For this contest you'll get back to basics! Compose a piece of music following these guidelines:
1) There must be 3-5 parts or voices, each playing single notes.
2) Each voice should be active for the majority of the piece.
3) The same instrument can play more than one voice. So a piano that plays a string of 5-note chords would be an acceptable entry (as long as there are no other voices).
4) No unpitched percussion.
5) Your piece should be 1-3 minutes long.
Some examples of music that would follow these guidelines are barbershop quartets and most chamber music. Basically, your piece must be playable for any group of 3, 4, or 5 instruments (adjusting for range). Let me know if the intent of the rules is unclear.
I'll judge based on creativity and composition, while attempting to ignore polish. The deadline is May 21.
And most importantly, have fun!! :)
Wow! This will be a challenge! Great task, Adam. Looking forward to participating.
Unfortunately I won't have time to write anything specifically for this tune contest. However, if you'd like, I can post one of the pieces of chamber music I've composed in the past that would fit the rules.
Yeah do that! :)
I have a piece almost ready! I will try and submit it while it's still the 21st :)
Seems I won't be able to get anything ready for today... :( Really wanted to participate in this one, but time has not been on my side.
I found this contest really interesting and wanted to post at least an ad-hoc vocal thing for the cause, but alas, the monster workshop sucked my weekend dry. Sorry.
Well, I just read the rules more closely and it turns out this doesn't quite fit, as it's about 5 minutes long. Also, since it wasn't written for the contest, I'm not sure it really qualifies as an entry anyway.
Disclaimers aside, here's one of the pieces of chamber music I've written, this one from 2010. It's a light-hearted, single-movement Divertimento for violin, clarinet and trombone -- a rather unusual combination, but I found it actually worked quite well. It was written for my sister (a violinist), and her two roommates, who as you can probably guess, played clarinet and trombone. It was meant as something fun to play together before their graduation from conservatory. Unfortunately, due to my bad timing and their busy schedule, they only had time to sight-read the piece twice, just one or two nights before they all went their separate ways. But still, they're all excellent musicians, so the end result was certainly a heck of a lot better than if I'd tried to sight-read it, despite the fact that it contains some pretty tricky passages, especially for the violinist.
You may be interested in:
- the score (https://www.box.com/shared/34jmbjzvm7)
- a recording (https://www.box.com/s/h5gkfj3nvfl6k35cxvjt) of the second sight-reading of the score, with noise removed and reverb applied so that it sounds like it was recorded in a recital hall instead of a bedroom
- a synthesized version (https://www.box.com/shared/3g35nscsy8), which is more accurate than the recording in some places, but way more boring and mechanical for obvious reasons, and omits things like the trombone pedal notes because my computer thinks it's smarter than I am (probably true)
Enjoy!
You are a mean SOB! That piece is craaaazy. I'm very impressed by the performers. :)
Putting a limit on the length is just so that I'm not forced to listen to the whole thing in order to judge it. It doesn't disqualify the piece IMO.
Anyways, that's an amazing contribution. I love the unusual combo of instruments. Since it was an older piece of yours I'd say it can be beaten out by anything else, but it doesn't look like you have any competition. So feel free to post another tune contest, or wait to see what everyone else wants to do, or whatever.
Thanks for your comments!
I would prefer to wait at least a day or two for others to participate, especially since Diamond16 indicated she had a piece almost ready. She would certainly deserve to win by writing something specifically for this contest.
I hear the deafening silence of no music. :) If nobody has posted an entry here by tomorrow at around this time (9pm Eastern), I'll go ahead and start a new contest.