SUMMER 2017, COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT

YOUNG COMPOSERS COMPOSITION COMPETITION

Summer of 2017

Welcome to the 2nd official summer competition! It’s a time to go outside and see the sun, concerts, murals, dance, and all things relaxing, and we’re hoping to capture the essence of that for this competition. Modest Mussorgsky famous wrote his piece, “Pictures at an Exhibition”, written after Viktor Hartmann’s paintings of travel were shown at an exhibition in his honor. While some are lost, we’ve been treated to many different musical renderings of different art in the past, including literature, art, and even dance, retrospectively. This competition will have composers engage in all kinds of art in new ways, and create new works that cross and defy different mediums and genres!

GOAL: Create a suite of 4-9 pieces based on different works of visual art (painting, oil on canvas, sculpture, architecture, etc.), a la “Pictures at an Exhibition”. These works of art should be connected in some way, though this criteria requirement is arbitrary by design to encourage the creativity of composers.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

*Be a member of YC.

*Signal your desire to enter by September 10th by commenting on this thread.

*Submit your entry by September 17th (11:59:59 PST), provided you signaled your desire to entry correctly.

*At the time of submission, submit an audio mockup (MIDIs are acceptable). 

*We also want members of this site to volunteer their time to judge. If you do volunteer, I ask that you have some working knowledge of art and orchestration. 

*One piece per composer.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

At the time of submission submit a PDF with:

*all art works used, labeled with the artist and the date.

*a short, written description of the criteria linking the art you chose.

*a written description of the relevance of each artistic work to each movement.

Your piece should include:
*4-9 short movements all labeled with the titles of each work at the top of each.

*Any ensemble you desire.

*A run time of no less than 5 minutes and no more than 45.

SCORING:

1. Met the minimum/maximum art piece requirement (disqualification if invalid)
2. Submitted a PDF with all the necessary materials (disqualification if invalid)
3. Sound orchestration /15
4. Good art -> music relevance, according to the composer and judge, individually /15
5. Sound quality of recording /10
6. Score quality /10

Please let me know if you’d like to enter as a participant or judge in the comments. Good luck!

For composers who want to compete but aren't totally sure about art, this is a good guide to start: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com

Entrants:
1. Monarcheon
2. bkho (potential)
3. Gustav Johnson
4. punintentional
5. mikelee531
6. Austenite
7. Rowan Abrey (potential)
8. Ilyankor
9. Luis Hernández
10. tmarko
11. luderart

Judges:
1. Maarten Bauer
2. Noah Brode

Serious demands!

Very cool competition.  If I can find the right inspiration, I'd love to enter.  If not, I'd love to judge .

10 minutes ago, bkho said:

Very cool competition.  If I can find the right inspiration, I'd love to enter.  If not, I'd love to judge .

 

Fair enough, just let me know!

Great competition idea! Mark me down as an entrant.

However, I wouldn't be opposed to judging if you wind up having a need for judges at the deadline. 

I know a fair amount about art and art history. I should have no problem judging. It sounds like a good competition.

4 hours ago, MusicianXX12 said:

Serious demands!

 

 

Haha a little bit, are you enetering?

26 minutes ago, Ken320 said:

I know a fair amount about art and art history. I should have no problem judging. It sounds like a good competition.

 

As do I, but idk if im judging yet.

I'm saying that I'm not entering, but I am offering to be a judge.

You should enter. Why not?

1 hour ago, Monarcheon said:

Haha a little bit, are you enetering?

 

Well, I would like, but : 1.qualification, 2.time, 3.where to get the new Hartmanns pictures or their substitutes? Definitely, I will be following, and, if capable to, judging...

2 hours ago, MusicianXX12 said:

where to get the new Hartmanns pictures or their substitutes

You don't have to use the Hartmann pictures. You can use any piece of visual art.

Great! I have some time now, so please sign me in!

12 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

You don't have to use the Hartmann pictures. You can use any piece of visual art.

 

Clarified.

Of course I'm tempted to get all in. I take it as having a deadline three months from now, so I might be able to shake away my current time constraints.

Just now, Austenite said:

Clarified.

Of course I'm tempted to get all in. I take it as having a deadline three months from now, so I might be able to shake away my current time constraints.

 

Yes, so anything from cave painting to oil on canvas to sculpture qualifies.
I encourage you too! I think it's quite a bit of time this time and a suite of 9 pieces is definitely not necessary. :)

I'll give it a shot. Sign me up!

Quick question: I'm planning on using Sibelius 7 but, as I'm sure you know, it can't play back extended techniques. If I used extended techniques would the mark for the "Sound quality of recording" be negatively affected?

4 minutes ago, punintentional said:

I'll give it a shot. Sign me up!

Quick question: I'm planning on using Sibelius 7 but, as I'm sure you know, it can't play back extended techniques. If I used extended techniques would the mark for the "Sound quality of recording" be negatively affected?

 

Yes, but only slightly. Everyone normally has some sound issues unless it's a live performance. 

1 minute ago, Monarcheon said:

Yes, but only slightly. Everyone normally has some sound issues unless it's a live performance. 

 

Okay :). Thanks for the response. 

This is a very interesting and intriguing competition! Please sign me up!

On 6/23/2017 at 9:33 AM, Austenite said:

Clarified.

Of course I'm tempted to get all in. I take it as having a deadline three months from now, so I might be able to shake away my current time constraints.

 

On another note, should I put you as a tentative entrant or give you some time to decide?

36 minutes ago, Monarcheon said:

On another note, should I put you as a tentative entrant or give you some time to decide?

 

Put me in. If I have to withdraw once again, so be it, but hopefully not.

Is it 5-10 or 4-9 pieces? :)

On 6/22/2017 at 9:45 PM, Monarcheon said:

Your piece should include:
*5-10 short movements

On 6/22/2017 at 9:45 PM, Monarcheon said:

GOAL: Create a suite of 4-9 pieces

4 minutes ago, punintentional said:

Is it 5-10 or 4-9 pieces? :)

 

 

 Caught me!  4-9

5 minutes ago, punintentional said:

Is it 5-10 or 4-9 pieces? :)

Write 6-to-8, you can't miss either way.

20 hours ago, Austenite said:

Write 6-to-8, you can't miss either way.

Or 5-9!

Question: What about photography? Can it be used as the art? I had long ago used one of my photographs in one of my pieces where the piece was conceived of as a musical depiction of the scene in the photograph. That is why I am asking. 

2 minutes ago, luderart said:

Or 5-9!

Question: What about photography? Can it be used as the art? I had long ago used one of my photographs in one of my pieces where the piece was conceived of as a musical depiction of the scene in the photograph. That is why I am asking. 

 

I don't see why not. Are you thinking something like Carly Shearman's work? Or nature and and still life photographs?