WINTER 2018 COMPETITION: ANNOUNCEMENT

YOUNG COMPOSERS COMPETITION
EMOTIONS

Hi everyone! Last year’s winter competition was a little bit laid back so I thought about doing a similar thing this time. Instead of stories, we’re going to do what artists do best and express our emotions!

This may sound like a little bit of a happy-go-lucky competition idea, but it’s simply meant to be relatively freeform, but specific enough where the composer should learn a little bit more about themselves, and the listener should learn a little more about them.

I hope you all enjoy looking within yourself and showing us all how your life plays out through emotions… what drives you, motivates you, and forces you away. Let your music do its job!

ELIGIBILITY: 

*You must be a member of the Young Composers forum in order to enter. Sign ups will be in the comments below.

*There will again be no limits to instrumentation, but a smaller ensemble is encouraged, for a more personal feeling. Extra points will not be given for smaller ensembles.

*The minimum length for this competition will be 6 minutes. The maximum is 30 minutes.

*You must have some sort of audio rendition accompanying your work, otherwise your entry will be disqualified.

*A score is required, but is not as heavy a focus as previous competitions. If you want to enter and are not proficient at engraving, message @Monarcheon. 

*If you volunteer to be a judge, you may not enter as a contest participant.

*Entrants should have an intermediate understanding of engraving and orchestration.

*Entrants may only submit one work.

RULES AND SCORING:

1. Submit a score that represents and answers the following questions: “How does this emotion feel within me?” | “How do I outwardly express this emotion?” Competitors are expected to deal with at least 3 emotions throughout the piece. This can either be in programmatic sections or in one arc-like movement. Here, much like last time, you will be judged on your ability to effectively develop thematic material (/25), and your ability to answer the two questions in such a way where the audience can understand it (/25).
2. The more technically based compositional aspects are judged here. These aspects include score quality (/10), audio file quality (/10), and orchestration (/15). 
3. Finally, submit a written component answering the above two questions for every emotion you deal with in the piece (/15). This should include what techniques you used to demonstrate certain aspects of each, keys, styles,  or anything else you feel is prudent. You are graded on how easy it is to match your written description and you piece.
   TOTAL: /100

Deadline for Intended Entry: March 10th
Deadline for Piece Entry: March 17th
Scoring Deadline: March 20th

PRIZES:

All entrants receive detailed feedback on their works. The winner’s piece will be placed in the YC Competition Hall of Fame. It is possible that winners receive a full year’s subscription compensation to Sibelius, but we are still working on that (THIS FINAL PRIZE IS NOT GUARANTEED).

HAVE FUN WITH THIS!! Good luck!

Judges: @Monarcheon
@MusicianXX12

Entrants:
@oingo86
@Noah Brode
@Rabbival507
@Gustav Johnson
@celloman99
@Some Guy That writes Music

I would like to enter! The creative possibilities for this one are endless. Please don't cancel this one! :)

I have been MIA for a while, but I’d like to enter if it’s still going forward. 

@oingo86 @Noah Brode Sure. Its validity will be determined by how many entrants we get.

I'd like to join in.

Forget my previous message (if you read it),

I need some time to think about it.

I'll try finishing it in time.

Would like to participate.

Is there an approved list of emotions we should stick to? I have plans to use some more advanced/nuanced emotions as inspiration, if that’s okay. 

5 minutes ago, Noah Brode said:

Is there an approved list of emotions we should stick to? I have plans to use some more advanced/nuanced emotions as inspiration, if that’s okay. 

 

Nope; sounds good to me.

It's been a while since I've shared and been involved - time to get back in. I'm down for entering! Let's make this happen :)

Gustav Johnson

Awesome competition idea! I would like to enter.

It'd like to join.

How's everyone doing with this? I'm fiercely trying to finish up before the deadline, I got a little side-tracked with work and life and whatnot. Looking forward to presenting my piece and hearing everyone else's! 

18 hours ago, oingo86 said:

How's everyone doing with this? I'm fiercely trying to finish up before the deadline, I got a little side-tracked with work and life and whatnot. Looking forward to presenting my piece and hearing everyone else's! 

 

I lost the drive to write this king of piece after reading a message from the competition's conductor.

I have happiness and sadness lying around but... It just lost the point so I probably won't really do anything with it.

After totally restarting a few times, I am working on a version of mine now that I think I will be happy with. There’s nothing like a deadline to wring out the creativity. Mine will be bare-bones and rather short, but I do expect to finish it. 

On 3/14/2018 at 4:29 PM, oingo86 said:

How's everyone doing with this? I'm fiercely trying to finish up before the deadline, I got a little side-tracked with work and life and whatnot. Looking forward to presenting my piece and hearing everyone else's! 

 

Here's my entry:

Definitely got a little nervous when I tried to submit this earlier today and the forum page wouldn't load for some reason haha.

All thoughts and feedback is welcome, thanks all!

Gustav Johnson

Too bad I saw this so late. I've been through so much of a roller-coaster lately, I'd have plenty of inspiration.