John had Pandora on one day in the office and I was mesmerized by the song that was playing. It had a great vibe and I really wanted to use it in a class, so here it is for today’s Friday Favorite. The first 15 seconds start out with simple guitar, but the 63 rpm beat is nice and strong and firms up with keys and drums 15 seconds after that. Snow Patrol’s “Shut Your Eyes”, from their two disc Up To Now album is one of those songs that I ask my students to shut their eyes to (if they are comfortable doing so) and feel their body as they ride up the climb. I only wish it was longer than 3:18! The tune will stick with you for a while. It’s catchy.
Here's a slightly longer (4:07) cover of Shut Your Eyes as your free track.
New ICI/PRO feature will make teaching even easier 🙂
To celebrate the start of year 4 we are introducing PRO/Playlists, a new benefit for our ICI/PRO Yearly Platinum Members that will make your annual membership an even better value.
By design, the primary benefit of ICI/PRO is saving you time [convenience]. We try to make it easy for passionate, yet busy Instructors to quickly find what they need to teach an awesome class.
Only ICI/PRO delivers Audio PROfiles effortlessly to your computer / iPod device via iTunes. A few clicks and the complete profile can be printed so you can Grab It, Go, & Teach a Great Class!
Perfect – except for the class music playlists… they haven't been as simple, easy or convenient as I would like. Sure, we always include a suggested playlist for every PROfile, but it can be a real time suck searching for each track, purchasing it, building the playlist and then transferring it to your iPod.
Not to mention expensive 🙁
With ten or more songs in each playlist you may be spending $20 – $30 a month on music.
That's all going to change with PRO/Playlists…
Look for ICI/Podcast #168 explaining everything on Sunday 8/7
Today I am featuring a cover by a Canadian-American, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actress. It is a rare day when I like a cover as well as the original,
but this 53 rpm climb at a total of 3:41 rocks. Seal’s “Crazy” mixed up by Alanis Morissette is great. She opens up her vocals and gives it a whole new feel. The
beat stays steady throughout and I use this 45 minutes into class when energy may be waning just a bit. It tends to pick class right up again.
Update: this was a very popular track and we reached the download limit much quicker than normal. In it's place please enjoy this remix of another great Seal song – Amazing
Spotify is new here in the USA, but has been available in Europe for a number of years.
I received an invitation to join and I did. It appears to be the latest in the line of music services like Napster and Rhapsody. I'm guessing that our ICI/PRO members would enjoy knowing more about Spotify and it's features… except I don't have the bandwidth to look into it with the level of detail needed.
Are you a Spotify Expert who would be willing to share your experiences?
If you are please send me an email john at indoorcycleinstructor.com and we can discuss bringing you on as an ICI/PRO Team Member.
Update July 29th 2011 – ICI/PRO Member Marc Schlosberg has been really digging into the potential of using Spotify for his spin class music. Marc and I have been playing with the social = music sharing capabilities and hope to record our finding soon.
My job is getting so easy!
This week I want to thank Chuck Cali for suggesting the Free Friday Favorite. The FF for today is a great, Indie-Rock, 90 bpm, opening flat tune for your ride. This artist is quite new to the music scene, as his debut album was just released this July. Check out the first track, “Eyes Be Closed”, from artist Ernest Greene’s debut album Washed Out – With in and Without. At 3:25, it crescendos to a nice finish at 4:50. Here is the video. Enjoy and let me know if you have a suggestion for a free music Friday!
Here's a great remix of “Eyes Be Closed” for your Free track of the week 🙂
A shout of thanks to ICI/PRO member Sheila this week for suggesting the Free Friday Favorite. This is a great motivational climb at 65 rpm and 4:11. “My body tells me no, but I won’t quit cuz I want more”… I think that sums up many of us as we work away to achieve our fitness goals! Enjoy this relatively new (and young 20-22) group from California, Young the Giant.
The Song is “My Body”, from their self-titled CD, Young the Giant. Here is the original version:
And here's a fantastic remix of My Body for your Free Music Friday track of the week!
