Arrangement contests - brainstorming topic

[Bespinben]

He's right. I know nothing about Choral Music at ALL.

Solution: Participants have the option to pair up in teams of 2, in which one person would handle the piano accompanimient and the other would handle writing out parts for the choir. Such an option would allow people who are unlearned of choral music the chance to still participate.

[master_gamer38]

This is a chance to learn, create a piece that can be simply done rather than doing overly virtuosic piece.

Just like knowing a range for an oboe, one could know a general range for soprano. It's not that hard to write for voice.

I honestly see way more point in writing for voice than anything else. It's an 'instrument' that everyone uses, why not know how to write for it?

[Raymondbl]

I think range isn't a problem, but Iｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｄｕｅｔ　ｉｄｅａ．

[Olimar12345]

I still wanna do the solo instrument thingy....

[Raymondbl]

As you could guess, by far my best is piano arranging, and if I could pair up with someone who's uber good with choir, then that would be perfect.  Solo instrument works too, but I might like the duo arranging more. 

[Olimar12345]

How about whatever we do next, we do it in teams of two? Even if we decide against the choral music....

[SlowPokemon]

*ahem* I would like to take this moment to say the following in response to comments that you can't arrange choral because you haven't been trained chorally, or don't know anything about chorals:

My musical ability? I play the piano rather well. I'm currently in my seventh year of piano. Musical ability beyond performance? Somewhat decent. Not bad, for someone who only plays piano.

That's right, not only do I not play any other instruments; going into Finale last year, I had no idea how they were played, how they were supposed to be used, even what their ranges were. I am clueless as to music theory, didn't know what key signatures were until about a year and a half ago (if that), and had no idea how to work a metronome until a year before that. My old (crappy) teacher never really covered any of that stuff. I've never had a music class in school.

But here's what I'm saying (I'm trying to figure how to word this properly without sounding like an ignoramus):
I have learned an UNHOLY amount about the orchestra and music in general in the last year and a half or so--just by using Finale for orchestral compositions and arrangements beyond just piano, and occasionally using wikipedia or asking a m to read up on instruments or the occasional theory. I have used nearly all the instruments by this point and know a lot about music. In other words, it matters ZERO if you know anything about the instrument going in (beyond the obvious). The only way you're going to learn more about it is to experiment. If that means taking a risk and entering the competition even though you might do horribly? Who cares? I personally have never used chorals beyond the occasional soprano or something in a composition, so I would see it as a learning experience. I consider myself musically adept, but it does not matter at all to me personally if I have learned about the instrument before going in. If you know the clef, you obviously know how to enter notes in, no? I'm probably stupid or reckless or whatever to experiment first and read up on it later, but I find that in the end I'm wiser because of it.
I have another, totally unrelated rant as well that maybe I want some opinions about? Maybe I just want to rant: I personally believe that composing does not have to have anything really to do with well-thought-out pieces using theory or whatever.
My composing methods are ridiculously awful by typical standards:
A) Sitting at the piano playing completely random notes, saying "hmm that sounds cool" and then entering it in to Finale with random instruments and adding a bit of complexity.
B) making a new Finale document, selecting a bunch of instruments that I like, occasionally along one or two I haven't used before, then literally just humming to myself and entering my humming into Finale. Sometimes I'll even say a phrase that's on my mind and write a melody based on the change in pitch of my voice.
But I am nearly always proud of my efforts at the end anyway. My method and lack of thinking out a piece based on theory doesn't have an impact on the music for me.

I'm sure that is going to elicit responses like "that's not real composing" or "you seriously know nothing about music" but truthfully I don't care. I learn a lot about music in my processes.

Ack... *works up nerve to click Post*

[MaestroUGC]

That's not quite right, though. The theory is the same, the practice is different. You have to be able to take into account the sound you want, figure out wether you want a certain part to have the deep resonance of an alto section; or give it a bold, yet lighter, sound with the tenors? With instruments, you know exactly what you can get out of them with little variation, outside of bizarre techniques.

Who here actually listens to choral music, backed by a piano/orchestra or a cappella? You could two pieces by the same composer, hell just two sections in the same compositions, and you can tell there's a large difference in their sound. Just look at any Requiem.

Slow, I'm not saying what you said is wrong, that's how I learned everything I know today, by application. The thing is, you can't do that with the voice, because all of the limits are theoretical. You can have one soprano whose range lies from B3-G5, and another whose range lies from E4-C6, yet they stand right next to each other in the soprano section. With a string section, everybody needs to have the same prowess on their instrument to make the music work, but a choir is built on the sound of the group by their individual merits. I've been in choirs where some incredible sopranos have sung alto because that's where their quality of voice best suited the choir.

About your composition process, you're fine.

[insaneintherain]

How about whatever we do next, we do it in teams of two? Even if we decide against the choral music....

How do you think that would work?

[Olimar12345]

Well, whatever we decide to do, we anonymously assign the contestants in groups of two. Then they pm/email/skype each other and arrange the piece together.

[K-NiGhT]

Well, i think it's a good idea, but what if one arranger (me, perhaps) doesn't have enough time to do his part? That's not fair to the other person.

(before you say they shouldn't have signed up, i say things can come up lots of times.)

[MaestroUGC]

In the event that a person has to drop out, they will alert both the host and his partner. The remaining player can either choose to continue on his own or retire from the contest. However, we should save that for a larger contest, since we seem to be between the "Solo Instrument" and "Choral" contests, which don't require much effort to pull off.

I'm for the Solo contest, if the majority chooses the Choral contest, we need to decide whether or not to write lyrics, because that's another layer of composition to worry about, as opposed to just pitches and layering.

[K-NiGhT]

I like the solo instrument

[Olimar12345]

I like the solo instrument

[Bespinben]

We should put this on a poll.

Choral.