Join the Celebration for Our Founder!
Dr. James D. Feiszli was central to ChoralNet’s creation, development, and management from conception in 1993 until his departure in 2012. We invite the entire ChoralNet community to become involved in a special project to honor the man most responsible for this valuable resource. Over the next several weeks we’ll share with you the story of this incredible individual.
Showcase Dare
From August 1-9, 2015, the Composers of Choral Music Community and Our Musical Life Inc. will be holding the “Showcase Dare.” This is not an officially sanctioned ACDA event. This is about composition, but intimately involves conductors and lyricists, as well. This free event is all about working together to ignite the creative process.
Conductors are needed during and after the event to dialogue with composers. They can help composers tailor the new works for the conductors’ performing ensembles.
Composers will be given a “spark”, a few thought provoking words, to get the creative process going. We have asked Dr. Feiszli to christen the launch of this event by choosing what that spark will be. Composers will have 9 days in which to find or create a text, begin composing a new piece of music, and submit a first draft.
Lyricists, poets, and writers are needed to suggest texts they have written that reflect the spark Dr. Feiszli provided, or create new ones for this special project.
It is my hope that the composers and lyricists who do the writing, and the conductors who guide them to completion, will dedicate the creation and/or performances of these works to Dr. James D. Feiszli in honor of what he has given to us.
Showcase Dare August 2015 Community
It was Dr. Feiszli’s idea to create Communities on ChoralNet. This special event will be held in a ChoralNet Community called “Showcase Dare August 2015” found here: https://choralnet.org/list/page/469189 . Please have a look, click through the pages, and if you are willing to help, click on the “Join this community” button in the upper right part of your screen above the blue line. You must be logged in to ChoralNet to join the community. Community members will be able to dialogue with the participating composers in the forum https://choralnet.org/list/grouppost/469189 and on the composers’ individual contest pages found by clicking on the “Pages” button https://choralnet.org/list/page/469189 and then on the “Contestant Pages.”
Conductors’ Questions:
How Can I Help?
Offer to vote on the first drafts that composers produce during the contest week. If you wish to be more involved right away, pledge to perform a work that both reflects the spark and meets your own criteria. Post a message in the Showcase Dare Community forum or on a specific composer’s page detailing what you need for voicing, accompaniment, and level of ability. Stay in dialogue with composers during the Showcase Dare and afterwards to help them shape their works to meet your needs.
Composers’ Questions:
How Do I Sign Up?
- Join ChoralNet if you have not already (free): https://choralnet.org/new/user
- Join the community Showcase Dare August 2015 (also free) by clicking the “Join this community” button above the blue line on this page: https://choralnet.org/home/469189
- Read and agree to the rules, terms, and conditions: https://choralnet.org/469200
- Send Jack Senzig https://choralnet.org/contact/user/6743 a message saying you would like to participate. He will then create a contestant page for you to introduce yourself and begin writing about your experience with the contest.
What Might I Win?
There is no physical award. The principal reward is that you will have a first draft of a work you may be able to tailor to a specific choir and get performed. ChoralNet users will decide by popular vote who wins (see Voting below). We encourage you to include a note in your ChoralNet Profile that shows, for example, “Winner of the Gold Award for Text Setting in the August 2015 Showcase Dare.” If you upload the pieces to the Composition Showcase on ChoralNet (free), these awards can also be listed there.
How Do I Win?
Conductors, composers, participants, and a panel of judges will vote on your piece in the following categories:
- Spark: Evident in concept or work
- Performability: Viral Quality/Overall Likability/ Uniqueness
- Elemental Mechanics: Harmonic, Rhythmic, Form, Dynamics, Counterpoint, etc.
- Text Setting: Prosody, Word Painting, Choice of Text
- Singability: Voice Leading, Range, Tessitura
You really win when conductors see your work and talk to you about what they would need to perform it.
Lyricists’ Questions:
How Can I Help?
Post your poetry, prose, or other texts that reflect the spark in the Showcase Dare August 2015 community forum https://choralnet.org/list/grouppost/469189 and/or on an individual composer’s contestant page as quickly as possible starting August 1. Post only works you own the copyright for, or which are in the public domain. You may post links to other people’s works that support the spark.
Do I Win a Prize?
Again, there is no physical or monetary prize. If a composer’s piece is voted the winner, then you share in that win.
Voting
The voting will be held from August 10-23, after the first-draft completion deadline. The pieces with the three highest average scores in a specific category (see below) will win Gold, Silver, and Bronze in that category. The three pieces which obtain an average score of 4 or more in “Spark” and also receive the highest overall average scores will be named the Overall Winners of Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
To view all of the rules, terms, and conditions, visit the Showcase Dare August 2015 Community and read through the pages, forum, and blog: https://choralnet.org/list/page/469189 .
What About Copyright?
You own what you create. Composers should choose texts they have permission to use or that are in the public domain. Lyricists and composers should negotiate terms of use for their work. Lyricists can offer their work for free, but many composer-lyricist arrangements include profit sharing agreements. You grant us (ChoralNet) a non-exclusive right to display your work as part of the competition, use it for promoting future events, and allow it to remain in the Community as a record of the event. If you do not want your work used in future promotions or need to take it down later for publishing reasons, please let Jack Senzig know.
Conclusion
Please help us to honor the work of Jim Feiszli by coming together to share our knowledge and expertise while creating something new and exciting!
You can reply below with questions, praises for Jim, and stories of what ChoralNet has meant to you, or join the Showcase Dare August 2015 community and comment in the forum.
The idea for this event is borrowed from the video game developer event called the Ludum Dare http://ludumdare.com/compo/about-ludum-dare/ . The Ludum Dare has been the spark for the creation of many excellent products. We would like to do the same for choral music. We are not affiliated in anyway with the Ludum Dare Community and this is not an ACDA event.
Thanks to composer David Cope for use of his picture in our Showcase Dare graphic.
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