Since I've been regularly DJing competitions with Rayned over the past several years, most recently at ALHC this past weekend, I figured I should chime in here and answer your questions:
How much direction have you been given by the organizers?
It varies from event to event. Some organizers give extensive direction while others give no direction whatsoever, relying on my skills to put together appropriate music for their competition.
Do they provide written guidelines or is it verbal?
I've gotten both before. Usually the more organized the event, the more likely there will be written guidelines, but that of course is not always the case. It personally doesn't matter to me as even verbal guidelines will become written once they are given to me. As long as the organizer and I are clear on what is expected, then everything should be cool. I make sure to ask lots of questions for clarification if anything seems unclear.
Are music slates usually approved before the contest?
No, I don't usually run the song selections by the organizers before the contest, except for the Hellzapoppin' competition at the Harlem Jazz Dance Festival where I was making sure I was overly prepared due to the complex requirements and tight schedule.
How much control do YOU, as the DJ, have over the final music choices?
I have total control of the final music choices, but of course that is because the organizer has complete trust in me following their guidelines and picking the appropriate music.
Does the music style differ for different contests? All classic or is it mixed?
Sure. It really depends on the focus of the contest and what the dancers are currently dancing to. Some contests focus on "classic" Lindy Hop and thus require more "classic" swing-era material, while other competitions, often Jack and Jill's, want to cover a variety of styles of music that Lindy Hoppers currently enjoy dancing to (classic swing-era music, jump blues, modern swinging jazz and blues, etc...).
What are the usual range of BPMs seen at contests?
BPM ranges are fluid from event to event. They depend on a lot of factors, so no, there is no usual range. I've seen the ranges change a lot over the past 4 years. Tempo ranges were much lower a few years ago, but then over the past few years, they have been increasing again. We'll see where they go in the future. So I try to be flexible event to event, with no ranges set in stone.
What are the criteria for good contest music?
Firstly, songs need to fit the criteria for the contest. Secondly, the songs must be great songs, which inspire the competitors and give them a platform to shine from. Pick songs that start off strong, have a lot of fun qualities (melodies, dynamics, hits, etc...) for the dancers to work off of and are in general great songs to dance to. Competition songs should be a limited subset of quality social dance music (this might be different for choreographed pieces, but then we as DJs aren't picking the music for those types of competitions).
I don't believe that songs in competition music should challenge the dancers with a strange or overly difficult rhythm/song structure or unexpected breaks and such. You know this has happened when the competitors look up with a quizzical "what-the-f***?" look on their face when they hear the music. Let the competitors challenge themselves by dancing to the best of their ability, being motivated by amazing inspirational music.
Should songs be known or obscure?
Songs should be of the highest quality, letting the dancers shine. Sometimes that comes from the familiar, sometimes from the obscure. I'd say I lean towards playing more of the known, but the occasional obscure gem is great as well (hmmmm....sounds kind of like my approach to DJing in general).
Anything you would avoid?
You want to avoid songs that are unfair to one couple/heat over another. More specifically, avoid songs with long intros, lengthy solo sections lacking excitement or a general lack or energy.
How do you ensure that the slate of songs is "fair" to contestants?
Just make sure that across a group of couples/heats you pick songs that you think are equal or at least similar enough (tempo, feel, energy level, interesting melody/hits to play with and launch off from, etc...). Try to pick consistently for one couple/heat to the next. It's important to give everyone a fair and comparable opportunity to shine. This is tough to do when you start out but gets easier with time. If you're new to picking competition music, pick your music out well ahead of time and listen to it a lot to make sure you're being "fair" to all the contestants. That'll give you more time to refine your selections if you have any issues with them.
Yesterday, a local who competes at the national level stated, "I hear song X at many of the competitions I have been at." How do y'all keep the song list fresh for contests?
Sometimes that's not really a bad thing. Kick-ass songs are kick-ass songs, and when you narrow down all the great songs out there into the rigid confines of competition requirements, you're not always left with all that many choices. Thus you're bound to hear repeats. Maybe not at every event, but it can happen fairly often. It's great when you can discover and introduce new awesome songs, but I know most competitors would prefer familiar kick-ass songs to new obscure not-so-great songs. Of course I am actively working to always expand my knowledge and collection to provide greater variety in competitions. I don't want every competition to be all the exact same songs, but I do have a high level of quality that I will not sacrifice when the added variety is elusive.
If the music seems to be similar across the country for contests, is that a good thing? Or does it mean that the range of music (or of the DJ) is too limited?
When you are doing a competition where you've got 20 couples and each will be dancing solo to a different song that is in the 200-210 BPM range, then you tell me how different the song selections are going to be around the country? And if they are completely different in each town, is the best music really being played at each? Maybe people's collections are too limited or maybe competition guidelines are too strict. I don't know. We'll see how things turn out in the future.
And regarding Kevin's comment about length:
KevinSchaper wrote:my beef with contests is the length - I hate fading a swing era tune with a minute left, cuz that's always where they build into the big crescendo and really go nuts.. fading before that just stinks
In most competitions, songs are run for 1 - 2 minutes, most commonly to 1:30. I've found with many swing-era songs that right at that point you are hitting a great crescendo point before a solo kicks in, so it's usually all right to fade there. Otherwise in later recordings, you might be mid-solo by then. Either way I haven't had too many problems with length. I will say that I never view the length restriction to be completely rigid. If the song is about to hit a really interesting or climactic point or come to the end of the phrase, I'll let it run a few seconds longer instead of fading out immediately when hitting the "end" time. I want the dancers to shine and have the opportunity to complete a movement they might be in the middle of (if they are truly dancing to the music). It's never more than a few seconds, so it has never been a problem.
Yes it would be awesome to be able to give the dancers a beginning, middle and end, but unless the length requirements change or people start getting creative with edited "remixes" for competitions, then we're going to have to live with this.
Let me know if you have any further questions. I'm always willing to answer them.
Jesse