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

[jujimufu]

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

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 :happy: )

~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 :P )

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
    

[ram]

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

[James H.]

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 :P )

Text is Der Erlk

[Dev]

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

[Mark]

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 :)

[Mitchell]

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.

[virtualshock]

I am in :)

[Spoon284]

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.

[Dirk Gently]

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

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

[pianistboy]

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

[huckle]

I'll put a tentative foot in, although I'm in the middle of exams so I may be forced to pull out...

I'd like to use the same ensemble as ClassicalSax ( 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 'celli and 2 double basses) with the text being "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost.

Is it sad that that is one of the texts I have to revise for English, and this will be part of my revision?

[EDIT]Link to Mending Wall: Frost, Mending Wall[/EDIT]

[rautavaara]

Count me in.

It'll be for a small string orchestra (3/4 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli, 2 bassi)

My text will be "Tears, Idle Tears" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

[TheMeaningofLIfe]

I'm in

<>

The score is attached and here is a Link to the audio file.

Link

Well here it is. It's based off of this poem. I found the text to be extremely provocative both aesthetically and theatrically. It's been alot of fun working with it's ideas and story.

If this piece was to be preformed I would have the text placed on a overhead projection and have the piece played beneath it.

My ideas around the piece were to take the main events and forces of the poem and represent them.

The intro follows the intro of the poem.

The repeating ostinato is representative to the truth.

The A theme represents the people of Uriel and their dynamic fall from grace.

The B theme represents the gods in all their splendor.

Other things that went into the writing of this piece was the tonal center of Eb which I changed only once from into F dorian to emphasize the experiance of truth and its pessimistic realisim with the change from the first A to B.

Another thing was my phrasing which was pushed to its limits with all of the odd time meters and the quirks that go with writing lyrical melodies within them. Writing in odd-time is not new to me and is a stand-by of my style but this piece pushed me into new territories with it.

There is rampant modal keys throughout it. The main one featured is dorian which is present in all of the B's of the gods minus the transition between the last B and Locrian A.

Well here's the poem and I hope for the best.

URIEL

by: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

It fell in the ancient periods

Which the brooding soul surveys,

Or ever the wild Time coined itself

Into calendar months and days.

This was the lapse of Uriel,

Which in Paradise befell.

Once among the Pleiads walking,

Said overheard the young gods talking,

And the treason too long pent

To his ears was evident.

The young deities discussed

Laws of form and metre just,

Orb, quintessence, and sunbeams,

What subsisteth, and what seems.

One, with low tones that decide,

And doubt and reverend use defied,

With a look that solved the sphere,

And stirred the devils everywhere,

Gave his sentiment divine

Against the being of a line:

"Line in nature is not found,

Unit and universe are round;

In vain produced, all rays return,

Evil will bless, and ice will burn."

As Uriel spoke with piercing eye,

A shudder ran around the sky;

The stern old war-gods shook their heads,

The seraphs frowned from myrtle-beds;

Seemed to the holy festival,

The rash word boded ill to all;

The balance-beam of Fate was bent;

The bonds of good and ill were rent;

Strong Hades could not keep his own,

But all slid to confusion.

A sad self-knowledge withering fell

On the beauty of Uriel.

In heaven once eminent, the god

Withdrew that hour into his cloud,

Whether doomed to long gyration

In the sea of generation,

Or by knowledge grown too bright

To hit the nerve of feebler sight.

Straightway a forgetting wind

Stole over the Celestial kind,

And their lips the secret kept,

If in ashes the fibre-seed slept.

But now and then truth-speaking things

Shamed the angels' veiling wings,

And, shrilling from the solar course,

Or from fruit of chemic force,

Procession of a soul in matter,

Or the speeding change of water,

Or out of the good of evil born,

Came Uriel's voice of cherub scorn;

And a blush tinged the upper sky,

And the gods shook, they knew not why.

Finale 2008a - [ha..pdf

PDF

• Finale 2008a - [ha.

[Dirk Gently]

My Official Entry:

Text:

Me[/size]"]

*From Dr. Seuss's Oh the THINKS you can think!:

"And what would

you do

if

you met

a JIBBOO."

That's it' date=' one line of text from two pages of a Dr. Seuss book :shifty:

*(Inspired both by the text and the accompanying picture...)

edit:

Instrumentation:

Me[/size]"]

String Orchestra.

Title:

Me[/size]"]

"The Jibboo"

(a scan of the picture will be presented along with the score' date=' for reference)[/size']

[Omri Lahav]

The thread was a bit unclear about this point - o rI missed something.

Am I supposed to pick just one family of instruemnts and stick to it or can I mix them?

Anyways I'm in, text is Bilbo's Goodbye Song (At the Grey Havens) by J.R.R Tolkien.

Bilbo's Last Song (At the Grey Havens) by JRR Tolkien

(You'll soon find I'm a Lord-of-the-Rings fanatic :P)

If I am to choose one family it'll probably be plucked strings or percussion - for the challange.

Omri.

[Guest FPSchubertII]

I'll join writing a piece for string quartet (2 violins, viola, and cello) based off of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave": Plato: Republic: Book VII .

[Jordan]

Well, I have some cautious enthusiasm here.

I would like to be a part of this thing, but I have things like exams (and other contests) that might beat it out for place in my ever growing list of things to do. However, if I manage to get around to this thing, I would like to make a song based on some text (not sure which) and it will be done with a woodwind ensemble.

if I am allowed, I would like something like an all clarinet ensemble (Eb Sopranino, 2 Bb sopranos, Eb Alto, Bb Bass).

[Nik Mikas]

Similarly, I wish to participate, but may not complete me piece due to school.

Instruments:

Piano-Forte (two players)

Organ

Electric keyboard

Text:

Signatura Rerum or

The Six Keys of Eudoxus (I love sacred-texts)

And my score will be handwritten, as I have no program and never write another way, but question the notion of getting extra points for it.

[Alan]

Once again, I volunteer my time to judge!

[Morivou]

Alright... my summer will start with THIS!!!

Text: "Sleep" by Octavio Paz.

Ensemble: 2 Pianos, 2 Harpsichords, 2 Organs.

Yes, this will be fun!!!

[Dirk Gently]

damn, now I have to start making more interesting viola lines :glare:...

:P

[Keerakh Kal]

Count me in please.... I just found this wicked Bass Marimba part a few weeks ago:shifty:...

~Kal

[Mitchell]

Wikipedia - Epilepsy

Epilepsy should not be understood as a single disorder, but rather as a group of syndromes with vastly divergent symptoms but all involving episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

This is basically what I try to depict in my piece, Epilepsy.

So, as you'll notice, it follows no real structure or form, like an epileptic seizure. It uses harsh sounds, and there is actually a place where I, in an attempt to get the ugliest sound possible, place notes randomly on staves. A section uses multimetres, and there is an extensive use of ostinato almost throughout the piece. This is all in an attempt to keep it exciting, frantic, and unpredictable like a seizure.

It's for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons. The second bassoon doubles on contrabassoon for the majority of the piece, however.

Here:

00epilepsy.mid

00epilepsy.pdf

PDF

• 00epilepsy

[pianistboy]

Okay, here is my submission. It is scored for 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes and 2 Clarinets in Bb.

It is entitled flow. The text that I used is Robert Frost's Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

by Robert Frost

The people along the sand

All turn and look one way.

They turn their back on the land.

They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass

A ship keeps raising its hull;

The wetter ground like glass

Reflects a standing gull.

The land may vary more;

But wherever the truth may be---

The water comes ashore,

And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.

They cannot look in deep.

But when was that ever a bar

To any watch they keep?

When writing this piece, I tried to create that image of the ocean, when it is neither stormy or especially calm. It just is. That is the main idea of flow. I suppose it is rather minimalistic, focusing not so much on theme and development, but rather creating rich textures and "soundscapes" with some dissonance in some places. :)

Thanks for listening!

Here is the .mp3

flow.pdf

PDF

• flow

[Mark]

I'm afraid once again I have failed spectacularly - though less spectacularly than last time. This time I have some music! I've finished two movements of my planned five and will post them along with an analysis and my plans for the others. If you choose to discount from the competition due to it being incomplete that's fine, I just wanted to post what I had :)

The text I used was 'Dulce et Decorum est' by Wilfred Owen. The instrumentation 2 Trumpets in Bb, 2 Horns in F and 2 Trombones. The score is in concert pitch because I'm lazy.

The Poem:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!

I.MUS

I.MID

IV.MUS

IV.MID