SUMMER 2020 COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT

IN A DIFFERENT WORLD

YC Composer Competition - Summer, 2020

We live in a bit of an unprecedented time and it seems that many of us are, understandably, feeling many emotions ranging from anger to fatigue to even hope. Whatever your reaction, welcome to this summer's competition, where you'll attempt to express it as creatively as possible. 

I. Topic: Compose a piece that in some way mirrors one's reaction to the 2020 global pandemic and how it may or may not sway or adapt over time into something else.

II. Eligibility: 
1. You must be a member of the Young Composers forum in order to enter. Sign ups will be in the comments below for JUDGE or ENTRANT. Comment "I'd like to enter as ____" for entry.
2. There will again be no limits regarding instrumentation. There is no minimum length, but there is a maximum length of 15 minutes.
3. You must have some sort of audio rendition accompanying your work.
4. You must present a score of your music for judging. 
5. If you volunteer to be a judge, you may not enter as a contest participant.

III. Scoring:

Scoring will be split into two categories with two "winners" – member voting and traditional judging.

1. Member Voting:
   1. Once submissions have been entered, members will get three votes in which to vote on each other's pieces.
   2. These votes are tiered, meaning you will vote for your favorite entry, your second favorite entry, and your third favorite entry.
   3. The criteria or reasons for your vote need not be explained, though participants are highly encouraged to leave reviews on each other's works regardless.
   4. Members will send their first, second, and third choice picks to the facilitator @Noah Brode after the submission deadline. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.
2. Traditional Judging:
   1. How well is the central process of the piece executed? How effective is the progression, or in the case of a lack of a linear one, how well is it represented? Most importantly, how internally consistent is the piece in the construction of a narrative? /25
   2. How well is the piece orchestrated? Do instrumental orchestration (range, ability, etc.) and voice leading seem to be appropriate? How effective is the treatment of the ensemble? /20
   3. How clear is the score and audio of the submission? /5
   4. A brief written segment (1-2 sentences) is required to explain the premise of the piece, if any. /0
      1. Entrants whose primary language is not English are encouraged still to participate, as the diction and syntax themselves will not be judged. 
      2. Judges will not judge the premise itself and will use the explanation to rationalize participant choices. 
3. Timeline:
   1. Members will submit entries by first submitting their piece to @Noah Brode, both the score and the audio file.
   2. SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR ENTRANTS: AUGUST 14, 11:59 PST
   3. JUDGING DEADLINE FOR ENTRANTS: AUGUST 28, 11:59 PST - CHANGED FROM AUGUST 21.
   4. JUDGING DEADLINE FOR JUDGES: AUGUST 28, 11:59 PST

Current Entrants: 
1. PaperComposer
2. Thatguy v2.0
3. caters
4. Quinn
5. danishali903
6. Left Unexplained
7. HoYin Cheung
8. Hendrik Meniere
9. Leonardo C. Núñez
10. Gernt
11. Joshua Ng
12. Rodrigo Ruiz
13. i(don't)suckatcomposing
14. Austentite

Current Judges:
1. @Noah Brode
2. @Tónskáld
3. @Monarcheon

Nice job, @Monarcheon. Everything looks great!

Thanks @Monarcheon, and sorry I took too long to respond in the other thread, but I think doing it this way will keep everyone happy. 🙂 Looks great.

I'd like to enter as entrant.

So at the end the member voting won't be anonymous? Like, if I compose something everyone will know it was me who composed that piece. That might give some older members some advantage because they have more reputation. Maybe we could give Noah the score and Mp3 of our piece and then he would post that piece on the forum and noone would know who composed it.

9 minutes ago, Ivan1791 said:

So at the end the member voting won't be anonymous? Like, if I compose something everyone will know it was me who composed that piece. That might give some older members some advantage because they have more reputation. Maybe we could give Noah the score and Mp3 of our piece and then he would post that piece on the forum and noone would know who composed it.

I was thinking the same thing. Assign them a number and keep them anonymous or something.

<---------------- Entrant

54 minutes ago, Ivan1791 said:

So at the end the member voting won't be anonymous? Like, if I compose something everyone will know it was me who composed that piece. That might give some older members some advantage because they have more reputation. Maybe we could give Noah the score and Mp3 of our piece and then he would post that piece on the forum and noone would know who composed it.

I am not necessarily opposed to this idea. I just want to mention that in past competitions (as far as I can remember), judging has not been done "blind" in such a way, and I generally think the results have been fair when all was said and done. 

9 minutes ago, Noah Brode said:

I am not necessarily opposed to this idea. I just want to mention that in past competitions (as far as I can remember), judging has not been done "blind" in such a way, and I generally think the results have been fair when all was said and done. 

 

Not for the judges. Just for the members voting.

I guess I don't see that much of a difference, since the judges are typically just a subset of YC members that would theoretically have similar biases for or against the competing members in the same way that the entrants might. But OK, @Monarcheon, what would you say to having every entrant PMing me their MP3s and musical scores by the deadline (instead of posting them in the forums themselves)? Then, I would randomly assign each entrant a number and post their work in the appropriate forum for them. That way the other entrants could vote on them "blindly."

Changed.

I'd like to enter as entrant.

6 weeks? Blimey. 

5 hours ago, Quinn said:

6 weeks? Blimey. 

 

You're probably right. Dates have been updated as well. 

Ahh, I see you have changed it from 6 weeks to 2.5 months. From someone whose thinking of writing an orchestral score for this one, that's a sigh of relief.

5 hours ago, caters said:

Ahh, I see you have changed it from 6 weeks to 2.5 months. From someone whose thinking of writing an orchestral score for this one, that's a sigh of relief.

 

I preferred 6 weeks because it would give me some advantage. xD I can't keep composing the same piece more than 10 days, I'm the kind of guy who composes a piece after let's say 6 hours of work. 

49 minutes ago, Ivan1791 said:

I preferred 6 weeks because it would give me some advantage. xD I can't keep composing the same piece more than 10 days, I'm the kind of guy who composes a piece after let's say 6 hours of work. 

Well, compose several of them over the next couple of months and pick your favorite. 😉 

11 hours ago, Tónskáld said:

Well, compose several of them over the next couple of months and pick your favorite. 😉 

 

I guess so, but most of that time will be spent into a piece dedicated to my grandfather. (He's quite ill, you never know...)

Ok, I'll have a go. No big drama though. Vaguely similar to Ivan (above) I'm writing a lament to one lost to this wretched disease. Unfortunately the score will be a neatened up version of what my daw produces and hope that will do. 

2 hours ago, Quinn said:

Ok, I'll have a go. No big drama though. Vaguely similar to Ivan (above) I'm writing a lament to one lost to this wretched disease. Unfortunately the score will be a neatened up version of what my daw produces and hope that will do. 

 

My submission for this competition won't have anything to do with grandfather tho. The "Requiem" will be something I will be doing during all this year. 

I am gonna throw my hat in and enter as an entrant. Should be fun!

I'd like to enter as an entrant entering the entrance of entrants

I would like to enter this 'viral' competition as an entrant.

2 hours ago, HoYin Cheung said:

I would like to enter this 'viral' competition as an entrant.

Ha, I see what you did there.

After this let's do a competition about musical comedy lol.

I'd like to enter as entrant