It's time to vote in the Orchestration Challenge 13!

[oldbob]

to: OLDBOB

I know I won't win this one, but it was a nice theme to tease out and work with. Thanks!

my pleasure, William, thanks!

[rbowser-]

I agree that's it nice to hear some Jazz stuff on this Challenge, Trent. And it's great to hear how each of these entries is a really individually unique approach to Roberto's theme. Like with Challenge 12 which I provided the theme for, I think they're all winners--nearly impossible to chose one to give a vote to.

I'm a bit surprised the first entry is--gulp--12 minutes long--? Wow--The time I've written or arranged something of that length I can probably count on one hand. It's probably not a really big deal, but the guidelines ask people to keep pieces to around 3:00 or so. If that's deemed important, maybe these rules could be more prominent on a post rather than just at the Challenge link. My observation is that such a long length might be detrimental to an entry's chances---pretty long down load time, let alone the investment of listening time.

Anyway--As always, this is a very fun event.

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[Charli]

WOW! Great site and great contest. Hard to choose my favorite as 4,5 7, and 9 were very good. I liked #5 because it was different that my other favorites. I agree about #1 being way to long and not "going with the rules".

I do have a question. How many entries were received?

An old boyfriend, from highschool many years ago, got me to this site and said I would enjoy it. He is correct. Now I have something to listen to while doing other things on the computer.

Charli

[SeanHannifin]

Hi Charli, welcome to the forum!!

Those are all 9 entries that were received. (We always post all the entries... 12 is the most we've ever had from the last round.)

12 minutes is certainly the longest entry these challenges have ever seen, but there are currently no defined time limits... and it's all up to the voters on how they want to vote anyway. Copying and pasting the "rules" into future challenge threads seems like a good idea though, just to be sure everyone sees them.

[Charli]

Sean, thanks for the "welcome"... turner classic ran a similar contest... 3 minutes, no impersonations, no 3rd party stuff, no music, etc... posted the rules... none of the top pics followed the rules.

Like I said, this is a great site and I will tell all my friends in the music "business" as hobbies to check in.

[rbowser-]

Perhaps it's easier for me to say this since I was the winner of Challenge 11, but I think this is one of the coolest on-going things here at the Garritan Forums. I mean, how neat is this for people to spend a little time getting creative with musical themes tossed at them, and then we all get to listen to the results and enjoy.

There are a Lot of people on this Forum, and it's disproportionate to have only the 11 or 12 voters who have participated so far. We could easily have 100 or more votes cast during these Challenges.

It's possible that one stumbling block this time around is that entry #1 is Such a long download time, and then plays for 12 minutes. This is pretty much an impossible thing for people on dial-up to handle. NOTHING negative implied about what the arranger of #1 did--It's an extremely interesting contender. I'm just saying that it's possible people try to start at the top, and get discouraged before they have a chance to join in.

SO anyway, boosting this post for an event I think is so groovy, in hopes that more people get inspired to jump in, take a little time to hear the entries, and then do the difficult but thought-provoking task of actually choosing one of these great entries as a "favorite."

Listen! Vote! Have fun!

Randy B.
(rbowser) in a very Rah Rah mood.

[rayzalaf]

Roberto,

I thought this would be - hmm! - facinating, and it is.

In my opinion there is only one "creation" featured here from your score.

Should I give my choice away by saying incidental music.

Everything else seems accidental to me. Compostions that only musicians could love.

People in the UK would be reminded of Les Dawson's piano playing.

I'm afraid I like a good tune.

Controversial as always

Ray

[chesterdesmond]

Compostions that only musicians could love.

Are you saying most of the songs are geared more towards theory than "songwriting"? Not really clear on your meaning.

[rbowser-]

This is certainly an interesting group of entries, and an interesting discussion also.

I'm here to add another reply to this thread to point out that none of these pieces are "compositions"--they are arrangements of the theme composed and presented by Roberto.

Also, none of these are in the "song" category--Roberto's theme and these various arrangements can't be accurately categorized that way.

As implied by this reply so far, neither the theme or any of the entries can be described as "a good tune"--due to the nature of the intervals Roberto used. Nobody would be able to hum or sing along with the theme material during the first listen, or even the second or third listens.

But there's a very large body of music enjoyed by the general public which isn't of "a good tune" variety. Not all academically respected music is beyond the appreciation of the average person.

That being said, I love "a good tune" also. When I write music, I tend to stick in the realm of tonality and traditional Western Music Theory.

And so on.

One final thing is that I've decided I don't have a strong preference amongst these entries--They all entertained me very well!

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[rayzalaf]

Are you saying most of the songs are geared more towards theory than "songwriting"? Not really clear on your meaning.

Hi Chester,

I used the word compositions and you said songs and song writing.

The entries are great attempts at neither!

I'm sure Roberto wouldn't mind me saying, he was looking for a purse out of a pig's ear.

Ray