regional values, morals or politics. The lyrics were inspected with a fine tooth comb by the athletes’ support system who were very happy with his choice.
Clients
Their clientele is worldwide. So much that Hugo Chouinard’s studio is adjacent to his home so he can meet the demands that can come at all hours of the day considering time differences and occasional tight deadlines.
“We are constantly in survival mode,” admits Karl Hugo who works independently from his own studio lab. “They can change everything one week before a big competition. I have to then modify or recompose quickly. We are at the service of the athletes.”
Especially during an Olympic year. Hugo Chouinard works with world class teams ever since he collaborated with Olympic medalist, Jeffrey Buttle in 2004.
Illustration(s) :
The Musical Designer Hugo Chouinard and the composer Karl Hugo collaborate since 1993.
(Photo Le Canada Français, Kim Valiquette)
© 2018, Isabelle Laramée, Le Canada Français. All Rights Reserved.
The Musician for Figure Skaters and Artistic Swimmers
Triple Axel for What
Olympic Figure Skaters Spin to Songs With Lyrics for the First Time
Over the past two decades, the popularity of ice skating has waned. But this Olympic season, a pair of pop-culture phenomena may change that, with one of them impacting the music industry.
The first, of course, is awards-season bait “I, Tonya,” a reminder of skating’s dramatic heyday. The second is Jimmy Ma, a relative unknown, soundtracking his nimble U.S. Figure Skating Championships routine to DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What.” “I became an internet meme in three days,” says Ma, who’s previously skated to Eminem.
Lil Jon learned of the homage to his track through Twitter. “I was like, ‘WTF is this?’ So I watched, and I was like, ‘This is really cool. I never seen anyone figure skate to hip-hop!’”
That’s because the International Skating Union, which governs the sport, didn’t allow lyrics in skating programs until just after the 2014 Olympic Games. That makes Pyeongchang a testing ground.
Over the past two decades, the popularity of ice skating has waned. But this Olympic season, a pair of pop-culture phenomena may change that, with one of them impacting the music industry.
The first, of course, is awards-season bait “I, Tonya,” a reminder of skating’s dramatic heyday. The second is Jimmy Ma, a relative unknown, soundtracking his nimble U.S. Figure Skating Championships routine to DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What.” “I became an internet meme in three days,” says Ma, who’s previously skated to Eminem.
Lil Jon learned of the homage to his track through Twitter. “I was like, ‘WTF is this?’ So I watched, and I was like, ‘This is really cool. I never seen anyone figure skate to hip-hop!’”
That’s because the International Skating Union, which governs the sport, didn’t allow lyrics in skating programs until just after the 2014 Olympic Games. That makes Pyeongchang a testing ground.
What does it mean for recording artists? Footage of Ma’s Jan. 4 routine went viral, accruing at least 680,000 views across several YouTube channels and trending on social media. It was great publicity for DJ Snake and Lil Jon. But with “Turn Down for What” clocking only roughly 30% more streams the first day it went viral, the exposure didn’t yield much in the way of royalties.
The Olympics, by contrast, draw massive global audiences — 2.1 billion fans reportedly tuned in to the Sochi games four years ago. “There’s an exception to the copyright act that allows for music to be reproduced at live events without a sync license,” says Steve Winogradsky, a veteran music attorney and author of “Music Publishing: The Complete Guide.” “But when music is played on television, publishers can collect broadcast fees. Part of the money that NBC pays as blanket licenses would go to the publishers and writers of the track.” Broadcast fees are less than sync fees. But several countries will have to pony up.
U.S. figure skating national champion Adam Rippon plans to skate to Ida Corr’s “Let Me Think About It” and Coldplay’s “O,” even designing his costume around the latter’s avian theme. “You want your music to be competitive, to have a specific rhythm that goes with elements of what you’re doing,” says Rippon. “Jimmy Ma had the music edited really well, so it flowed along with his elements.” Rippon works with Montreal-based DJ Hugo Chouinard, a former figure skater who specializes in editing music to fit a routine’s choreography.
Olympic Artistic Swimming
Breathless!
The silent and frozen calm of winter –Ice cracks like thunder under our feet
In the distance, the glow of a small fire promises warmth
Hearts pound as we race toward the flames…
And relief from the frigid North!
Canada’s free team routine, Fire & Ice, is an innovative departure from previous ones – taking as its inspiration something very personal to the athletes – being Canadian.
With its frosty and blazing musical depiction of winter in the North, it examines the contrast between the harshness of the weather in the Canadian North with the warmth of the spirit of the Canadian people.
The development of the free routine underwent the same three steps as the technical routine, to analyze the competition, strategize on findings of the performance analysis and synthesize the key learnings into a stronger end result.
As part of the strategy, exciting and difficult acrobatic highlights have been built into the storyline. The first highlight sees the flames (flyer) exploding out of the water, tumbling twice forward and diving into the water. Another sees flames climbing the ice mountain and reaching out longingly from the frozen land into the open sky, while a third highlight shows the fire rising through a crack in the ice and vaulting over to other side, heating those around it on its way.
Technically the routine is superior. Based on the scientific analysis of the top teams at the 2015 World Championships, this program pushes the limits of the aspects of performance measured and quantified following Kazan. Artistically, it is a sophisticated performance. Blending music composed especially for the routine, Team Canada’s music designer Hugo Chouinard added in additional music tracks, variations and sound effects to create musical magic. To perfectly synchronize the music, members of the team performed the routine dryland in the music studio to allow for the precise beat of music to be on an exact hand, arm, leg or acrobatic movement.
Once the teams had the story line, music and elements created, there was lots of work ahead. They were conscious that to be synchronized in the water, their fitness had to be at the same level across all team members. The teams worked with a strength and conditioning coach to improve their already high fitness levels, and to give them additional height out of the water on their movements. Other experts in nutrition, planning, physiotherapy, and gymnastics came alongside to work on specific areas with the team.
“There is so much to talk about in this routine. It is an extremely difficult, physically challenging number. Hypoxia, technical skill execution, creative movements, dynamic highlights, all make for a presentation that is super charged emotionally” says Head Coach Meng Chen. “I believe everyone will enjoy the Canadian passion in the routine, feel the connection, and love each meaningful action and hybrid. In Canada, we are living it!”
SOURCE HERE
Podcast Episode 1
by Pj Kwong
Inside Edge
When I was trying to come up with who would be a terrific first official guest for the @skatingPj Podcast, I thought of this man. All the tricks are important in skating, but they are nothing without an inspired musical backdrop. Hugo Chouinard is someone that I have known for a very long time and respect tremendously. Hugo’s professional life is music in general with a huge chunk of it being devoted to editing and creating the music for skaters. I am not saying that it didn’t take some persuading, because it did; Hugo is a very self-effacing and humble man who was not sure at all that he wanted to be interviewed. Thankfully, he finally said yes.
Our conversation wanders all over skating from Hugo’s own competitive career as an ice dancer to when he was first asked to put together music for a skater’s program. The list of choreographers reads like a who’s who of contemporary skating from David Wilson, Julie Marcotte, Jeff Buttle, Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer and that’s just the list in Canada – there are of course many more.
We talk about 2010 Olympic Champion Yu-Na Kim’s music. We explore the way that Hugo recently added four seconds to Patrick Chan’s music in order to make Chan more comfortable in his short program. He admits to not being able to do all of this alone and that his collaboration with composer and musician Karl Hugo has been invaluable.
As with everything else in skating – it’s all about the relationships. This is a fascinating podcast with Hugo Chouinard.