Cast your Orchestration Challenge 5 vote!

[YBaCuO]

okay - got #5. And I almost voted for it - until I realized at the last second that I'm supposed to be not too fond of jazzy stuff - pheeeuuw, that was close .....

I placed my vote - several excellent ones to choose (10, I mean, 9 in fact (just can't get that #5 out of my mind)).

Very enjoyable as usual; so thanks for everyone who participated.

PS Lots of performance problems scattered throughout. I'm hoping GPOA makes it even easier to squash them.

YBaCuO

Listen to my latest electronic ambient tone saga: The Abyss
http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1078

[Linda]

Hey,

Isn't the voting closed now?

Congratulations to #3 and #10 for a 1st place tie!!

I am the orchestrator for #6, and I would like to thank whoever gave me my one and only vote......!!!!

I thought my contribution was pretty good, until I heard all the great entries.

I was trying to simulate a cue type piece, that went from scene to scene, but it ended up being too choppy I think, and so it really didn't work.

That's ok....I learned a lot from listening to others.

Thanks everybody, Linda

[FossMan]

Is the voting closed? I thought it went on until the end of today. Not that it matters to me. Merry Christmas everyone!

[COBI]

Hi all,

I'm new to GPO and this forum. I sorta stumbled across this challenge and thought it was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who contributed--they were interesting and worthwhile entries, every one.

So, how does one find out about future challenges, and how does one go about making an entry? I think I would maybe like to participate in the next one as a contributor...

Thanks again, all,
COBI

P.S. My voting button was still active, so, although it is now the day after Christmas, I went ahead and tried casting a vote, and it apparently "took". So, it looks like maybe I had the honor of casting the tie-breaker? (Sorry, #10--FWIW, yours was a close 2nd in my opinion, as was #5.)

[Richard N.]

COBI,

Welcome to the forum!

What generally happens now is that Sean (when he sobers up ) will confirm the winner of this challenge - the winner then comes up with a new theme which will be posted in the next week or so for us all to have a go at orchestrating.

For more information have a look at Sean's excellent Challenge website:

http://wizardwalk.com/OrchestrationChallenges/

[Richard N.]

I'll 'fess up now and admit to being the author of Challenge entry #5.

I very nearly didn't enter this competition - I did do some preliminary work on the theme when it was first posted, but "other" things had me preoccupied during the following weeks. However, as I have been involved every challenge to date it didn't feel right wimping out of this one.

As I was short of time - and I wanted to use JABB - I just put together a very straightforward set of changes to fit the original theme, and then pretty much played three chorusses live into Sonar, improvising/realising the guitar, piano, bass, and drum parts on the fly.

Bearing in mind how rough and ready the entry was, I was very surprised and pleased to read a number of very complimentary reviews of my entry - it's shame none of you b******ds actually voted for me (except for one) !

Actually, I'm glad I didn't do any better - I much prefer entering the challenge as opposed to writing the theme and then being out of it for 4 weeks.

Bring on the next challenge!!!!!

[just in case this post gets misinterpreted, like Mrs N. thinks it will, the comments made above are intended as humourous - not offensive, or anything else unfriendly ]

[Cobalt Katze]

Congratulations to ze winner, whoever you are

I'll take a humble 3rd place, revealing that I was the composer behind #4!

I decided to take a rather short and concise approach to the theme in question. Thinking of it as a brief action cue, I took the rhythmic measure and made that an ostinato throughout, making heavy with the brass and strings.

I pulled a few things with the orchestration that I hadn't done before that I was pretty pleased with...

Instruments: Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrabassoon, Trumpet x2, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Timpani, Piano, Organ (Cornet & Prinzipal), and Strings.

Major props to 2nd and 3rd place for sure, they both did a great job taking the theme in a lot of different ways. I was a bit more conservative and limiting in where mine went

[Jun Yamamoto]

My favorite is #9 best and then the 2nd place are #1, #4, #5 and #8.

What I like about #9 is the creative combination of sounds. Great work.

Sincerely,

[pianodoc]

Just posting to say that I am the orchestrator of #2 which did not get very far - but which gave me a lot of pleasure writing. I have never posted any music before, even though I have owned GPO about since it was released. This was actually my first attempt at orchestrating something.. I am a psychiatrist and up until recently have not had time to really do anything with GPO.

I used GPO exclusively for this piece (and Sonar 4). Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe 2 clarinets, english horn, bass clarinet, bassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones Timpani, Snare drum, 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos and double basses.

I was intrugued with the theme and found it rich with possibilities for development. By the time I got started I had little time left and was determined to get this entry in before the deadline. Thus, the rather abrupt ending. The secondary theme just, somehow, grew out of the theme that Mika submitted.

I hope to send in more music and am looking forward to the next challenge.

My history is of Classical and Jazz training prior to medical school. My instrument is Piano. I am currently working on a JABB version of a piece I wrote for a student big band I led while teaching at Northern State university in Aberdeen, SD in 1972.

I am currently living and working in Raleigh, NC and would love to hear from anyone who is in this area.

David Mauney
dmauney@nc.rr.com

[pianodoc]

Addendum form Pianodoc

I am embarassed that I forgot to say how much I enjoyed listening to all of the various interpretations of Mika's theme. My personal favorite was #1 - especially for the interesting contrapuntal treatment of the theme. Over and over, however, I wanted to cast votes for others of the entries.

David M.