Music for Dressage – A Guide to the Cost

The service provided falls into 4 bands:

Basic Service

Cutting, fading and joining chosen audio tracks is a simple task for which the charge is from £50.

More detailed audio editing, including tempo adjustment, is also available. By using several cuts it is usually possible to give each pace a complete musical accompaniment with crescendos to emphasise medium paces and proper cadences for transitions etc.

Most of my work however is music production using midi or computer generated music. This process offers great flexibility and allows me to arrange music to fit the horse’s paces and the clients floor plan exactly. and the degree of editing a client wants dictates the price. Midi can be edited to match tempo and duration exactly and can be orchestrated to suit the horse’s conformation and way of moving.

Bronze Service

Includes editing tempo, key, length, converting to audio and adding reverb where necessary. The end result is a complete composition with no fading from one pace to another, but can sound a bit mechanical. £100 – £150

Silver Service

As above with attention to velocity, expression, dynamics plus the addition of notes added ‘by hand’ to make smooth transitions and boost rhythm where necessary. The end result is more expressive and less mechanical. £150-£250

Gold Service

As above but with added audio using live recording for a truly expressive finish. £250-£350
I can provide original compositions and more complex arrangements for advanced horses. Please contact me for further information.

Tonal and Tempo Testing

I can and do visit horses to do tonal and tempo testing. This would add £30 plus mileage to the final bill.

Alternatively send a DVD of you riding your horse including at least 1 minute of walk, trot and canter either using the whole arena or 20m circles. You can also video you test floor plan for me to work with.

Once I have seen your horse I will send either a CD or email mp3 of suggested music samples for you to try. Once you have chosen your music we can discuss instrumentation etc.

How to get More for your Money

Here are a few tips to help make the most of my Music for Dressage service:

Aim for simplicity with your floor plan; a test with lots of changes of pace is more difficult and therefore more expensive to orchestrate. For example putting walk pirouettes in the middle of you trot section because your horse does particularly good walk pirouettes and you could not think where else to put them is likely to disturb the flow of the music.

Do check the rule book. Walk to canter is much easier to orchestrate than trot to canter when it comes to changing rein in the canter section, but make sure it is allowed at your chosen level of competition.

Arranging music for a Grand Prix horse requires more collaboration between rider and musician than music for a novice horse.

It is best to avoid music with lyrics as this is said to detract from the performance. It can also make editing tricky. It always seems rude to cut a singer short mid sentence.

Spare a thought for the judge. Here is a quote from a fellow musician and dressage judge.

“…so let us now take our thoughts to the average Dressage2Music competition wherein a real judge finds herself presented with powerhouse 18hh Warmbloods competing alongside refined 14.2hh Thoroughbreds, as well as the ubiquitous hairy Cobs.

Entrants’ floor plans are kept secret from her and the allowed movements can be performed anywhere in the arena, in any chosen order and as often as desired, to music she may or may not know. The Dressage2Music judge then has a few minutes to decipher where and what movements were performed; note the symmetry and inventiveness of the choreography, and assess EVERYTHING ELSE she normally does in a regular dressage test… Did I mention that while she’s trying to think of an adjective to describe your routine the girl who brings her cold tea in a polystyrene cup is waiting to collect the score sheets and the next entrant is already in the arena looking at their watch?”

Your judge will have preferences which you will not be able to anticipate and they have to assess a lot in a short space of time. So I would advise that you choose music that you love. Music that makes you and your horse want to dance. Music that makes you feel good. This is what will grab the judge’s attention.

Listen to some samples of my music for dressage on Soundcloud