Competition planning/suggestions thread

Well, the poll doesn't really show the movie one as the popular cliche here. tho, i voted for the movie one i wouldnt mind the chamber music idea.

No I'm talking about popularity wise outside this forum.

Why not a chamber ensemble that's a tone poem? There, contestants get to write a chamber ensemble based upon the mood of a poem. There.

That'd be neat!

Would there actually be a poem to set it to? then that may be too much like the other competition. That is up and running!

The tone poem idea certainly makes it more interesting.

If the chamber music competition wins the votes, why do we have to have such a restrictive limit? Why not 5 or more instruments instead of 5-8?

BRILLIANT IDEA: Maybe we could write a movie theme with a chamber ensemble of at least 5 instruments! Now everyone is happy!!!

On your two thoughts:

1) Well... "at least 5" makes it too much like the other competitions. What I want to see is how well people can do when forced to use a sparse texture... I would in fact say "no more than 5 instruments, including at least one string and one wind".

2) I agree, let's do both the movie theme and the chamber ensemble. One of the most fun chamber works that I've ever played was Milhaud's suite for "Le Voyageur sans Bagages", which was originally written as incidental music and yet scored for only violin, clarinet, and piano. But instead of just calling it film music, I'd suggest calling the theme "incidental music", for either a play or a film.

My thought here is: it would be a truly unique challenge to write effective incidental/film music for a very limited ensemble. Milhaud did it... and so should we!

On your two thoughts:

1) Well... "at least 5" makes it too much like the other competitions. What I want to see is how well people can do when forced to use a sparse texture... I would in fact say "no more than 5 instruments, including at least one string and one wind".

2) I agree, let's do both the movie theme and the chamber ensemble. One of the most fun chamber works that I've ever played was Milhaud's suite for "Le Voyageur sans Bagages", which was originally written as incidental music and yet scored for only violin, clarinet, and piano. But instead of just calling it film music, I'd suggest calling the theme "incidental music", for either a play or a film.

My thought here is: it would be a truly unique challenge to write effective incidental/film music for a very limited ensemble. Milhaud did it... and so should we!

1) Ok then...it will have to be a full orchestra to get what we want with the competition...so we will keep them separate. Just an idea.

Looks like the votes are close.

What, a string AND a wind, in one small chamber ensemble? If thats the restrictions, then I need to change my vote to the movie theme thing.

That ruins ensembles like a sax quartet or brass quintet, if you have to have some string instrument as well.

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.

Ok this is getting retarded already; someone with power just get over here and make a final decision already, this is going in pointless circles.