Leaderboard

Legibility is, by far, the most important consideration. Conductors have to read 20-30 staves at once while instrumentalists only have to read one. So its a huge deal to have things not colliding and score elements unified and consistent. Page turns are not as important, however, they can sometimes be improved by placing them where there is a major change of character, i.e. a change in tempo or key, or sometimes a major section start. The most annoying thing is to have a new section start on a page for only a bar and then have to turn the page; it will cause insecurity with the conductor because he has to ensure the new tempo is correct *and* turn the page at the same time, all the while reading ahead and making cues etc. Its just one extra thing that really should be avoided whenever possible. There's no rule for measures per page because spacing will be entirely dictated by the music's density and the page size. Conductor scores should not be in letter size if you can avoid it unless we're talking about chamber works. But orchestral scores need to be larger paper in order to be useful. Make the score in Tabloid (11X17) format (or A3 elsewhere) and then spiral bind it. Sometimes you can get away with a smaller size like 11X14 or 11X15 but for simplicity 11X17 is best. Try and get all gradual tempo changes to fall on the same spread (two pages open facing each other, i.e. an even page and the odd page directly after). Having changes across page breaks isn't terribly hard but if you can avoid it, it's a nice gesture. Make the beginning and ending tempo clear!

I dunno if it's bad translation, or if he's just plain incorrect, but the progression you wrote out is certainly still C-centric at that point. Listen to it. I barely even know what you're talking about. Not every V–I is a cadence; cadences are at the ends of phrases. You can have cadential progressions in the middle of phrases, but these aren't cadences, because they're in the middle. 'Non-cadential cadence' doesn't make any sense; it's like saying 'the green red chair'. If a phrase ends with a cadence in a new key, it has modulated; if it uses an applied dominant or cadential progression in the middle, it's tonicizing. If you play your C–G/Bb–A7–Dm progression, but don't have a C# in the A7 (i.e., the chord would just use A, E, and G—maybe in just two or three parts), it still tonicizes D minor, because of the root progression:

I will definitely be opening this up again next year. It will probably have guidelines with some sort of theme. We do a fall concert so perhaps a fall/halloween themed piece may be the contest. I am also considering some kind of special concert with music performed to video/projected images so something along those lines is also possible. One idea I have is a video game themed concert with projections - all just ideas in the air right now. I may keep the young composers piece still just open to any ideas you all have. We will see. Look for more info as we get into the summer and I brain storm next year's concerts a bit more.