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Hello to all YC members! I am here to announce the November edition of our very own monthly composition competition thingies. As I was thinking about what stimulus I should include for this competition, I looked back through some Lewis Carrol stuff and found the nonsense poem Jabberwocky. I thought this would make a wonderful piece of music, but I never got around to composing it so I have now decided to use it as a set poem for the November competition. First of all, here it is: `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. The composition that you enter has to incorporate this poem (or part of it) in the music in any way you like. Whether it's sung or not is up to you though. For instrumentation, you can include at least three and up to eight instruments/instrumentalists. If you decide to use voices, you can use any voice type(s) at all, but no more than four singers a to be included. Lengthwise, I'm looking at something between four and ten minutes, but I will allow a bit of lee-way. The entrants' works are due on the 27th of January (Mozart's 257th birthday if my calculations are correct) 2012. The judging will be out of 100. 50 marks for the incorporation of the poem in the music (please note it does not have to be sung) 10 marks for ensemble writing 20 marks for composition technique 20 marks for creativity. I will be on the judging panel with two other people, so let me know if you want to judge! Judges: 1. froglegs 2. Morivou 3. Treehugger1995 Entrants 1. Der Klavierspieler 2. Austenite 3. Calebhines

Hey guys! As Monthly Competition God, I have a few things that need to change to make this system work: 1. Monthly competitions will only be held if more than 3 participants can "commit" to the challenge. Commit means: the participant thinks he/she can produce a mostly complete work or complete work in the 20 day maximum the competitions will have. 2. In order to make that happen, I am going to put some limits on the idea of Monthly Competition: Competitions MUST have 20 days in the month to start and finish a competition. For example: if a competition starts on the 4th of a month, that is ok. But, if the host doesn't assign any competition details until after the 10th (11th?), the competition will NOT take place. There will be a 20 day limit. Competitions will ask for pieces that exceed NOT MORE than 5 minutes, and composers will not be asked to write for an ensemble of more than 5 instruments. The 5-5 rule will be in effect from now on. 3. Monthly competition hosts will be determined by those who PM ME and ask me to do the current month (coming up). So, somebody can PM me for the January competition now. All competition hosts MUST commit to also judge the prescribed competition. They may not participate. If you just don't think you will have time, do NOT volunteer. 4. Competitions may not exceed 20 days worth of working material. The 5-5 rule applies here. Do not ask for 5 minutes of SCARY virtuoso material. Judges need not try to listen to many works that will take forever to review. They are volunteer too. 5. Judging commitment and time scale Judges are not needed until AFTER the competition is over. Only the Host may address rules of the competition or clarify things. They should, however, still be posted in the main forum instead of a PM. This will allow ALL members to benefit from a clarification by the Host. Judges, following a competition will have 9 days from the deadline to write a WRITTEN review and give a rating (determined by the Host) to the Host so that he may edit his original post and provide links to the pieces and their reviews and their rankings. In the event only 2 members submit music, the judges MUST STILL assign rankings. In the event only 1 member submits music, the judges MUST STILL review the piece. Competitions will not be "abandoned" unless the NO members submit music. If you volunteer to be a Judge, but do not fulfill your requirements, you will be respectfully not invited back to judge again. (no warning system) Judges may self-forfeit until 3 days before the end of submission period. If this is not met, they will respectfully not be invited back to participate. 6. Members may opt into a competition at ANY TIME during the competition. HOWEVER, there cannot be anymore than 15 members of any one competition. (this should not be an issue.) Hosts may have FEWER contestants in a competition. This is ok. But, they should set the lower cap at 6. I.E. - "This competition expands rule 6 of the CHANGES FOR 2012 rule guidelines for Monthly Competitions by only allowing 7 people to enter this competition." This rule is NOT followed if the Host or the Monthly Competition Moderator deems an "opt in" deadline is necessary to make a decent work. See each month's thread for specific deadlines. Competitors are held to a certain expectation of participation, but, we understand that sometimes things DO come up. SO: if after the competition "sign-up" period ends (if there is one), the member finds that they are unable to participate, they can withdraw before 5 days after said period. If there is NO sign up deadline, they will have 10 days from when they requested to be on the docket to do so. IF MEMBERS DROP OUT AFTER THEIR GRACE PERIOD OF 5/10 DAYS (more than once), then they will not be invited back to participate for six months. It is not fair to the judges and to other competitors. Additionally, we want you to submit WHATEVER you have. Even if it is just a measure of material, it CAN and will be judged. You may not win, but you will have the satisfaction of being critiqued and knowing you have accomplished something important and worthwhile. 7. Things Hosts should consider in making Monthly Competitions: REQUIRED: A purpose and a set of guidelines: ex. (This competition is designed to help composers develop counterpoint in the 21st century. The composer must make a work that explores modern counterpoint. The composition shall NOT have any homophony in it as a harmonic basis. But, it may be used a melodic gesture if the independent lines deem so." REQUIRED: A point system (use common sense): ex. (The Judges will assign points based on this: Good independent line (X/10), Strong harmonic figures developed by the interplay of melodic lines (X/5), Creativity (X/5) = X/20. Judges will add points up and the one with the MOST points will be the winner) The Host might also decide to change the limit of people that enter. There does not HAVE to be a set instrumentation. But, mention that you cannot score for more than 5 instruments. If the example one is used above, it would do well to mention if it has to be two part counterpoint, three part... if it has to be for piano, for anything else. BE CREATIVE but also BE SPECIFIC. PURPOSE OF ALL THIS AND OF MONTHLY COMPETITIONS: Monthly competitions are NOT like normal competitions. They are meant to be educational experiences for students of composition to explore what they can do with limited time and material. All of these rules seek to put a limit on what hosts can ask for. This will encourage participation because hosts will not ask too much of composers. These tasks should be able to be completed by people that compose AS A HOBBY. I.E. - in their spare time, or in preparation for a professional career in the future. Of course, professionals are encouraged to participate. Monthly competitions are open to EVERY MEMBER. THANK YOU all for reading and taking this into consideration. I will be taking action against those who do not follow these "guidelines". Remember, this is all done in the interest of EDUCATION which is the purpose of this site. If you are looking for something more hardhitting and involved, please make a "regular" competition or ask for a competition to be made. That's not my jurisdiction. -Morivou.