Film Music Competition

---- NO MORE COMPETITORS ARE ALLOWED ----

One of our members, Thomas, has posted regarding a competition he has arranged with an orchestra. It is a rather small, amateur orchestra, and the deadline is restrictive, but it is a good opportunity for composers to actually write for real players.

COMPETITORS: 1. Nickthoven, 2. Invisionary, 3. Chris Shaver, 4. Nightengale Incorporated, 5. Saiming, 6. Eselbeus, 7. Keith Novak, 8. Tumababa, 9. Compclar, 10. johannhowitzer

ENTRIES SUBMITTED: 1. Invisionary, 2. Saiming, 3. Eselbeus, 4. johannhowitzer, 5. Chris Shaver, 6. Compclar, 7. Nickthoven, 8. Tumababa

So it's like this: Composers (you guys) will write a piece of music, Thomas will select the five he thinks are best suited to the orchestra (taking into account its ability to perform the piece, texture, orchestration etc.), which will be put before the conductor of the orchestra, who will then pick one to be performed. (The deadline to sign up for this competition is June 16th, 2006.) The deadline for compositions is JULY 14TH, 2006. Yes, this is an incredible crunch for orchestral competitions, but if you don't have much to do during this stretch of summer, try to participate.

Pieces must be written for the orchestra listed below, and in a Film Music style, as indicated by the orchestra. SUGGESTIONS: Think of a scene in a movie, either existing or of your own creation. Put yourself in that scene, and write what you hear coming out of that scene. It may be hard at first, coming up with ideas that are cohesive as a whole, and that still have to do with the scene in question, but it is a matter of discipline. Try to steer away from abstract randomness, as real film composers always pre-plan themes and overall sounds for scenes. The piece is required to be 4-10 minutes long, so multiple scenes may be written for, but try to keep it all cohesive and understandable from a listening perspective. Some scene suggestions: An evil emperor marches his troops through his land, which is dark and desolate. / It is night, and the main characters are infiltrating the evil corporation's base of operations. / The character is a loner, driving through a desolate wasteland, not knowing what or who he will encounter. Existing themes can be used as well, as long as the music produced is still original.

The orchestra is somewhat limited:

4 Flute players (preferably only 2 parts)

3 Clarinet in Bb players (preferably only 2 parts) (strong players)

2 Alto Saxophones

2Trumpets

Piano

I and II Violins (not very strong)

Violas (not very strong)

Cellos (strong players)

Basses

Timpani (2 drums, no pedals, so only two notes, usually C and G, or D and A)

Percussion, one player

This ensemble must NOT be changed.

The orchestra is about a good high school level, so please nothing extremely complex, like crazy key signatures or accidentals or rhythms.

Pieces must end up in both notation file and audio files (either .mus, .sib, .pdf, and either MIDI or mp3). They should be e-mailed to Thomas at tad1989@gmail.com. If your piece wins the competition, make sure you are able to produce parts and a readable full score, in PDF format, and sent to Thomas. But don't worry about parts if you haven't yet won.

The winner will have their composition premiered by the said orchestra in September 2006. It will be recorded.

If there are any questions, please e-mail Thomas at tad1989@gmail.com, NOT Nickthoven.

PLEASE POST IN THIS THREAD TO SIGN-UP FOR THIS COMPETITION, AS IT IS PART A YOUNGCOMPOSERS COMPETITION, AS WELL AS A COMPETITION FOR THE ORCHESTRA. DETAILS AS THEY COME WILL BE POSTED IN THIS THREAD.

THE DEADLINES: ---- JULY 14th TO SEND IN COMPOSITIONS ----

The deadlines are final.

No YC-based judges are necessary.

OOO, PICK ME!

Added, Jeremiah.

I've also edited Nickthoven's original post to make it clear that no YC judges are required for this competition. Thomas himself will judge the pieces.

Ah, why not. I'll give it a try. Sign me up.

Jeremy

I'll take a stab at it.

I already said definately in the other thing but my name wasn't transferred over so here I go again: count me in! :P

I have a small question. By "not strong players" are they not able to deal with higher registers (or say for the violins and violas anything past 3rd position.) or are you saying that they aren't very loud due to a small size in the orchestra?

hi Calehay,

The violins can be heard (there'll be around 7 firsts and 4 seconds) - they can go up past third position but I'd limit range to around the G above the e-string. As regards 'weak' players, just no funny scales or whatever.

The orchestra is about a good high school level, so please nothing extremely complex, like crazy key signatures or accidentals or rhythms.

P.S. Thanks Nick for putting this in here!

Add Me.

Can't pass up this.

I'll just have to make time.

Can't pass up this.

Makes two of us :).

I have a question ;):

I would like to participate but the problem is this:

Pieces must end up in both notation file...

How do I do this please? Oh and I'm not familiar with PDF; only RTF ;). The actual song is not a problem, but I don't know how I could write the notation. I really hope this doesn't put me at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, I can't do music from a visual aspect; only by ear.

Oh and are multiple entries accepted?

Kind regards.

Um, Tozzy, are you an orchestral composer? I seem to be getting the idea from your post that you compose with synth and perhaps not notation. But for this competition, the composition needs to be notated, and written for the specified orchestra, i.e. real players.

Go ahead and sign me up, I can try it. I can always drop out later, but I don't have much to do this summer. ^^

Ooh this is gonna be hard, no horns...

...just no funny scales or whatever.

When I write in this style I modulate alot. Is that Ok? As slow as they are I don't see even younger players getting tripped up by frequent accidentals.

I'd like to try this out under the consideration that I might pursue other projects that may move this one down in terms of priority.

What interests me about this is the Film Scoring idea. Perhaps we should hold a seperate competition in which the orchestration and abilities of the orchestra are not so strict. It would be interesting to see what people crank out when faced with a certain scene to play music to. Just an idea.

What interests me about this is the Film Scoring idea. Perhaps we should hold a seperate competition in which the orchestration and abilities of the orchestra are not so strict. It would be interesting to see what people crank out when faced with a certain scene to play music to. Just an idea.

I even wrote out three good scenes for people to choose from!

The reason the rules are so strict is because there is an orchestra this time :P

Moving slowly through the keys, that should be fine. I would recommend keeping the key signature throughout and use accidentals when you're changing key, not changing key signature every so often. For many orchestras, that can be very annoying!

I'm in :P

Um, Tozzy, are you an orchestral composer? I seem to be getting the idea from your post that you compose with synth and perhaps not notation. But for this competition, the composition needs to be notated, and written for the specified orchestra, i.e. real players.

I'm not an orchestral composer but, I've made a song which definitely seems suitable for this competition but, I only have the MP3 without notation in PDF ;).

But for this competition, the composition needs to be notated, and written for the specified orchestra, i.e. real players.

Dang, in that case, looks like I won't qualify then :blush: ;). Don't worry. Maybe I can submit for any future competions instead.

Good luck in the competion everyone.

What size are the timpani?

I'm not sure of the actual size - but the bigger one can go to the F below the bass stave. The smaller one I'd say to the G just above the bass stave. Hope that helps.

When you mean not very strong players are you referring to that the musicains are not very good? ;)

I'm not sure of the actual size - but the bigger one can go to the F below the bass stave. The smaller one I'd say to the G just above the bass stave. Hope that helps.

G above the staff?! I'm sure you mean G3 and not G4!

<-----200th post! YAY!

He must mean the g on the staff.

I use a set of 5 timpani (including piccolo)

and I carefully tuned them and I can only

get the highest notes on the piccolo to be Bb

above the staff. After that, it just sounds like

a high pitch tom drum that isn't a timpani.

I think when you don't have pedal timpani, the notes that are generally used are: C and G(2nd space up, 1st line up), or D and A(up a whole step). tuning in the middle of a piece is not recommended, either, as there are no pedals.

Wait, Thomas said that the timpani can only play two notes. Which two notes?

(sry if I wasn't paying attention)