May/June 2008 Monthly Competition Rules/Signup/Submission Thread

Ok, so, eventually here's the sign-up thread for the May/June competition (sorry for the delay... )

There's a small rule concerning this thread. Please only post once per person. If you want to ask something, PM me, and I will clarify this to you personally and in my first post so that others can see. Post only once, notifying me whether you will participate in this competition or not (or whether you want to apply for judge - in which case you should send me a PM too). To submit your composition, edit your previous post (go to Advanced Edit), and add your files below your original post. Please don't start conversations here, or comment on someone else's reply, let's leave this thread as simple as possible.

This will make it a lot easier to track the competition status, the participants' status, and for me to organise this initial thread.

Rules

Deadline: June 30th, 23:59 GMT
You may submit your pieces any time between now and the 30th of June.

The competition asks you to write a piece consisting only of a family of instruments (strings, brass, winds, percussion, keyboards) written based on a text.

You may not submit more than one submission for the competition, and also the piece has to be written specifically for this competition (i.e. you may not submit an older piece of yours).

By submitting a piece in this competition, you agree that all your base are belong to us.

No, not really. Now, on to the instrumentation rules,


Instruments

You have to write for the standard ensembles of the families of instruments. Let it be clear that when I mention an instrument here I mention all of the family instruments under that instrument (so Flute includes Piccolo, Fife, Alto Flute, Bass Flute etc, Clarinet includes Eb, A, Bb Clarinets, Bass Clarinet etc). I've made some corrections and added a few instruments I forgot in the previous post (but please stick to western instruments >_> ). The list now is:

Woodwinds: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bassoon
Brass: Horn, Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba
Percussion: any combination of percussion instruments
Keyboards: piano, celesta, harpsichord, harmonium, organ (at least 2 keyboards, but no more than 3)
Strings: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabass
Plucked Strings: Guitar (including El. Guitar and Bass Guitar), Mandolin, Lute, Harp

I didn't want to include the voice or choir in the family groups, firstly because writing for the voice is a lot different than writing for instruments, and secondly because it would be too much a temptation for you to set the text into music (in the form of lyrics), which is not what this competition is about.

Also, please do note the differences in instrumentation for the keyboard instruments. If you're writing for keyboard or plucked string instruments, you have to use at least 3 but less than 6 players. You may have more than one players on one keyboard/plucked string instrument.

For percussion instruments, you are limited to at least 2 but no more than 4 players, and at least 2 but no more than 5 instruments max.

For all other instruments, you have to write for at least 3 but no more than 5 different instruments (apart from the exceptions stated above). You're also writing for ensemble, so you're not writing for one flute, one oboe and one clarinet, you're writing for, say two flutes, three oboes and three clarinets. Doubling instruments is allowed (as long as it's justified - flute player can't double on xylophone, for example).

(Think of it this way: You have to write for at least 6 but no more than 12 players, and the distribution of players cannot exceed more than 3 players playing the same instrument (and no less than 3 instruments), with the exception of the keyboards, which can have one player per instrument)

You may write for more than one player at the keyboard instruments, but make sure that the extra player is there because the piece cannot be played by one player alone. Don't just use more than one players for the sake of using more than one players.

For those of you (*ahem*Enigmus*ahem*) who want to write/have been writing for an already existing ensemble/band, please do note that this competition is about a very specific instrumentation, asking for no more than 12 players, and no more than 5 different instruments (not counting the doubling instruments).


Text

The text can be anything you want, be it a poem, a chapter from a book, a whole book, a trilogy with five books, a slogan, a section from movie script, a blender instruction manual, anything. However, the text must be reflected in one way or another in the piece, whether that is in terms of imagery, concept, form/structure etc.

You may not write your own text for this piece.

And please avoid cliche stuff like "oh, sad poem, I'll write in a minor scale" or "oh, happy, I'll write in a major scale", and participants will receive extra marks for breaking up from what they usually do and try something new (examples include irregular time signatures, tempo changes, not using a major/minor scale, not using vertical harmony, using extended techniques, using things that cannot be played back in finale/sibelius etc). However, you'll have to explain this in the summary of the piece in your submission (and also explain how this is different than what you usually do). Remember, there's no monetary prize, so feel free to experiment as much as you want/can. If you don't experiment now, when will you?

Hand-written scores will also be marked with more points, but only if you write the piece directly on paper, and not after writing it on finale (I'll take your word for it).


Submissions

• You must submit the score in PDF format (click here if you don't know how to).
  
• You may submit the score in .mus or .sib files, but only if you've also submitted the score in PDF format.
  
• You may also accompany your score with an audio file, if you wish so.

Now, the judging criteria will go as follows (and as usual):

• Form [1-5]
• Development [1-5]
• Notation [1-5]
• Compliance with the Rules and Innovation (what I mentioned before about extra points) [1-5]
• Instrumentation [1-5]

Please make sure you have read the previous commentaries (link and link) on the pieces so it will make it easier for the judges to write the reviews. Issues that have been mentioned in previous commentaries will not be mentioned in the commentaries on these submissions, although points will be removed, both for something that's wrong/bad, or for evidence that you've obviously not read the previous commentaries.


Good luck, then! (and sorry for the huge post )

~jujimufu




Judges (I need judges - anyone willing to judge, please PM me; I won't just accept anyone, though, you have to persuade me that you'll be a good judge )

1. jujimufu
2. Pieter Smal
3. Alan
4. Corbin The Violist

Participants (those who have submitted their scores are marked with a " > " )

1. ram
2. EnigmusJ4
3. Mark
4. Mitchell
5. virtualshock
6. ClassicalSax
7. > Verdi_Lver
8. pianistboy
9. Pieter Smal
10. huckle
11. rautavaara
12. TheMeaningofLife
13. Omri Lahav
14. FPSchubertII
15. Jordan
16. Nik Mikas
17. Morivou
18. Keerakh Kal

OK, I'll sign-in for this set of rules.

I'm signing up. Already started before the thread was created. Just need to reinstrumentationalize due to the constraints, which is a bugger since I'm already about halfway through. (I liked the idea so much I started early )

Text is Der Erlkönig by Wolfgang von Göthe: Der Erlkoenig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wrote my piece such that the original (German) poem could be sung to it as if it were a lied. I may eventually make a reduction for piano and baritone (singer), but the piece is intended to convey the story without the need of sung lyrics. This was something new that I tried... trying to set a poem to music word by word. Each melody note roughly corresponds to a word or syllable in the poem. Like I said, it could be sung, that is how I wrote it, but as this is arranged for a large brass choir there will be no singing involved whatsoever. The music should tell the story alone. The following is an English translation of the lyrics:


Who rides so late through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the little one well in the arm
He holds him secure, he holds him warm.

"My son, why hide your face in fear?"
"See you not, Father, the Erl king?
The Erl king with crown and flowing cloak?"
"My son, it is a wisp of fog."

"You sweet child, come along with me!
Such wonderful games I'll play with you;
Many lovely flowers are at the shore,
My mother has many golden garments."

"My father, my father, and do you not hear,
What the Erl king quietly promises to me?"
"Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind is rustling the dry leaves."

"Won't you come along with me, my fine boy?
My daughters shall attend to you so nicely;
My daughters do their nightly dance,
And they will rock you and dance you and sing you to sleep."

"My father, my father, do you not see there,
Erl king's daughters in that dreary place?"
"My son, my son, I see it clearly:
It is the willow trees looking so grey."

"I love you; I'm charmed by your beautiful shape;
And if you are not willing, then I will use force."
"My father, my father, now he has taken hold of me!
Erl king has hurt me!"

The father shudders, he rides swiftly,
He holds in arm the groaning child,
He reaches the farmhouse with effort and urgency;
In his arms, the child was dead.


The meter of the English version is not quite identical to the original in German, I based my piece off the meter of the German version.

I used a full brass compliment and then some as follows:

Cornet 1 in Eb / Piccolo Trumpet
Cornet 1 in Bb
Cornet 3 in Bb
Horn in F 1
Horn in F 2
Horn in F 3
Alto horn in Eb
Tenor Trombone 1
Tenor Trombone 2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba

I originally wrote for 4 F horns, but the constraints ended up limiting me to three. I substituted the 4th horn with an alto horn (also called a tenor horn,) which is in Eb and more of a saxhorn and akin to the baritone. I gave it independent lines here and there and mixed it with the harmony in the (French) horns in other places, moving it around vertically in the voicing occasionally for different colours. Also, in the F horns I retained the idea that horns 1 and 3 were high, and horns 2 and 4 were low, only the 4th horn is sitting this one out.

If you had visited the Wikipedia article, you may have noticed that there are works by Schubert and Loewe based on this same poem. I have not heard either of these works. I was introduced to the poem in 2nd year German class and enjoyed it so much I figured I would use it for this competition. After I had already started I went to Wikipedia to dig up anything more about it and that is when I found that I was not the first to set this to music. Like I said, I refrained from listening and reading about the other compositions until I finished this work in interest of making it as "me" as possible.

I could go on about how I depicted what in the poem in my piece, but I'll leave that to the listeners to figure out for themselves. One thing I will say is that as the story gets more frantic towards the end, I used more sophisticated harmony as I went on. What you may think of as inconsistencies (some rhythmic, some harmonic) may just be devices I used to maintain a sense of development in the story.

FILES: Op.27, Pieces for Brass Choir - Folder Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

I don't suppose voice can count as a family of instruments?

I'm in.

Text:
"Dulce et Decorum est" - Wilfred Owen

Ensemble:
2 Trumpets
2 French Horns
2 Tenor Trombones

I'm going to try bloody hard to actually finish this - I really want to be able to finally submit something to one of these

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy

I won't be explaining epilepsy.
I'll be going for the concept.

Wind octet:
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons. There may be some doubling. We'll see.

I'm in.

I am in

I'll give it a shot. Count me in.

Text: VOGON POETRY!!!

"Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits
On a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me
With crinkly binglewurgles,
For I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon,
See if I don't!"

Ensemble: 3 Violins, 3 Violas, 3 Cellos, 3 Double Basses.

I'm in....but only because I was going to write a piece for wind instruments anyway .

As for a text....well, I suppose I'll find something....

Cool, I'm in!

2 Flutes
2 Clarinets in Bb
2 Oboes.

I'm going to use Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost