2016-2017 C4 Student Composer Competition
| 2016-2017 C4 Student Composer Competition | |
| Summary: | Choir Competition |
| Deadline: | 28 May 2016 |
| Date Posted: | 27 April 2016 |
| Details: |
C4 announces its first-ever Student Composer Competition, to provide professional performance opportunities to composers who are enrolled in an accredited school program. Submit pieces by June 5; winners announced by the end of September. There is no entry fee. Categories and Prizes One winner will be selected in each of three categories: • Pre-College (high school and earlier): $200 prize • Undergraduate: $300 prize • Graduate and above: $400 prize The winning composition in each category will be performed at C4's concerts in New York City in early 2017. We reserve the right not to award a prize in a particular category. Runners up may also be considered for performance, with the composer's permission. Rules This competition is for innovative music for a cappella choir. Please do not submit music that includes instruments. • Deadline To allow students to work with their teachers and mentors this spring, we are opening this competition now, and accepting entries through 11:59 pm on June 5, 2016. Judging will occur over the summer and early fall, with winners announced by the end of September. • Eligible composers There is no age limit, but entrants must be enrolled at a school appropriate to their category; please be able to document this on request. Members, employees, and alumni of C4 and members of its Board of Directors and Advisory Board are not eligible to enter this competition. • Eligible pieces Works may have had a public performance, but should not have been commercially published. No more than two submissions are allowed per composer. • Length Submitted pieces should optimally be 2 to 8 minutes long. You will not be judged on how many notes you write, so make the piece the length it needs to be in order to express what you want to express. • Voicing C4 is an SSAATTBB chamber choir of 24 voices, so splits are fine, as are solo lines. Occasional divisi beyond 8 parts are possible, but in our experience, straightforward SATB texture provides the strongest sound. • Techniques available C4 loves innovative writing. We have performed music with vocal techniques that include overtone singing, Bulgarian choral styles and belting, pop styles, straight tone, classical operatic style, microtonal singing, spoken sounds, vocal percussion (clicks and pops), body percussion, glissandos, vocal fry, vocal clusters and improvisation. We are always excited to experiment with new techniques! However, we also perform plenty of pieces with more straightforward choral writing. Your piece is more likely to stand out if it uses appropriate techniques to say something compelling, rather than just for the sake of making an unconventional sound. • On singers’ pitch capabilities and ranges Some members of C4 have perfect pitch, but more than half do not, so a successful entry will not rely on singers’ having perfect pitch. Some sopranos can sing a high D (D6) happily, some cannot; some basses can sing a low D (D2), some cannot. In any case, keep most of the writing in an ordinary range and use extreme ranges for special occasions. • Legal copyright information Submitted pieces must be the student’s original work. Composers must affirm, and be able to demonstrate, that the text is either in the public domain, an original work, or something for which written permission from the copyright holder has been secured. • Anonymization Submitted files (both the PDF and the MP3, if any) must be anonymized by removing the name of the composer from both the pages and the file information. We reserve the right to disqualify any pieces with the composer's name visible. • No travel compensation Winners (and guest) are cordially invited to attend the concert and rehearsals, but we regret that no travel compensation is available. • How to enter There is no entry fee, and entries are anonymized for the sake of fairness. Go to our online entry form and follow the prompts to create your entry and upload your piece. Make sure the PDF of the sheet music and the audio file (if any) do not identify you as the composer. Judging For fairness, entries are anonymous, to minimize judging bias. The judges are all members of C4. The judging rubric is simple: Is this a piece C4 wants to perform? Each piece is reviewed by 3 judges; all those that get 2 YES votes become finalists. Finalists may receive critique on request; critique will consist of 3 things the group likes about your piece, and one thing that could use some consideration or improvement. We do not want to undermine anything your teacher has told you; rather, we want to give you an idea of what professional ensembles look for as they choose their repertoire. We hope to hear from you, and good luck! |
| Web Site: | http://c3composers.org/wordpress3/?page_id=423 |
