SUMMER 2018: COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT

T H E    E N D    O F    T H E    W O R L D

YC SUMMER COMPETITION: 2018

Welcome, everybody to the Young Composer Forum's Summer 2018 composition competition! Be it the apocalypse, the rapture, or nuclear annihilation, people throughout the years have always had concerns over the world ending in some way or another. It's exciting, and awesome, and terrifying, yet nobody knows exactly how it will come about. In particular, composers throughout the years have tried to emulate the afterlife, or this process of death (Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6, and Holst's Ode to Death, etc.) and now I'm asking you to put the fate of the entire world into your hands: how's it all going to go down?

GOAL: Write a piece of any instrumentation under the theme of "the end of the world". Note that this is not a piece just about death, however you may follow one person/group of people through their experience of a dying world. You may call upon any context, inspiration, or story to make this happen (i.e. anything from the rapture to alien invasion).

ELIGIBILITY:
*You must be a member of the Young Composers forum in order to enter. Membership is free and found in the top right corner of the page. Sign ups for the competition will be in the comments below. Simply note that you are interested in judging or participating. 
*There will again be no limits to instrumentation. Extra points will not be given for smaller or larger ensembles.
*The minimum length for this competition is reduced to 3 minutes, but keep in mind you'll have a lot to write about. The maximum is also reduced to 20 minutes.
*You must have some sort of audio rendition accompanying your work, otherwise your entry will be disqualified.
*A score is required, but is not as heavy a focus as previous competitions. If you want to enter and are not proficient at engraving, message @Monarcheon.
*If you volunteer to be a judge, you may not enter as a contest participant.
*Entrants should have an intermediate understanding of engraving and orchestration.
*Entrants may only submit one work.

SCORING:
1. Submit a piece that properly depicts the end of the world in any context. This piece should progress like a story, of sorts, not just simply the event that causes the world to perish. The relation to the source material should be clear in your music in one way or another. Since it is difficult to convey things through sound, your job is simply to convince the judges that you've thought about how to make it work. (/40)
2. The more technically based compositional aspects are judged here. These aspects include score quality (/15), audio file quality (/15), and orchestration (/15)
3. Submit a writing component explaining the context in which the world is being destroyed and explaining how your instrumentation and compositional sections depict your writing. This should include what techniques you used to demonstrate certain aspects of each, keys, styles,  or anything else you feel is prudent. (/15)

TOTAL: /100

Mark your entry interest by: August 1st
Pieces must be submitted by (in another topic that will be posted later, not this thread): August 7th
Judges must be finished grading by: August 14th

PRIZES:

All entrants receive detailed feedback on their works. The winner’s piece will be placed in the YC Competition Hall of Fame. It is possible that winners receive a full year’s subscription compensation to Sibelius, but we are still working on that (THIS FINAL PRIZE IS NOT GUARANTEED).

ENTRANTS: 
@bkho
@Youngc
@Gustav Johnson
@Ken320
@edfgi234
@Hugget Zukker
@Noah Brode

Dies iræ, dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.

Interesting theme.  I may try to give this a shot if time permits.

On 6/16/2018 at 11:01 AM, bkho said:

Interesting theme.  I may try to give this a shot if time permits.

Same here!

Edited June 17, 20187 yr by Youngc

I'm going for a week of vacation here soon, will post back with a yes/no based on whether I think I'll be able to give this a quality entry.

I'm in, came up with some material already I think I can run with - game on everyone!

Gustav Johnson

Edited June 21, 20187 yr by Gustav Johnson

So many possibilities! I would like to enter.

I'll give it a try. Can it be just one instrument (piano), as I have not tried composing with more than one instrument present? Or would it be worth trying with several instruments?

Edited June 25, 20187 yr by edfgi234

3 hours ago, edfgi234 said:

I'll give it a try. Can it be just one instrument (piano), as I have not tried composing with more than one instrument present? Or would it be worth trying with several instruments?

 

Either is fine.

I almost forgot.

Hi, I'd like to partake in the apocalyptic competition.

It's hard for me to promise much, but I will really try to make something qualifiable before our times run out.

Edited July 18, 20187 yr by Hugget Zukker

Hi all. It's been a while, but I think I'm finally emerging from a long hiatus from composing. A competition deadline would be good to spur me into writing something new.  If this is still happening, I'd like to join as an entrant. If there are not enough judges to continue, though, I will volunteer as a judge. 

Contestants, please refer to this post for posting instructions.