Topics

Yesterday was Memorial Day (observed) here in the US, a day to remember soldiers fallen in battle.  So, for this tune contest, I want you to write something that has to do with the military.  Some ideas:

• a military march for a brass band
• a heroic fanfare to lead a legion of knights into battle
• a prog rock ballad (or whatever you young whippersnappers call them these days) decrying the atrocities of war
• a thoughtful setting of a poem from Wilfred Owen or some other wartime poet
• a chiptune describing the battle with the incoming alien fleet

The most important requirement is that the music (or words) should clearly convey the fact that they have to do with the military.  For example, a traditional military march (or here's another one that's not nearly so American) has lots of bass drum, snare and cymbal crashes, the melody usually has lots of dotted rhythms, and there is usually a simple "oompah" style accompaniment, in 2/2 or 4/4 time (since people have two feet).  A fanfare often has one or more horns or trumpets playing broken arpeggios.  The words to a song should clearly be about the military, battle, etc.  As far as settings of wartime poetry, anyone who has not heard Britten's War Requiem in a live concert should correct that immediately.  Basically, I should be able to tell that your music has to do with the military or battle without looking at the title or reading an explanation.

The only other requirement is that the music should be at least one minute long.  I'll pick a winner on Monday, June 10.

Happy composing!

No, we're not writing the tune to a TV show.  Instead, we're going to try stretching those compositional muscles a bit.

For this contest, I'd like you to write some music using an unusual time signature -- one where the numerator is a prime number that is at least 5.  Confused?  Let me explain in a bit more detail.

Most music has a simple time signature, something like 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4.  This means that there are two, three or four quarter notes per bar.  I'd like you to write music with 5, 7, 11, 13, etc. beats per bar, or per phrase.  You may think that this is difficult or impossible, and would sound really weird.  I beg to differ!  Lots of music has been written with time signatures like this, in lots of different styles.  In popular music, there are plenty of examples:

• Pink Floyd's Money is in 7/4;
• Enya's Book of Days keeps changing time signature, using 5/4 most often, but also 4/4, 6/4 and 7/4;
• The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun is mostly in 4/4 but has a repeated bridge section ("Sun, sun, sun, here it comes") that uses 11/8 and 15/8 patterns.  (I know, 15 isn't prime, please don't shoot me.)

In classical music, it's even more common:

• One of the first famous pieces to have an irregular time signature like this is the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, which is in 5/4.
• The recurring main theme of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition alternates between 5/4 and 6/4, creating a regular 11/4 pattern.  It's done so subtly the listener doesn't even notice.
• Stravinsky's Rite of Spring keeps changing time signatures, but near the climax of the piece in the second half, there is a famous 11/4 bar.

It's also fairly common in film music.  Since you're all probably getting bored at this point sitting through interminable links, I'll just give you one example: the Isengard/Orc theme from Howard Shore's score to Lord of the Rings.

How do you write something like that?  Here's a tip: most pieces that are in a time signature like this subdivide it somehow.  For example, in the Tchaikovsky symphony, the 5/4 is really 2/4 + 3/4.  In Pink Floyd's Money, the 7/4 is really 2+2+3/4.  So it can help to think of a regular pattern, say, 3/2 (2+2+2/4), then take out a beat to make it 2+3/4 or add a beat to make it 2+2+3/4.  Another thing to consider is that the regular major and minor western scales repeat every 7 notes, so if you play a scale, you will be naturally forming a repetitive 7-note pattern.

So...with all that being said, here are the rules for this contest:

• You must compose a piece where there is a regularly repeating prime number of beats which is at least 5.  Parts of the piece can use two, three or four beats regularly, but the majority must use a larger prime number of beats.
• The time signature may change constantly or stay the same.
• The music must be at least one minute long.
• You'll need to post your entry by the end of Sunday, January 20, 2013, in whatever your local time zone is.  Yes, that means that you might slip one past me if you post it on the following Monday.
• On January 21, or shortly thereafter, I'll pick a winner.

Have fun!

It's that time of year -- at least in my part of the world -- where the summer heat fades, the trees display their glorious hues, and AGS forumgoers write music commemorating the loveliest of all seasons, Autumn.  Many pieces and songs, whether classical (Vivaldi, Glazunov) or popular (Van Morrison, Manic Street Preachers), have been written to celebrate autumn.

So, now it's your turn!  Write a song, a symphony, or anything in between, that has something to do with autumn.  You have until the end of October 21st (in whatever your local timezone is) to finish.  Afterwards, I'll pick a winner.  No length or style restrictions, although be warned that extremely short entries will be judged less favorably.

Have fun!

Great news!  One of Hollywood's premier motion picture studios has just commissioned you to write the score to their newest epic film!  There's lots of action, romance and adventure as the hero(ine)(s) make their way across the epic landscape to the final epic showdown!  The studio has hired the finest actors and actresses to work on the film, and the visual effects promise to be nothing short of epic.  They're already calculating how much money they'll be making off the epic sequels.  (Did I mention epic?)

Your job, for this contest, is to write the theme music for an epic film or series of films: think Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, or Star Wars, or The Matrix.  Many epic films have orchestral soundtracks, but yours does not have to be.  For example, the original Matrix has an orchestral theme heard near the beginning and a heavy metal theme heard near the end.  Your music just has to conjure up grand, epic images in the listener's mind.

So, here are the formal rules:

• Write theme music for an epic film.
• Your theme music must be at least one minute long.
• You may use any genre you like.
• Your entry must be posted in this thread by 12am on February 14, Alaska Time.  (In other words, as long as you're done by the end of February 13 in whatever time zone you live in, you're fine.)
• After the deadline, I'll post the winners.

Happy composing!

And now for something completely different!

For this next tune contest, I'd like you to write some chamber music.  This term covers a wide range different types of music, but some typical examples include string quartets (two violins, viola and cello), piano trios (violin, cello and piano), wind quintets (usually flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn), and brass quintets (usually two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba).  Think about what you might hear at a wedding, or a high-class restaurant, and you'll get the idea.

Some good examples may be found on the Wikipedia page linked above.  Some less typical examples are Ligeti's Chamber Concerto (for thirteen instruments), Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat (for seven instruments, three voices, and optional dancer), and Paul Schoenfield's Cafe Music, which is scored for an ordinary piano trio but is heavily jazz-influenced.

For the purposes of this tune contest, I'll with the following rules.

• Your piece must be at least one minute long.
• You must limit your genre to classical, light classical, or jazz.
• You may use up to five single acoustic instruments.  For example, acoustic guitar, violin, trumpet, bagpipes or ocarina are fine.  But string ensemble is not, because it's a whole section of players; electric guitar is not, because it is not acoustic; and synth brass is not because it is electronic and is not a definite instrument.
• You may use the same instrument more than once (e.g. two French horns), but the total number of single players must not be more than five.
• Percussion, as playable by a single player, is permissible -- either orchestral percussion or a drum set.  However, the music should not have a repeating drum beat in the background.
• MIDI, samples, or live recordings are all fine.
• Your entry must be posted in this thread by Monday, May 10, 12am Alaska time (GMT-0900).

I realize that some chamber music does not fit this mold -- e.g. Paul Schoenfield's High-Rock Ballet, or Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint.  However, I hope that these rules will still give enough creative latitude for folks to write something, but stretch them a little bit so that they create something a little different than they normally would.

Have fun!

Easter is right around the corner.  This is the time of year when Christians (including myself) commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the central event in the history of Christianity.  It is also the time of year when many neo-pagans celebrate the vernal equinox (on March 21 this year), and the renewal of life after a long winter.  From the (ancient) pagan traditions we get the Easter bunny and Easter eggs, and even the name Easter.

So, with that in mind, and taking a page from Calin Leafshade's recent "anxiety descending" tune contest, I would like you to write a piece of music that expresses deep despair, and then great joy.

Rules, rules, rules....

• You may write any genre of music, using any instrumentation you can think of.
• Your piece must be at least one minute long.
• Your piece must start with a feeling of despair, and end with a feeling of great joy.  Whether it suddenly or gradually changes is up to you.
• Your entry must be posted here by Tuesday, April 6, 12am Alaska Time (GMT-0900).

Since I will be out of town during Easter weekend and busy this coming weekend, I will likely not be able to make any trophies this month (and probably a good thing too considering my complete lack of art skills).  If some other kind soul would care to make some that reflect the theme, I would be more than happy to use them.

Good luck!

This month, I'd like you to write a song that uses plainchant.  For those who do not know what plainchant is, please see Wikipedia (although the audio example they give is not stellar).

Here are some characteristics of plainchant:

• Plainchant is (usually sacred) text sung to music, usually in Latin.
• Plainchant is usually sung in unison, but sometimes in fifths or octaves.
• Most of the notes are of the same duration, with some longer ones, particularly at the ends of phrases.  However, words often span multiple notes and are often of very different durations.
• Adjacent notes within a plainchant are usually closely spaced -- one or two tones apart, although occasional skips of more than that are not uncommon.
• Plainchant usually uses free meter -- i.e. no time signature.

Some examples are:

• The Christmas carol, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, is based on a plainchant (hence the irregular time signature), although it is sometimes regularized nowadays.
• Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols uses plainchant for its processional and recessional (Hodie Christus Natus Est).
• Loreena McKennitt's The Mystic's Dream uses wordless metered plainchant in fifths.
• Various selections from Enigma use plainchant extensively.
• Quite a few movie soundtracks use plainchant.  I believe the Lord of the Rings soundtrack is one of them, but I'm not quite sure.

So, without further ado, here are the rules:

• You may write a song of any genre.
• The song must include at least one plainchant of at least sixteen notes.  Longer is fine.
• For ease of integration with popular music styles, you may use metered plainchant if you wish.
• You may use a previously composed plainchant (e.g. a Roman Catholic plainchant) or make up your own, so long as it is generally recognizable as a plainchant.
• The plainchant must use a synthesized wordless choir or voice sample, or must be a recording of an actual choir or voice singing actual words.  Post-processing is fine -- but the general idea is that the plainchant must actually sound like a plainchant.
• The plainchant may be accompanied by other instrumentation, drums, etc.
• The song must be at least one minute long.
• All entries must be posted here by 12am Alaska Time (GMT-0900), Monday March 15th.

Have fun!

[edited to clarify the deadline as the end of Sunday, March 14th instead of the end of Saturday, March 13th]

[Rules:]

It's February, and that beloved Hallmark holiday known as St. Valentine's Day is nigh upon us.  So, with that in mind, I'd like you to write a love song.

But wait, there's a catch!  You have to use the following snippet of music, possibly modified slightly but still recognizably present, in your song:

For the notation-impaired, here is a MIDI file.  Note that there's an up-beat (or pick-up note, or anacrusis, or whatever you want to call it), so your sequencer may incorrectly try to align the first beat with the beginning of a measure in your song.

And if you're wondering, yes, this tune is intentionally rather awkward.  This serves both to stretch your imagination in coming up with harmonies for it, and also to make it easier to recognize in your song.

Rules:

• Your song must be a love song, serenade, etc.  Since most entries probably won't have actual singing (although feel free to do so), evoking a general "love" sentiment is fine.  I realize this is pretty subjective; therefore, as long as the music doesn't make me want to drive a railroad spike through my skull, you're probably fine.
• Any genre of music is permitted.
• Your song must be at least one minute long.
• The above tune must appear somewhere in your song.  It can appear as a melody, a bass line, or anything in between, just so long as it's clear where it appears.
• You are free to use or ignore the chords suggested in the notation above.
• You may alter the tune above somewhat by transposition (changing the key it's in), repetition, ornamentation (adding a few auxiliary notes), alteration of note lengths, and alteration of tempo.  However, you must leave all the notes in there, and the tune must be recognizable.
• Yes, this is a love song, but no naughty stuff, please.  Think of the kids!

Examples:

To fire up your imagination, here are a couple of examples of how this tune could be used in different genres of music.

• Pop music.  I transposed the tune into E major (a more guitar-friendly key), syncopated the rhythm, and added an extra note or two.  The tune is played by a cello but is intended to be sung, accompanied by electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and piano.  I used the same chords that were notated above, transposed into E major.  Please forgive my lackluster song, nonexistent mixing, and unimaginative percussion here; I'm more of a classical composer, and this was generated straight from a music notation program.
• Classical music.  I changed some note lengths to make the tune fit in 3/4 time, but otherwise it's the same as it appears above.  However, the accompaniment is completely different than the suggested chords.  The tune is played by an English horn, accompanied by tremolo violins and viola, with harp chords punctuating the beginning of each chord change.
• This would not be too hard to make a techno bass line, but sadly I lack the software needed to produce a techno song.

Have fun!

[Contest Rules]

Most tunes, in any genre, contain melodies.  Often, especially in film music or classical music, the same theme will appear multiple times but will sound different in some way each time.  This month's competition challenges you to write a cohesive musical composition that uses the same melody at least twice, in two different ways.

Here's an example.  (I'm using my own music, not because it's so wonderful, but rather because I know I won't get in trouble with copyright restrictions and so forth. )

• The winning piece from the Monster Under the Bed tune contest (4/17-5/14): Under the Bed (remastered version)
• The Rock-a-bye Baby theme from the first part of the piece: Rock-a-bye Baby Theme
• The monster theme from later in the piece: Monster Theme

Does that monster theme sound familiar at all?  Perhaps if I put a few of those notes in a different octave: Monster Theme Revealed

Yep, that's right, it's a mangled version of Rock-a-bye Baby again.

Contest Rules

• Submission must be at least one minute long
• No restrictions on genre
• Submission must contain at least one theme (of any length) that appears at least twice in the piece, but sounds different somehow (see below for suggestions)
• Submitter must provide the start time within the piece of both the original theme and the metamorphosed version(s) of the theme
• Submissions will be evaluated based on how different the metamorphosed version sounds from the original, cohesion, instrumentation, and interest.  Due to low voter turnout in past tune contests, I will unilaterally select a winner sometime shortly after November 16.

Some Ideas

Here are some ideas for how to alter a theme:

• Change the speed.  This can, for example, make a march sound like a dirge.
• Change from major to minor or vice versa.  Major keys tend to make a piece sound happy; minor keys make a piece sound sad.
• Change the octaves of some notes (Stravinsky does this all the time), or the entire theme.
• Change instrumentation (along with other changes).  Saint-Saens turned a light, fluffy minuet into the Elephant theme in Carnival of the Animals by moving it down three or so octaves, moving the melody to a double bass, slowing it down, and changing the accompaniment.
• Change the time signature.  Danny Elfman did this in the theme music to Mission: Impossible.  The original theme music to the TV show was in 5/4; Danny Elfman's rearrangement used two bars of 4/4 instead, along with different percussion, to achieve a more modern feel.
• Repeat certain notes, or leave certain notes out.
• Reverse the theme, or flip it around the x axis (as it were).  Bach does this all the time.

I'm sure you can think of other ways to change your theme around.   But above all, have fun!

[Topic]

For this month's contest, I thought we'd do something a little different!

Topic

The aim is to compose background music for the screenplay from the current Background Blitz, which is reproduced here:

Rules

• Your entry must be at least two minutes long.
• Your entry must loop -- in other words, the end must lead back into the beginning.  The piece may come to an end and restart, just so long as it is not jarringly different at the front and back ends.
• Your entry must attempt to capture the mood of the screenplay above as accurately as possible.
• You must anonymously upload your entry to box.net or some other public file sharing site.
• You must send your AGS username and a link to your entry to egalluzzo at gmail dot com, or PM me with a link to your entry, by 11:59pm Eastern Time, June 8.
• As the entries are submitted, I will update this post with links to each one.
• Anyone may vote.  Each person should vote for at most one favorite in each category; the votes may be the same or different in each category.
• Voting will finish at 11:59pm Eastern Time, June 13 June 14, after which I will announce the winners.

Categories

Categories in which to vote:

• Best Theme - Which piece has the best theme, motif, or melody?
• Best Mood - Which piece best captures the mood of the screenplay?
• Best Loop - Which piece will be least likely to make the player of the game throw his/her computer out the window after listening to the music loop over and over for twenty minutes?

Prizes

The winners will receive the following exquisite, hand-crafted trophies, made from nothing but the highest-quality pixels.

Best Theme
Best Mood
Best Loop
Best Overall (most total votes)

Entries

Here are the entries that have already been submitted:

• #1: Rurbuncle - Soft Piano and Strings
• #2: Rurbuncle Melancholy
• #3: Flower in the Swamp
• #4: Disharmony
• #5: Rurbuncle - Pastoral Melody
• #6: Rurbuncle Forest

Now, go forth and compose!