This Sunday 10am, at Soma Ranch, we’ll be enjoying the fabulous Nia routine “Selfless”.
Often great Nia playlists will have a selection of several different artists to provide a balanced landscape of sound from the variety of genres, keys and more. I enjoy how the Karen Drucker playlist is an exception to this rule.
Even though most of her music is “spiritual, faith based and uplifting” based, Karen Drucker provides excellent variations in tempo, style and genre. Karen’s splash of humor, with lines like “I’m am perfect even with wrinkles and cellulite thighs” in the jazzy song “Lighten up” provide surprise and delight to the sonic journey.
With the original playlist, from fellow Trainer Casey Bernstein, being a grand 16 song 1 hour and 11 minutes composition, to create a 60 minute Nia class some tracks needed to be eliminated and the playlist edited. Here’s my process:
eliminate some songs (I play with 3 strikes you’re out!) - after listening/dancing/playing with Trigger 3 times I choose to take it out. AND I hear from fellow Nia teachers some find this to be their favorite.
identify strong YES! songs (Breath, Thank you, Lighten Up, Power of Women)
mix up the playlist several classes in a row identify the “clicks” (Gifts, Healed, Blessing)
leave the ones who didn’t make the “A list”, play them at them before and after classes (as participants arrive and leave, keep them unclicked yet available for special occasions (“Ho’oponopono” - a visiting Nia Belt’s favorite word, “Dropping Down” when facilitating a Nia Brown Belt training etc.)
Technical NOTES:
Know the length of selected songs within a long playlist:
Highlight the tracks within a playlist to get the length of selected songs
Playlist organization:
Folders NR = Nia Routine G=Group HT at end for a HT edited list:
Examples of playlist organization:
NR/G/SelflessHT = Nia Routine, Group, Selfless HT version
NR/D/Opal = Nia Routine, Debbie, Opal
NR/C/ZAliveAO = Nia Routine, Carlos, “ZMix” Alive + AO
NR/J/1910Blue = Nia Routine, Jam, Nia Blue Belts October 2019