FIRST Music Playlist for DJ's - Bring Back the Excitement!

[Stappy]

Is there a FIRST music playlist I can hand to a DJ at a competition? You know, the playlist with all of the line dance songs and upbeat music?

When we started attending competitions a couple years ago, the energy was palpable with music, dancing and excitement everywhere. I have repeatedly told people that they would not believe the energy at a FIRST robotics competition! I even had our schools main "sports guy" show up to an event and he was sooo surprised at the excitement that he has turned into one of our biggest supporters.

Last year at one of the events I noticed that the DJ was not playing from the normal playlist and it was actually kind of depressing. No dancing and the cheering was definitely muted. I thought it was just an anomaly but at the very first district event this year the same thing happened again! I of course had bragged to our new team members about the energy and last night one of them commented that it was not as exciting as I had been saying it would be.

Am I crazy or is there some sort of restriction on the playlists now? Or am I just the victim of bad DJ selection?

[Cal578]

Similar at NYC regional last week. Friday and Saturday was pop music that most of the audience (students and adults) didn't care for, and it got in the way of cheering. Dancing on the main floor was not being allowed, and no one bothered dancing in the stands.

Something changed on Sunday, I don't know what triggered it. They started playing the popular line dance songs, and allowed dancing on the floor. It changed everything! Energy and excitement went through the roof. American and international teams suddenly had much more interaction, and it was a beautiful thing. My team, including my daughter, was dancing with Brazilians and Dutch. Much fun, as well as cultural education.

I hope the traditional dance music is the norm for the remainder of this year. We'll be at Finger Lakes Regional next week; they've always had great music, so my hopes are high.

[YoshiCity]

There is a gathered "play list" and "do not play list" that I have seen, I believe in the role description of DJ in VIMS. Along with the two lists I think was a short description of what FRC events are like and what kind of music is generally played when.
Here is the
Link

[ctt956]

I'm going to say it's bad DJ selection. I've seen events with good music, and some not so good with songs being played over and over. I find it annoying when the music isn't broadcasted on the webcast, especially when they show people dancing!

[Conor Ryan]

I've been to events where the DJ went a little too hard on practice day, lots of dancing. And by the third day nobody had the same energy as they did on the first day. Perhaps energy flow of music is managed by design?

[Stappy]

Definitely needs a ramp up to finals. Thursday friday I can see low key music but on saturday afternoon the top 20 on the FIRST play list should just be played over and over....

[Stappy]

http://www.firstmusicdjs.com/

[adam the great]

Also don't forget the seemingly unspoken rule of, songs with line dancing are often saved for field delays to distract the audience of the lull in game play Maybe you just had a really clean running event ;D

[Stappy]

Originally Posted by adam the great

Also don't forget the seemingly unspoken rule of, songs with line dancing are often saved for field delays to distract the audience of the lull in game play Maybe you just had a really clean running event ;D

That could very well be, it did run very smoothly... I just wanted to be excited and not ready for a nap...

[Josh Goodman]

The simple answer is: Yes, and they already have the playlist. Continuing to beat the dead horse of the thread, I've seen a _wide_ array of various jockeys in FRC. Some are extremely talented with remixing and creating their own content using pop songs today.

The biggest thing that makes a fantastic FRC DJ (IMHO) is timing. Recently, having silence for the first 5 seconds of a match while switching songs, and playing low energy pop music in between matches have been the bigger faux pas in recent memory.