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ICI/PRO is the Indoor Cycling Instructor Community's resource for free music, Instructor teaching tips, motivational cues, education, entertainment, class profiles, routines and music playlists.

My Profile for the – ICI/Pro DJ Scott Melker Music Playlist Contest

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DJ Scott Melker Indoor Cycling Music

DJ Scott Melker playing the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Golden, CO

 

As many of you know I've worn many hats in the fitness industry,  I've been an Assistant General Manager, Operations Manager, Fitness Director, Triathlon Coach, Master Swim Team Coach, Master Educator, Personal Trainer, Group Exercise and Indoor Cycling Instructor.  Throughout my almost 25 years in this customer service industry I have heard many member comments, complaints and compliments.  Through these years I have grown a thick skin but the one comment that still cuts the deepest is when I hear that someone complains about my music.  Being an indoor cycling instructor has, forever, changed the way I listen to all music.  Music is now put into two categories; will this song work in class or not.  I'm on a never ending search for the perfect indoor cycling song.  This search reminds me of the story of Sisyphus from Greek mythology.  He was punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.  After I find the “perfect” indoor cycling song I feel I'm on the same journey at Sisyphus.  I find the song, listen to it, probably 20 times, find all the beat and energy changes, figure out a profile for it, listen to it another 20 times imagining my profile being used with the song, use it in a class, make changes, use it again in a class, perfect it, then when I finally push this boulder to the top of the hill and have produced the perfect mix of music, movement, rhythm and riding it's time to start this process all over again because riders are getting tired of this “perfect” song.

Around the same time John and Scott announced their “ICI/Pro DJ Scott Melker Music Playlist Contest” I was in a state of the dreaded “profile writers block” and I was told that a club member had commented about the lack of variety in my music.  Yes, at first I was offended, but then I thought maybe the announcement of this contest and these negative comments were a sign.  I decided to take on the challenge of using Scott's playlist and building the best profile I could.  This project was extremely challenging for me,  I'm usually a profile first music second type of class builder, this forced me to swap my way of thinking.  Scott's playlist included some songs that I never imagined playing in an indoor cycling class, when I first heard them I immediately put them in the song category of “will not work in a class”, but I was being forced to use them so I had to figure out how to make them work.  After countless hours of listening to Scott's playlist and tweaking my profile, I believe I have come up with a class that uses the artistry and energy of a playlist put together by one of the world's top DJs, while staying true to my scientifically proven teaching methods.

I hope you find this class profile both fun and effective, my class sure did.

I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and create your own profile for this contest.

Click here to view contest details

 

 

A detailed class profile to print (Page 1)

A detailed class profile to print (Page 2)

A detailed class profile to print (Page 3)

A detailed class profile to print (Page 4)

ICI:PRO DJ Scott Melker Music Playlist Contest

TrainerRoad Profile of the following classes.

Screen Shot 2015-02-01 at 11.06.42 AM

Scott Melker's Playlist, to download Right Click > Save As / Save Target As to download. Open in iTunes and then you'll see this in your Spotify Local File folder.

 

Recording of me teaching this class profile in a class on a Spinner Blade Ion, Right Click > Save As / Save Target As to download on PC or Download Linked File As on Mac. Open in iTunes and then you'll see this in your Spotify Local File folder.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Originally posted 2015-02-01 13:16:49.

Why Try Spotify?

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As an indoor cycling instructor, you already know that music plays an important part in creating an exceptionally motivating class.

 

But sometimes, searching for new music and developing playlists can be time consuming and costly. Since iTunes came out with its social network, Ping in 2010, I’ve had great success finding music and sharing songs and playlists there with other instructors.  In fact, I may have been happy to stay with Ping forever.  Then I heard a rumor that with its new upgrade this fall, iTunes will be dropping Ping.  I can neither confirm nor deny that rumor, but it did scare me enough into looking at other music options.

 

That’s when my search began for a new music-sharing site that would offer me the ease of finding new music, putting my playlists together and sharing them with other instructors.  I knew about other social music sites such as MeeMix, , Maestro.fm, and Last.fm, and I had dabbled in Spotify before, even recreating some of my iTunes playlists and publishing them there.  I had never really explored Spotify enough to see all that it had to offer though.

 

With the possibility of Ping not being available to me any more, I knew that it was time to jump in and give Spotify another try.  This was around the same time that John contacted me to write some blog posts here at ICI/ PRO.  I mentioned to him that I was dabbling in Spotify, and he said it would ‘change the way I use music in my indoor cycling classes.’ As music ‘junkie’ and someone that had become pretty adept at creating playlists, sharing them and using them in my classes, I was sure that he was exaggerating.

 

As the next few weeks went by, I continued to explore Spotify, upgraded to ‘premium’ membership status and gained more confidence using it. I also installed the Spotify app on my new iPhone.  In that short time, I have almost completely stopped purchasing new music in iTunes and cancelled my  $12.99/month eMusic account.  I’ve  also begun to stream my playlists in my indoor cycling classes through my phone. Amazing, really, if you stop to think about it.  I’m still working out the kinks in this area, but overall I’d say it’s going quite well.

 

To say that this was a challenge for me would be an understatement, because I consider myself just a bit technologically challenged, and I will admit that I found Spotify difficult to navigate at first. I am not someone that picks things like this up easily. I’m guessing that a lot of you reading this are in the same boat.  I’m still working on learning how to use Spotify to it’s fullest potential.  While I know that I am only using a small part of what’s available to me as a premium member, I’ve already decided that John was right.  It already has started to change the way I’m using music in my classes.

 

Let me begin by telling you a few of the things that I already love about Spotify:

 

  • It’s inexpensive.   I know what you’re thinking.   How is $9.99 a month for a premium membership inexpensive?  Here’s how:  You don’t have to purchase music anymore.  You have thousands of songs available for you to use.  Between my monthly eMusic payment and my iTunes purchases, I was spending well over the $9.99 that I am paying per month for Spotify.

 

  • It’s simple to create playlists.  This part of the process is actually very similar to iTunes, only much simpler. You can browse new music, see what others are listening to and create your own playlists in less time than if you had to download them and drag them into your playlists.  In just a few clicks, you have everything you need at your fingertips.

 

  • You can share your playlists:  Kind of like sharing playlists on iTunes only you can actually sync an entire playlist to your device and use it in your own cycling class.  Sure, on iTunes you could purchase entire playlists easily, but it would cost you anywhere from fifteen to twenty dollars or more.  With Spotify, you have access to thousands of songs and playlists and you can use as many as you’d like.

 

While I’ve learned a lot about Spotify in the few short weeks that I’ve been exploring it, I still have so many questions about it.  I’m quite certain that I have not even scratched the surface of all that it has to offer me as a cycling instructor.

 

For example, here are few things that I’ve struggled with continued to struggle with:

 

  • I’m finding  it hard to find other people to ‘follow’.  One way to find people is to  log in through your Facebook account and follow your Facebook friends that are on Spotify, but I am specifically looking for other instructors and people with good musical taste.  No offense to my Facebook friends, but most of them don’t fit into either category.  It’s not as simple as ‘searching’ for people by name.

 

  • I’m still learning the whole ‘online’/’offline’ thing.  Do I want to stream my music via the Internet, or take it ‘offline’, which is a feature of the premium membership?  One lesson I learned: when you are ‘online’ and your iPhone rings during class, your music will pause until you dismiss the call, unless you switch your phone to ‘airplane’ mode.

 

My goal until my next post is work out some of these kinks and share more of my Spotify experience with you.  I would love it if I didn’t have to take this journey into the great unknow alone, so In the meantime, I will put this challenge out to those of you not yet using Spotify premium:

 

At the very least, try the free membership to see how you like it.  If you ‘re ready to make the jump, I promise you that the premium membership will be worth every penny.  I would be more than happy to entertain any questions that you may have about starting up with Spotify. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it for you.
Until then, keep the music flowing!

 

Here are a few links that you may find helpful:

 

Spotify

Try Spotify Premium Free For 30 Days! 

Chris’ Spotify profile

 

Originally posted 2012-09-11 15:32:23.

Favorite Track(s) of The Week

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If you have teenage boys at home like I do, you may have already heard the tracks I'm sharing today.  My guys love both soccer and basketball and when they aren't playing on the field and the court, they are often found in the basement with their friends playing FIFA or NBA on the Playstation.  FIFA 2016 came out earlier in the week and I get just as excited as they do because I love to check out the track lists when the new games come out.  I almost always find at least a few good songs to use in my classes.  (NBA 2K 2016 is coming out Friday.)

Here is a list of the entire track list for FIFA.  You're sure to find something you like.  One of the better known tracks on the list is New Rush by Gin Wigmore which has been appearing on my playlists for a while now.

Try this one for a flat road at around 100 rpm's.  It was just released in August 2015 and it has a great sound:

The Royal Concept — Smile

iTunes link

And here is one that was released in July 2015 and would make a great hill climb at around 62 rpm's.

Jax Jones — Yeah Yeah Yeah – Radio Edit

iTunes link

I can't wait to check out the NBA 2K 2016 playlist starting tomorrow!

Any other songs you're using from the list?

What's your favorite unique place to find new music?

Originally posted 2015-09-25 06:06:34.

Favorite Track of The Week

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Ready to try out some brand new music in your next class?  This week's favorite track is a climb at around 65 RPM  from “dark pop” girl band MUNA.  From their just released album titled About U,  Around U has a steady beat with a few slow-downs in the music at :44 and 3:26.  It finishes a bit slower starting around 4:30.  You can use that final :45 as a recovery or pick up the climb to the end.  Some of the other tunes worth checking out on the same album: Loudspeaker, I Know a Place and Crying on The Bathroom Floor.  

iTunes link Around U by MUNA

Using Music – An Instructional Series

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This is post one in a multi-post series that will explain how to use and select music to compliment your class. As the series progresses, I will be sure to include the links to the previous posts so that the entire series can be found in the latest post.

As an instructor, music can become the most challenging part of any indoor class; however it can be one of the most important parts of the class. I have heard it said that we are not DJs on a bike, we are cycling coaches. While I may agree with the sentiment, we can not underestimate the importance of music in the delivery of a class. You could structure the most ideal training program with the very best designed drills, but if your music is off and does not match the work, chances are very good that the class will disappoint your riders. While we believe that the class focus and design should be well thought out before the music is added, the addition of music to your drills will truly make or brake your class.

What is it that makes the selection of music so crucial; music is a one of the most powerful mediums. It can facilitate communication that goes beyond words, enables meanings to be shared, and promotes the development and maintenance of individual, group, cultural and national identities. Music can alter movements, moods and emotions. Few other items that you come in contact with can effect such a wide range of human functions and feelings.

So, how do we begin with the so important task of selecting the right music for your class? It all begins with belief. You must believe in your music and your playlist or your class will not believe in it either. While there are seemingly endless types and styles of music and everyone in your class can have a different preference, it is your ability to believe and sell the ride that will matter. To make it a little easier, if you incorporate some basic principles, you will succeed more times than not:

Know Your Demographic
The demographics of an indoor cycling class can be affected by many factors including your club’s location (city vs. suburbs), day of the week and time of day that your class is offered, and if your class is designed around a specific focus or theme. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this principle is to take the time to learn what your riders like by simply asking them. You will never be able to please everyone all of the time, but people appreciate being listened to and will respect you if they believe your are doing your best to give everyone something they enjoy. Please, remember to remind your people that not all great music is great indoor cycling music and that it may take a few weeks to get their requests into one of your rides.

For Foundational classes (beginner), remember the overall focus is to provide a fun environment for people to gain some initial cycling fitness or possibly just fitness in general. With the exception of the warm-up (and possibly the cool-down/stretch), working songs should be music your riders will recognize, and maybe even sing along to. While the beat matching of the ride is still critical, you should take extra time with this group to be sure the music is fun and will keep them coming back for more.

For intermediate and advanced classes, it is critical that the music be beat-matched and of similar intensity to the work that you are asking of the riders. When we ask more of the riders, this also demands more of us as instructors. We need to put in the extra time to find “just the right music” that will not only support our drills, but it will also enhance them. Ideally, the riders should be able to close their eyes, or look away from the cycle display, and still hold the proper cadence by focusing on the beat and feel of the music. Aside from the beat, the intensity is also important: an epic climb demands an epic musical work to help us reach the summit.

One of our foundations at Cycling Fusion is that songs used for the first warm-up segment should NOT have vocals. The warm-up is where you spend a good portion of the time introducing yourself, the purpose of the class and give various instructions such as safety guidelines, proper position and how to gauge the level of effort. It is important that your voice be the only one heard in the cycling studio during the warm-up so riders have a clear understanding of expectations and how to approach the class.

In the next post, we will talk about Pulse, BPM and RPM and how using them will enhance your ride and heighten the student’s experience.

 

Favorite Track(s) of The Week

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Have you ever watched a commercial and wondered, “What’s that song?”. I’ve seen this Diet Coke commercial dozens of times and every time I see it, I find myself humming this song for hours. I googled it, but could just have easily Shazamed it if I’d had my phone next to me. (If you’re not Shazaming, you should definitely try it! It’s a great way to find and save new music to use later in your classes!)

Check it out in Spotify:

Boom! Bap! Pow! — Suit

Click here to get it in iTunes!

It’s got kind of a retro sound and would work well for a short seated or standing flat or even a warm up.

Here’s another flat road I’m loving lately:

Moriah Peters — Brave

iTunes link

If you like to use Christian Rock (or even if you don’t) in your classes, this one is perfect. Check out these lyrics:

Brave
Fight like a soldier
Brave
Rise like a warrior
Brave
Won't stop till the final day
Brave
I want to be stronger
Brave
Gonna be bolder
Brave

And last, here’s a favorite that I used in this week’s playlist  by one of my favorites, Haik Naltchayan. I used it as a long, steady climb in and out of the saddle:

Haik Naltchayan — Le Tour De France

iTunes link

 

The Power of 3 – Three Song Harmonically Mixed Music Sets, Let’s Go Country!

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I'm not embarrassed to say that I like country music.  Country is a genre that many indoor cycling instructor avoid, but I embrace it.  I get more complements about playing country music than any other genre.  Country music IS popular and has a HUGE following.  I live in Denver and a few weeks ago U2 was playing the Pepsi Center, a 20,000 seat venue and Luke Bryan was playing Mile High Stadium, a 75,000 seat venue, on the same night.  Luke Bryan sold out U2 did not!

This week I mixed together 3 new country songs:

  • Homegrown by Zac Brown Band
  • Play It Again by Luke Bryan
  • John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 by Keith Urban

All 3 songs are about 3 minutes and 30 seconds long.  I like to use this music mix for three 3 minute intervals with 30-40 seconds recovery after each.  Since the energy and tempo “feel” lower and slower I like to ride at a cadence of 60-80 rpm for this set.  Listen below to how I used this set in class.

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ICI/PRO Podcast 299 – Power and your Playlist… don’t make it too hard

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Corbin Chinatti Ruff with Mom and Dad

Corbin Chinatti Ruff with Mom and Dad – Sorry Dunte, this picture was so cute I couldn't pass up using it for this post 🙂

Stages Indoor Cycling's Dunte Hector joins me to discuss his ideas about integrating power, while using your existing music playlists. Brilliant in its simplicity and so easy to implement… I wish I had thought of it myself. Learn Dunte's trick below.

We actually recorded this PRO Podcast back several years ago and we mention that Cameron Chinatti was due to give birth at any moment. Well on Feb 13 (after we recorded) Corbin Chinatti Ruff became the newest member of the Stages family.

Listen below or find it in your PRO Members feed.

 

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ICI/PRO Podcast 305 – A Playlist Technique I Never Considered

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I've taught Indoor Cycling classes for about 15 years and thought I understood all of the Do's and Don'ts of delivering music to my classes. Based on the technique offered in this podcast, I'm realizing I still have a lot to learn… 

Dennis Mellon is one of those Instructors who really gets music. His understanding of creating great playlist is probably one reason he was voted the top Instructor where he lives in Colorado. In a past interview Dennis introduced us to the concept of Harmonic Mixing – paying attention to the musical key of each track and combining only those tracks that are in complimentary keys.

My initial interest was learning; when does Dennis creates his class playlist? Is it after he's decided on the specific profile? Or does he build his profile around his playlist? Listen below to learn his method – he actually does it both ways.

Then, during our conversation, Dennis casually explains how his simple technique for transitioning between short intervals. “I just hit next.” I've always believed that forcing a change, before a song has finished, was too disruptive. Dennis's view is that the disruption is exactly what he's looking for 🙂

The 8:50 Blue Man Group song (with the silence in the middle) that I refer to is Exhibit 13 – except it isn't available in Spotify 🙁 You can find it in the iTunes music store and it's in Deezer.

Here's the playlist I built to go with the new Epic Planet RAAM video. I started out looking for a 13 minute song to match the long climb that finishes this video. At 13:47, Peter Frampton — Do You Feel Like We Do – Live is a perfect choice. Past experience has shown me that you can go crazy trying to compile a playlist that matches a structured video exactly – better/easier to match up a few of the important sections in the ride.

Use Related Artists to complete your playlist

Use Related Artists to complete your playlist

 

Working off Peter Frampton's — Do You Feel Like We Do – Live, I then used the Related Artists suggestions to build the rest of my 60 minute class. For the earlier climb in the profile I used Layla – here's the complete playlist in Spotify March 27 Cycle.

 

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The Great Spotify Debate: Renting Vs. Buying

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Spotify-vs-itunes-300x184I get a lot of questions about Spotify, but the one question that I get over and over  from people that are interested switching from iTunes is:  “Do you own the music?”, or “Can I sync music from Spotify to my iPod or burn it to CD? “ And my answer is always the same: “No, you can’t, but you won’t believe what you CAN do for only $9.99 a month!”  Now I know that bothers a lot of people.  What's the sense in spending $9.99 a month and having nothing to show for it?  How is this worth the cost?

It seems that when it comes to music for our cycling classes, there are two camps: Those that want to own all of their music, and those that see their music as more disposable and don't mind ‘borrowing' it.

If you are strictly an iTunes user, then you own the music that you purchase. Well, at least you own the license to listen to songs on many devices.(* Here’s an interesting article from CNN that raises questions about digital music ownership.)  It’s all yours.  I once strictly used iTunes and now I own a LOT of music.  Most if it I rarely listen to or use in my playlists anymore.  It just sits there taking up storage space on my computer.

If you are a Spotify user, you are essentially borrowing the music.  You are paying Spotify $9.99 for UNLIMITED access to their extensive library of tunes.  I (along with many other cycling instructors that have jumped on the Spotify bandwagon) believe that the borrowing is the way to go.

Here are my top 8 reasons why I would rather borrow music from Spotify than buy it :

  1. I have unlimited access to music.  I rarely am unable to find a song that I am looking for.  If that does happen, I will purchase the song on iTunes or Amazon, but I’m still not spending as much money as I was pre-Spotify.
  2. I can listen to a song all the way through and then decide if it’s something I want to use in my playlist. I can’t count the number of times that I have purchased a song on iTunes and then later found that it was not suitable for my playlist.
  3. Spotify has a radio feature that allows me to ‘like’ songs as I listen.  These songs then go into a file called ‘liked from the radio’ and can be easily accessed for future playlists. This is a great tool for finding new music.
  4. I don’t have songs (most of which I’m not listening to) clogging up all of my computer space.
  5. I  can take my playlists ‘offline’, which means I can use them anywhere, even without an Internet connection. **You do need to have an iPhone or smart phone device to sync your music.
  6. I can follow other instructors and see what they’re listening to. I can check out their playlists and if I like what I hear, I can pull a few of the songs over to my own files.  If I’m in a bit of a rut, I can even follow someones entire playlist and sync it to my device to use in my own class. (Tip: This is frowned upon if you work in the same gym.)
  7. Many songs that I borrow, I may only use a few times.  If I use it more than that, it will always be there.  If I don’t use it again, I won’t feel that I have wasted my money.  There are many other songs out there just waiting to go on my next playlist.
  8. In my leisure time, I do enjoy listening to music.  The music that I listen to at home or in the car is not always the same as the music I listen to in my cycling classes.  For example, I love using Pitbull in my classes.  I can honestly say that I would never listen to his music outside of my class.  So owning a bunch of Pitbull does not seem cost effective to me.  Here’s another example: My all time favorite band is the Beatles.  I have rarely used any Beatles tunes in my classes, but I love to listen to them in my leisure time.  Do I own all of my Beatles music?  You bet I do.  And if I want to borrow it from Spotify, I have that option too.

Spotify is the best $9.99/month I have ever spent as an instructor.  It has made my class preparation less time consuming, more fun and much more convenient and to me and that is worth every penny.

What do you think? Do you feel more comfortable owning your music or are you OK with borrowing it?

 

 

Favorite Track(s) of The Week

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Whether you are looking for a climb or a flat road for your next class, you'll find both of them here.  Check out these two new releases that are ready to be added to your next ride profile.

The first is a new release from one of my favorites, ZZ Ward.  She has some great stuff that I continue to rotate into my profiles such as Put The Gun Down, Move Like You Stole It, 365 Days, If I Could be Her and Blue Eyes Blind.  At 95 rpm, we will be riding on a nice steady flat road to this one:

Help Me Mama by ZZ Ward iTunes link

This new track is from Cold War Kid's forthcoming album LA Divine.  It's a slow, steady seated or standing (or alternating) climb just above 60 rpm.

Restless by Cold War Kids iTunes link

 

 

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