Young Composers' Christmas Carol Competition

Added.

For you Prometheus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carols :)

Hey there guys, I want to try this one out so put me on the list too please, I expect it'll be a fun one to work on and of course any mystery prizes are a tempting incentive. :)

Thanks

This Carol that we are writing, does it have to develop like a song would??

Or can I do some music development like Tchaikofsky(ha can't spell) might of done?

In other words, even though i do not have voices in my piece, does every thing have to be singable?

Tchaikovsky*

umm... Its an important part of your score, actually. The guy listenning HAS to be able to, say, wistle or hum it. It can't just be abience, well, it can, but it would really knock off your score...

And Mr. Monkey, about your PM, yes, you can use as many instruments as you want. Instrumentation is, in fact, a part (a reletively small part) of the judging. You don't need a voice or lyrics either.

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

Wow, that helps me a lot too. Thank you Letehn. So not exactly a sacred piece, but not secular ..... something in between :blush:

You are very welcome! :blush:

*Attaches hyperlink to first post*

I must say i don't fully understand the criteria, care to elaborate a bit on each factor, dear competition administrator? Also, TBA, i'll get back to you about that ''Variations On A Hymn'' competition.

I'll participate in the competition.

Cool. We have alot of participants now, this is gunnu be good. However, we need some more judges, now more than ever. About 1 or 2.

I would like to participate too. :P

I'll do it.

I'd like to enter as a contestant :glare:

I though I added a message a few days ago. Well let me do it now.

I am not interested in writing a song. Add me as a judge instead.

Yes! Another judge!

I don't think I understand fully; even wikipedia defines a carol as a song; so how can there not be a lyric/singer requirement?

Would it be okay, for example, to make a new song out of an existing [possibly well-known] carol lyric, for instance God rest ye merry gentlemen?

I know, carols have a certain feel to them, but there is much Christmas music out there which isn't carols but definitely Christmas. Wouldn't it therefore be somewhat 'necessary' to require lyrics&singers?

Wikipedia is editted by the general public. The general public consideres all works "songs."

Oh, but I thought you agreed on the definition given by Wikipedia since it's been posted here.

To get this straight:

- your carol can be 'just' a Christmas-sy piece of music with a hummable melody

- you can set existing carol lyrics to your own new music

- you can invent your own lyrics as well as your own music

Correct?

Wait what?

You don't need lyrics at all. I suppose you could take carol lyrics and write a new melody to it, but, why? I suppose you could, but I wouldn't recommend it.

So how far are you guys?

I would like to participate as a contestant. Thank you.

So we will need to send a midi and finale file to who???

The deadline is December 15th, but where do I send it or post

or whatever? (Sorry, I'm new!)

Added

You will send your piece to the competition administartor, he will then distribute it to the judges. :D

Okay, i think we have enough participants now. We just need some more judges..

I don't want to add to to confusion but a carol is a song, (in the sense that it is sung).

From my dictionary:

Carol

(KAIR-ruhl)

English Medieval strophic song with a refrain (called a burden) repeated after each stanza. Now, erroneously, any Christmas song is called a carol.

Since we are composers, please lets use the technical meaning of these words. It would be nice to know if the contenders are supposed to write a carol with a christmas setting/flavor/mood, a christmas song or a christmas piece.

I am trying to find if that what is known as a 'christmas carol' is still a (proper) carol. The wikipedia page says it is either a song or hymn with christmas lyrics. So not a carol at all? So, are most famous 'chistmas carols' technically real carols? (Though later on the wiki page becomes unclear again, yeah I know, but there seems to be a disagreement or at least a confusion there).

The criteria also need to be rewriten in proper language. Also, it should mention that the piece is supposed to be a vocal piece with a christmas setting (or whatever the definition is going to be).

From the criteria:

- Christmas Factor (25 Possible)

How well did the entered piece fit the theme of the contest? Did it have the spirit nessecary, could you have noticed it for a carol without knowing beforehand?[/b]

I think the writer here meant with 'carol' that it sounds like a christmas song. As it stands now I will have to withhold points if the piece isn't a carol, or a bit like a carol.

About the lyrics, if the 'christmas carol' idea is going to hold I must assume lyrics are part of the work. But this causes problems. I am not able to judge the quality of literature. And what if someone writes the lyrics in spanish, japanese, german etc, that would be even more of a problem.

But matching notes and words is an important part of composing a song/hymn/carol/etc. So I guess I would suggest that the piece needs lyrics but that the literary part of the lyrics is totally ignored. So they don't need to be original either. But one should be able to sing the notes and voice the words properly.

I don't want to force anything, but these are my logical conclusions. I will gladly accept and follow the criteria to the letter while judging.

Thats actually a really cool idea. I'd gladly accept it, unless, well, anyone else has already gotten really far on the project already, wouldn't wanna make them start over from scratch.

Can I still sign up as a judge?

If you need any more judges, I'm willing to judge as well. As long as we all agree on the criteria.

If we have voices, do we have to include lyrics with our carol??

Do you just want a midi?? or do you have to give a finale file as well?

Also can we submit more than one work?