*Post Here!* Competition No. 1 - The Results - How Did This All Go? - Forum

Hello, again, composers,

Competition No. 1 has officially come to a close. :o Here are the results:

Entries (as listed in the voting thread. Link https://composersforum.ning.com/forum/topics/competition-no-1-the-judging-stage-please-read?xg_source=activity)

#1 - Adrian Allan

#2 - Charles Coleman

#3 - David Archer

#4 - Cameron McFadden

#5 - Jamie Sutherland

#6 - Noah Fraioli

#7 - Ondib Olmnilnlolm

Judges

Tyler Hughes

B Bentrup Gray

Kevin Riley

Winners(!)

Best Composition of Show = Entry #2 by Charles Coleman

Best Score = Entry #2 by Charles Coleman

People's Choice = Entry #1 by Adrian Allan

I extend my thanks to all of our competitors and judges, who all took time out of their schedules to participate; we couldn't have done it without you! Congratulations to Charles and Adrian! Each of you have made a tremendous effort here with your music! :)

Both of the winning entries above will be recorded according to the original scores provided by the composers. If you would like to contribute to this effort by providing either vocal or piano recordings, you can post your resume below. We would be very happy to have you on-board!

Now that Composers' Forum's very first (and definitely not last) competition is over, let's open some discourse on the subject. :P Basically, just post your thoughts below. Here are some questions that can help you get started:

What did we, the organizers/judges, do well? (timing, planning, scheduling, etc.)
What did we do wrong?
What did you think about the entries? The sonnet and its adaptation? The ensemble?
If you ran a future competition, would you do anything differently?
Do you have any ideas for a theme for the next competition?

I would like to have the next competition underway sometime before the beginning of Fall, but, of course, that can change at any time. I will post a thread about it after consulting with you guys, as I would like to organize the next competition as well! :D

Thank you, everyone. It's been a pleasure being a part of Composers' Forum's first competition (and I'm sure old Bill Shakespeare would thank you guys, too, for helping keep his art alive :P)

-Noah Fraioli

One thing I noticed that might be improved upon. Forgive me if I am repeating something someone already said. It seemed to me that the criteria for judging could have been explained BEFORE the competition, rather than after all the pieces had been handed in.

Also, it seems to me somewhat contrary to common sense to have any one involved in the organization of the competition to be participating in the competition. I am not making any accusations, but now that time has gone by, I thought I would make the observation. It has to do with appearances, perhaps, more than any actual mistake that would sully the process, in this case.

In any case, the competition was enjoyable, and over time, some of the little slip ups can easily be taken care of.

On the issue of submissions. I think it would be better in future not to require a vocal component, for very simple reasons. Few people were able to make use of live vocal or even recorded vocals or recorded singers. (I used voice simulation software, which did not "sing," but simply spoke parts of the poem, in different accents and at different speeds).

Almost everyone makes use of something like Sibelius or Reason or Logic, which have limited chorus or soloist replication capabilities.

So what we heard were actually more like sonatas for cello and piano, or for oboe and piano, rather than actual "Songs." One had to imagine, for the most part, what the songs would sound like, if sung. That requires a great amount of abstraction and interpretation, on the part of the judges, and cuts them off, in a way, from the effect that the composer wished to create.

Replies

Michael T July 17, 2012 at 10:00pm

I think Ray had a good point on the other thread about having a popular vote before a judges' decision.

I think a few adjustments that could improve the system might be..

1) The panel of judges should be decided and made public before the entrants submit.

2) The anonymity of the entrants should be more carefully protected (a couple of slip ups in the pdfs got through).

3) Too many categories such as score preparation, notation accuracy etc. I say this because some entries may be electronic and not need a score. Also I think that if a score is presented then the composer should make sure it is well presented and error free- that is the least that should be expected.

I hope this is constructive criticism.

Well done for running the competition so well. And thanks for giving your time.
Gavin Brown July 18, 2012 at 1:16am

You did a nice job, thanks for pulling it all together and making it happen, it was fun to participate in. The only thing I would suggest to be changed for a future contest is that if you're wanting the entries to be anonymous, you should refuse entries which are not. There were two scores that the composer's name appeared on. A few ideas for future competitions: 1) There is a poetry contest every year called the "Bad Hemingway contest" where contestants try to purposely write prose in a mock Hemingway style. How about a "Bad John Williams" contest since he's kind of iconic like Hemingway (or pick another composer); 2) "Minute Something" - the only rule is that whatever you compose has to be one minute long; 3) "New National Anthem" - write a new theme song for your country
Michael T July 18, 2012 at 1:39pm

As regards a 'Bad John Williams' competition. Seems to me we might as well just join JW himself and hold a 'Bad Holst' or Bad 'Richard Strauss' contest. If you see what I mean.....LOL.

Gav Brown said:

You did a nice job, thanks for pulling it all together and making it happen, it was fun to participate in. The only thing I would suggest to be changed for a future contest is that if you're wanting the entries to be anonymous, you should refuse entries which are not. There were two scores that the composer's name appeared on. A few ideas for future competitions: 1) There is a poetry contest every year called the "Bad Hemingway contest" where contestants try to purposely write prose in a mock Hemingway style. How about a "Bad John Williams" contest since he's kind of iconic like Hemingway (or pick another composer); 2) "Minute Something" - the only rule is that whatever you compose has to be one minute long; 3) "New National Anthem" - write a new theme song for your country
Olmnilnlolm August 3, 2012 at 5:34pm

One thing I noticed that might be improved upon. Forgive me if I am repeating something someone already said. It seemed to me that the criteria for judging could have been explained BEFORE the competition, rather than after all the pieces had been handed in.

Also, it seems to me somewhat contrary to common sense to have any one involved in the organization of the competition to be participating in the competition. I am not making any accusations, but now that time has gone by, I thought I would make the observation. It has to do with appearances, perhaps, more than any actual mistake that would sully the process, in this case.

In any case, the competition was enjoyable, and over time, some of the little slip ups can easily be taken care of.

On the issue of submissions. I think it would be better in future not to require a vocal component, for very simple reasons. Few people were able to make use of live vocal or even recorded vocals or recorded singers. (I used voice simulation software, which did not "sing," but simply spoke parts of the poem, in different accents and at different speeds).

Almost everyone makes use of something like Sibelius or Reason or Logic, which have limited chorus or soloist replication capabilities.

So what we heard were actually more like sonatas for cello and piano, or for oboe and piano, rather than actual "Songs." One had to imagine, for the most part, what the songs would sound like, if sung. That requires a great amount of abstraction and interpretation, on the part of the judges, and cuts them off, in a way, from the effect that the composer wished to create.

This reply was deleted.