Hey everyone! Been a while since we had anything like this but — welcome to the NG Orchestral Composition Contest!
This is a contest to flex your orchestration skills. Classical, cinematic, VGM, and digital fusion scorers, come show us where it's at!
Your judges are @BroKendeck, @DavidOrr, @JessieYun, @sJLsmusic and myself (@Troisnyx). Prizes TBD!
Please read over the rules BEFORE you submit your submission(s), come back to read them again to make sure you're following all the rules here. Never hurts to double-check! ^_-
Without further ado, the Rules!
1): Make sure you're familiar with the Audio Portal rules in the FAQ. Read here: http://www.newgrounds.com/wiki/help-information/terms-of-use/audio-guidelines
2): ONLY post song submissions here (unless it's one of the judges with an update). Casual chatting and questions go in the Discussion Thread.
3): You must be at least 13 or over to enter.
4): You must be a registered Newgrounds user, and scouted on the Audio Portal, to enter. This is for anti-fraud purposes.
5): No covers or remixes, only new original entries are accepted.
6): Only solo entries are accepted! No collaborations.
7): On that note: Your works are meant to feature at least three whole instrument families of the orchestra! No exclusively solo compositions allowed. (We will, however, allow concertos, as the whole point of those is that the orchestra goes in and out with, and backs, a solo instrument on display.)
8): Instrumentals only! No vocal works. (Yes, that means no oratorios, no operas, no libretti or choirs, no sung pieces at all.)
9): Ethnic / folk / unusual instruments are accepted -- but they MUST be part of, and substantiated by, a regular orchestral setup.
10): You have between 15 February and 15 March 2021 08:00 PST to write your entry; you can enter only ONE submission per head.
11): Your song must be between 2 - 8 minutes. Any longer or shorter, and it will not be considered.
12): Tag your entry with "oc2021," it helps speed up the judging process!
13): If you're unsure of anything not listed (or have questions about what has been stated) in the rules, feel free to ask us questions in the discussion thread!
While we certainly encourage individuals to think outside-the-box in an effort to set themselves apart from other in the competition, there does need to be a sense of discernible structure to the piece to make it seem as if there is at least an 'attempt' of an orchestra playing at minimum.
While there are limitations to what many be achievable for some in the contest due to either hardware or budget restrictions, there should be considerations for the entry to come across as an orchestration and not an aleatoric or experimental composition. Otherwise approaches towards atonality and experimental structuring (with aleatoric elements in) are definitely allowed, but will likely end up judged more critically/harsher than a more tonal piece purely off of the difficulty of getting it 'right' in the context of the idea performed.
That does not necessarily mean that it's impossible to get a high score or even win outright with that approach, it's just that it's harder to do so (think of it as Hard Mode).
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Good luck, and happy composing!
