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Maybe we could kick off a Composition challenge sooner, if it means there's a chance that more will enter through having time off over Xmas. What do you think @TTony ?
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Any thoughts on a theme?
I'm sure someone could word it better.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
Proof of the impending apocalypse! We're dooooomed, I say. Dooooooooooooomed!
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
The aim should be to inspire as many as possible to enter. I'm afraid there won't be prizes, just the wondrous adulation of others for a winning entry.
Below is what's been pitched so far:
Collectively those ideas suggest to me: "A New Year: Time to set new trends and update music from the past (or put a new spin on an old style)"
Feel free to pitch in.
Let's decide over the next few days, then I'll set things off.
A New Year: Time to set new trends or update music from the past by putting a new spin on an old style.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
I'd really like to get more people involved in these - in all of the challenges - so perhaps we should start the new year with something more accessible?
I’m going to really try and take part in as much as possible but I think if you want to encourage as much participation as possible then a well defined theme is good. Then again I can see the argument that those who are a lot further along in their playing probably like the challenge of a theme that’s very ‘open to interpretation’
"You don't know what you've got till the whole thing's gone. The days are dark and the road is long."
Surely, that's the nature of a 'challenge' - it's something that you find challenging!
There's a lot of myth and romanticism attached to 'inspiration' and 'creativity' but it's really just a case of working, plugging away at it - "99% perspiration" as the old saying goes. If you're lucky, something 'clicks' and the piece takes on a life of it's own. If you're not, keep plugging away at it and make it the best you can. Often, when you get a bit of distance and listen back to something you came up with a year ago, two years ago, whatever, you'll hear it very differently to when you're in the process of making it. For me, things invariably sound better with a bit of passing time (and they're invariably disappointing at the time of recording).
The hardest thing about creating anything is letting go of it and allowing public scrutiny (especially in this modern social media world where seemingly everybody thinks it's important to express every petty personal opinion or dislike) but these challenges have been very supportive and positive and hopefully can stay that way. Maybe more can be stated explicitly about this not being a competition? - music isn't sport!
For what it's worth, I haven't felt musically 'inspired' for well over a year but I keep creating pieces for these challenges as a creative discipline - and occasionally something unexpected happens!
But if we try to ensure that the "challenge" part is about the challenge of creating a piece of music - rather than the challenge of trying to interpret a meaning within a theme - would that encourage more participants to get involved?
I haven't participated in many challenges, largely because of time/skill constraints, but I have looked at some themes and concluded that I wouldn't even know where to start. The theme became a barrier before I got to the barrier of working at developing a piece of music to submit.
Perhaps we should try simple themes for a couple of challenges and see how it goes?
We had a reasonable response to the Christmas challenge (although not as many as I'd hoped given the prizes on offer!), which was a deliberately simple theme, yet allowed for a range of interpretations and creations based on the theme - from the obvious to the more obscure.