Step 1: Choose your Music

Of course you know how to choose music. I just wanted to point out a few thoughts.

First, please make sure that you honor the musician’s copyright. There is are a lot of places on the internet to get music, but please don’t steal music from sites that don’t have the endorsement of the artists.

There are some places on the internet where artists will post music for you to download. For example, there is a ton of great music at http://www.mp3.com Remember, they are allowing you to download their music, but you can’t profit from it.  Or, buy the song from an online music store like iTunes or Wal-Mart or any of the many music download sites.  Make sure the site allows you to "use" the song.  I recommend trying to buy one song, and then mix it and save the result to a CD.  If you can't do that, look for another site.

Because you can do just about anything with the music once it gets onto your computer, don’t limit the selection of music based on length or tempo. In fact, it may be more interesting to combine two or more songs into a new performance number. I’ve even combined live and studio versions of the same song to create a unique “morph” effect from unplugged to high-power. You can blend two artists’ renditions of the same song to get other interesting effects.

I encourage people to keep lists of songs and sections that they like. I also comb the music sites (MP3.com!) for new music and make up sampler CDs for dance instructors to hear. You will get new ideas from new music styles or artists.

Bottom Line: You have more choices than you might think!

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