|
Ok this is getting kind of silly.
I suggest the small ensemble incidental music competition. ANY combination of instruments from 2-8 should be allowed. This will include Piano duets, piano and solo instruments, string/brass/wind quar/quin/sex-tets, piano quar/quin/sex-tets, septets and octets. These are, after all, the most common chamber ensemble groups out there. It will be up to the composer to make their ensemble unique and interesting. But if you would like to write a brass quintet, we shouldn't stop you. There is a lot of good music still left to write in this medium.
As for the scene, perhaps we should get a silent movie or a scene from a play in which to create the music off of. Keep in mind that incidental music and film music ARE tone poems in themselves. The poem thing has been done before, and is also a different kind of being, from a film or play scene. In a poem, you have general ideas to work with, making the music abstract and very hard to compare to other pieces by the other competitors, because everyone can have a different take. In a film, there are specific things that are happening on the screen. It is the composer's job to reflect these things and also bring out subtle aspects of the scene, to ADD to the scene's effect. Tone Poem - branch off of and create something NEW out of an existing piece in another medium. Film Music - create something to ADD to a scene, and to enhance its overall effect.
I suggest the film music, as it will be easier to judge and more interesting for the composers, to see what others did with the material. The pieces will be a lot closer in relation, dependant on how creative the composers are. I think it would prove to be more interesting then a tone poem, as there can be very different takes.
|