Filters Made for Movement

The Sound for Movement catalog will soon reach 600 tracks. To help you easily find music that fits your ideas, I’ve created a snappy and intuitive set of filters. You can search using keywords, tempos, meters, durations, and moods.

The “keyword” search is the first filter and immediately begins working with each letter or number you type. As you start typing a track’s name, the large list quickly narrows down to that specific track. Although we provide separate filters for meter, tempo, duration, and mood, you can also type these parameters directly into the search field.

The “Meter” filter displays every meter currently available in the catalog: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11. Selecting a meter instantly organizes all tracks within that meter. For example, selecting 5 will neatly group all tracks with a meter of 5, arranged in tempo order from slowest to fastest.

Filtering by “tempo” is now incredibly simple. If a track in Sound for Movement is titled “4 125,” it means the track has a meter of 4 and a tempo of 125 BPM. We streamlined tempos ranging from 20 to over 200 BPM into seven categories: Very Slow, Slow, Medium Slow, Medium, Medium Fast, Fast, and Very Fast. Within each category, tracks are organized from slowest to fastest.

Both choreographers and filmmakers rely extensively on the mood filter. While selecting mood tags, I considered the real-world environments where my music is used. To keep the filtering straightforward, I limited the catalog to ten distinct moods: Ambient, Beautiful, Energetic, Hopeful, Humorous, Intense, Mysterious, Nostalgic, Rhythmic, and Sad. To simplify searching as the library grows, each track is assigned only one mood tag.

The final filter option is “duration.” Tracks range from under one minute to over 90 minutes. These are grouped into eight segments: 0-2 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins, 6 mins, 7 mins, 8-14 mins, and 15+ mins. A pro tip for working with the library’s tracks—feel free to use just a portion of any track. If a 35-minute piece contains the perfect three-minute segment for your project, go ahead and use just that section.

The real power of the filters emerges when combining them. For example, selecting Meter 5, Tempo Medium, and Mood Rhythmic quickly narrows hundreds of tracks down to just two options: “5 110” and “5 106.” Achieving such precision in only six clicks is an exciting way to interact with the library. You can easily “Clear All” or remove individual filters to explore similar tracks. For instance, removing meter and mood while retaining the tempo filter might reveal new pieces that inspire students to approach choreography differently while maintaining a consistent tempo.

These filters are available for everyone right now. Subscribers have additional features: combining filters with “Favorites” and “Playlists.” Once you find suitable tracks, quickly create or add to playlists by clicking the “+” icon on each track. Create as many playlists as you like, and favorite unlimited tracks. Whether using the sidebar filters on desktop or the dropdown on mobile, the filtering experience is fast and highly responsive.

Much more is coming with these new tools. I’d love your feedback on the filters and options!