A killer playlist is an absolute must for every hoop happening, but do you find yourself spending hours and hours crafting the perfect playlist? Always looking for new songs? Or worse, playing the same songs over and over again?
In this blog I am going to share my favourite playlist making hacks; how you can create the perfect soundtracks for your hoop events/classes without spending a ton of time.
In the Hoop Love coach training I share with you a range of playlists ideal for hoop classes, parties and workshops but you will likely want to keep creating new playlists for yourself and your students so I know you will find these hacks valuable.
Why does a playlist really matter?
Music is your timekeeper. A well planned playlist will keep you on track in class, giving you musical cues to move on to the next focus trick or element. Synching your class or workshop plan with your playlist will mean you have a beautifully choreographed offering for your students, you are not always referring to notes to know what is next and you allow time and space for a range of activities and energy levels.
Check out this Bey Class Playlist as an example. This has been crafted song by song to give the students a full body hooping experience and is synchronised with my class plan.
- Halo – Body Isolations Warm Up
- Beautiful Liar – Hoop Love Body Warm Up
- Say My Name – Hoop Love Body Workout
- Crazy in Love – Cowgirl (above the head spin) Mini Choreography
- Run the World – Isolation drills
- Best Thing I Never Had – Playtime/Trouble Shooting
- End of Time – On Body Drills Moving Hoop Up & Down
- Sweet Dreams – Escalator Techniques
- Get Me Bodied – Escalator Techniques Continued
- Deja Vu – Playtime/ Trouble Shooting
- Naughty Girl – Learn a short Escalator Flow Session
- Baby Boy – Dance through of the Flow Session x 6 then playtime
- Bootylicious – Waist hooping & Vertical Hooping Drill
- Independent Women – Playtime
- 7/11 – Stretch
- Best Thing I Never Had – Stretch Cool Down
This is a 1 hour class and the playlist runs for 1hr7min giving you time to cut down on some playtime to focus on learning or shorten the cool down if needed.
Music creates atmosphere. Your playlist has the power to raise the energy of the room as well as calm it down. Selecting songs that create an ebb and flow in your class brings interest, enjoyment and creates excitement and relaxation in your class.
Music inspires your students to move. Learning on body hooping or breaks? Select percussive tracks so students can keep to a beat. Wanting to warm your students up and get them ready for other moves? Raise the tempo. Cooling the room down and bringing focus? Choose soft and relaxing songs.
OK so how do you find new tracks and keep your playlists fresh? Here are my top 10 playlist making hacks for hoop teachers.
NB: I refer to online music players like Spotify and SoundCloud a lot because they have cut my playlist making time by at least a quarter and I now only pay a small fee for monthly access to Spotify. I used to spend hundreds of dollars on iTunes. And yes, you can download Spotify playlist to play offline in your classes.
1. Shazam!
Download this free app and Shazam EVERYTHING. Hear a great song at a restaurant? Shazam it. Hear something fun in another class? Shazam it! I am pulling over to the side of the road daily to Shazam songs on the radio (luckily I have an amazing Dance radio station in my local area…endless hoop dance inspo)
The best thing about Shazam is that it acts like a folder of new songs. When you go into the My Shazam section of the app you will find all of the songs you have listened to and then you can go and find them on your fav music player.
2. Go to other classes or swap with other teachers.
Music makes you move and movement teachers have the best playlists! I know it is not always appropriate to be stand in the corner of your Hip Hop class or Ecstatic Dance Shazaming everything but (I sometimes do) you can get a lot of inspiration from other movement classes; new tempos, beats and song order.
Tip : If you are a Hoop Love Coach use your time wisely and start a class playlist swap in the Global Hoop Love Coach group. BAM! Hundreds of playlists…DONE!
3. Spotify playlists
Spotify has a great feature that allows you to find new music really quickly. If you open up the Spotify application on your desktop or phone and you click on Browse you will find lots of different categories but my fav is called Discover. This is a list compiled by Spotify based on the songs you have listened to previously. Always fresh tracks ready for you.
4. Online Playlists
If you type “hoop class” into the search bar on Sound Cloud or Spotify you are going to be overcome with joy! While they might not be exactly what you would use and in the order you need them, they do provide speedy inspiration and cut down a huge amount of song search time.
5. Follow Me on Spotify ; deannelove77
Most of my playlists are hoop focussed. I have class playlists, hoop party playlists, kids, adults, 90s, house party and playlists for all of the Hooplovers challenges. Please save some of your time by using some of mine.
Spotify now imports your iTunes playlists too so you can find my iTunes playlists there too.
6. Junk Drawer Playlist
Create “holding playlists” These are like your junk drawer in your kitchen. It has all the things you need and when you are in a rush you just rummage through there until you find exactly what you want. I usually call my “holding playlists” something like Hoop Practice. I throw a bunch of music in there for practice and play and use the ones that are suitable for classes in class playlists. These holding playlists really save you time when you have to make a playlist in a hurry because there is already a huge range of songs to choose from.
7. Background Music
Have some Spotify or Soundcloud playlists playing in the background while you do other things like house work, bookkeeping or gardening/yoga/cooking dinner. If a song comes on that you love and you think would suit your hoop class then Shazam it for later or push it into one of your holding playlists.
8. Pin It
You have to promise me you won’t get stuck on Pinterest and find yourself pinning pics of Unicorns, Crystals and your next holiday destination BUT search for “Dance Class Playlist” on Pinterest and watch a whole range of awesome ideas pop up. Then go back to your preferred music player, listen to some and throw some into your holding playlist for later.
9. YouTube Playlists
YouTube is filled with music playlists. Search for Dance Class Playlist or Hoop Class Playlist and you will find a range of class appropriate songs. Don’t get too caught up watching cat videos, simply Shazam some that you love or open another tab and search for the songs you like in your preferred music player.
10. DJ Sets
Long DJ sets can be great for jams or fluid style workshops where you are teaching a bunch of tricks and spending lots of time trouble shooting or moving around the class. These are long running tracks that you can use as background music and turn up and down as you please; softer for focus trick teaching and louder for play time. These sets or mixes are often 1 – 4 hours long and can easily be found by searching for DJ Set or Mashup on Soundcloud. Always great to listen to them first, some are full of surprises and the music can take a turn for the best/worst. Some with a fun and steady vibe is always great.
Bonus hack : Leave your playlist ideas or links below. Let’s a hoop class playlist jam!
Ok. Happy creating.
