This is the YC Choral Competition main thread, where people will sign-up to compete or judge, and learn the rules of the competition.

THE COMPOSER'S GOAL: To write a well-crafted, intelligent, and pleasing piece for any group of singers, with any text, in the time specified. (for this competition, composers may submit more than one piece, each acting as seperate as far as judging is concerned)

LIMITATIONS: The overall work should be between 2 - 15 minutes in duration. The work may be accompanied by any ensemble of instruments, but the focus in judging will be on how well the composer works with the voice as an instrument.

TEXT: The composer must credit their text and its author. Any text will do.

DEADLINES: The deadline for submissions: WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2006

WHAT A COMPLETED ENTRY WILL BE: A full-length composition for any combination of singers, from solo to large, divisi chorus, with or without accompaniment. The text will be clearly notated, and credited to its author. Any program notes will be included in a seperate pdf or text file. The title will be clearly marked, and the name of the composer will be as well. An audio file will include the entire contents of the piece, as it would be if performed live. Sound quality will not be judged upon, but the sounds must be clear if to be judged fairly. Any misrepresentation of the piece in the audio file will be automatically deemed the composer's fault, unless a disclaimer is clearly marked. The work is to be made intended for publication and performance. Also, a form stating the composer's intent with how to deal with the text, and how he used the music to express the text, should be included if the composer wants to explain or comment on something in the music.

ADDITIONS: Some new rules have been implemented: Any form of accompaniment may be used, but the focus of the competition is still on the setting of text for vocalists. The focus is on setting the text to music, so any text may be used. Also, the composer should include a description of his music.

The deadline for compositions will be decided depending on the composer's progress.

Completed entries, sent directly to the judges (judges will post e-mail addresses as deadline approaches), MUST include the following: Audio file (mp3, midi, ogg, wav, etc), AND Score file (pdf, jpg, mus, sib, etc.). This is for the ease of both listening to and studying the music. When creating the final sheet music score, make it legible, and understandable. Please use hairpins, dynamics, expressions and other text as to rightfully convey your ideas to a phantom performer. Keep in mind that to judge, you must have access to listening and reading these files - Finale Notepad and the Scorch Plug-in are both necessary tools.

There are not many rules for this competition, so every piece will end up being totally different. In this respect, we need highly-qualified judges, who should be able to devote a large chunk of time for studying the resulting pieces, so everyone has a fair shot at placing. To become a judge for this competition, please post in this thread your interest.

COMPOSERS (this list is final)

1. Daniel

2. Letehn

3. Brandon Homayouni

4. Slightly

5. Marius

6. Andrew Baldwin

7. Chris Shaver

8. Eselbeus

9. Peter Grimes

10. Fegane

11. Beefybeef

12. EclecticPhilosopher

13. Piano Guy

14. Pianoman216

15. Tumababa

16. Lord Sorasen

17. Hummel

18. Jeremiah Hong

19. Tyler Menzel

20. Little Chopin

21. Dante

22. johannhowitzer

23. The Baroque Enthusiast

24. frantz

25. Insane

26. Compclar

JUDGES (this list is final)

1. N.S. Canzano

2. Mike

3. Christopher Dunn-Rankin

4. Reese A. Revak

5. Nightengale Incorporated

6. leightwing

7. W.E. Sapphire

8. Dunael

I will join as a competitor.

Some questions: can organ be used (as keyboard you specified) ?

Also, would a lied count? I.e. solo voice and piano/keyboard?

Thirdly.....please don't make the deadline soon :w00t:

Oh, and how come more than one piece per person?

I have modified the post to include organ and solo voice specifications.

The deadline definitely will not be soon. Right now I am thinking somewhere around Christmas.

If a composer has any choral pieces lying around that they want to patch up or finish, as well as a new one they have in store, they may submit both.

I would offer to be a judge, but I'm sure I'd be much too biased against anything not set to text. Kinda like judging a piano composition competition where some entrants submit pieces that only use one finger on each hand - Don't get me wrong, certainly these entries would not be invalid, but I'd have a tendency to dismiss them out of hand because they don't really take advantage of what the instrument is capable of. In the case of choral works, a piece submitted with no text (say other than oos and ahs) gives me no idea of whether or not the composer even understands the subtleties of scoring text.

Also, would a lied count? I.e. solo voice and piano/keyboard?

If it does, I would like to participate.

I would offer to be a judge, but I'm sure I'd be much too biased against anything not set to text. Kinda like judging a piano composition competition where some entrants submit pieces that only use one finger on each hand - Don't get me wrong, certainly these entries would not be invalid, but I'd have a tendency to dismiss them out of hand because they don't really take advantage of what the instrument is capable of. In the case of choral works, a piece submitted with no text (say other than oos and ahs) gives me no idea of whether or not the composer even understands the subtleties of scoring text.

Frankly, if one cannot see the value of choral music that doesn't have text, they obviously are not fully qualified to judge. A fair and good judge is one that recognizes all quality, whether or not they appreciate what the composer is doing. If you don't want to participate, then by all means, don't.

Yes Letehn, solo voice whether with keyboard or harp or not is fine. I'll put you up. :w00t:

Um. Let me try. This will be great practise. The only other choral thing I ever did was giving words to the Can-Can.

But I have one problem, I don't know how I would Submit a score. I use NoteWorthy Composer.

You say the deadline won't be until December, yet the header says 8/30/06. Might want to change that.

May I participate?

If Noteworthy can produce pdf files, then there you go. Other than that, I guess we'd have to let you slide with just a MIDI file.

Of course you can participate! I'd love to see you as a judge, but if you're inspired to compose, then by all means go ahead!

Nick, Leightwing is a seasoned professional. Let's go easy on him.

wow, a choral competition that does not need to include choir? I'm not sure how a lied is choral... Also no parameters? I think that's lame. It's like an "instrumental competition". Any style, any form, any ensemble, whatever. Way too open-ended for me, but that's just me. You guys have fun.

Well, Noteworthy can't make pdf's. But maybe someone has the program I'd be able to send it to them.

Actually, if you get Primo PDF or another PDF maker and install it (you can just search in Google for it, it's free), it acts as a printer and will 'print' your score right from Noteworthy to a pdf file! I'm assuming NW has the capability for this.

Well, Noteworthy can't make pdf's. But maybe someone has the program I'd be able to send it to them.

Google "primo pdf". It makes pdf's through the print command in any program I think.

Ooo. Thanks. I'll get it now!!

Also, do you mind if I use an electric keyboard that can change from celeste to piano after a short intro? If not, that's okay, I'll just write an octave higher for the piano.

I would like to sign up as a competitor. Thank you.

Oh, a choral competition! I'll join as a competitor, it would be really good practise for me... I love choral music but I don't know how well I can write it. We'll see :glare:

Google "primo pdf". It makes pdf's through the print command in any program I think.

Yup! It works!

I would like to participate as a competitor. If I can't, I'd love to judge.

Thanks :glare:

This ought to be a good one and from the people I see entering it would be hard to be a judge!

I have been really busy writing with all my free time so I don't know if i'll enter, but I may enter toward the deadline or just decide to be a judge on this one. I'll figure that out here in the next few weeks.

Frankly, if one cannot see the value of choral music that doesn't have text, they obviously are not fully qualified to judge. A fair and good judge is one that recognizes all quality, whether or not they appreciate what the composer is doing. If you don't want to participate, then by all means, don't.

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I think this is a valid concern. And as I have stated, I am willing to concede my deficiencies in this regard. I simply can

Can i please join as competitor? Thanks :mellow:

'Kyrie eleison' is actually Greek.

I think this is a valid concern. And as I have stated, I am willing to concede my deficiencies in this regard. I simply can

In reference to those who are now arguing about whether or not the use of a text would be valid, in my opinion, and if I were a judge, I would consider a "vocalise" or the use of "scat" syllables to be from a composer less skillful in vocal writing than one who was able to consider the rhythms, articulations and vowels within a given text to his artistic advantage. To write a piece using the mentioned textural devices (instead of a text) could show skill with voices imitating an instrumental composition, but would ultimately appear less tailored to a chorus.