WritersBlock 2008-08-26 05:57:28

I didn't know anything about the contest until recently, the paperwork comes later.

WritersBlock 2008-08-26 10:41:26

I've got one madness entry done, although it could use a makeover, I'm working on my second entry, which is sounding absolutely kickass especially since I've only used stock samples from fruity loops and FL native effects so far (at the moment it sounds like a soft train piece). I'm thinking of how to turn it into a dirty great madness tune...
The competition will provide the performers. There's not way I could organise that in the time I've got. I've made a good start on my piece, it's not a piece without it's flaws, but I definitely think that it'll be something worth listening to in the end, with my rather aggressive contemporary approach.

If I won the contest, I doubt I'd land a record deal. I'd get some cash, some sweet software and/or hardware, but as far as I'm aware "opportunities" would be more along the lines of getting a scholarship with a uni to study music or if there were any sort of deal going on, it might be writing a brief film score or something like that. In which case they'd take no notice of my non-classical works, so I'd stll do the electronica stuffs here, and some classical for fun, but I doubt if I got the opportunity to write a song for a film or a videogame or anything commercial, I doubt I could post it here.

So that's the direction I'd love to take if I get the opportunity. I'm just not the mainstream radio hit performer or underground electrnica artist, the music industry is cut-throat, and the only way I see myself getting anywhere with a music career is on that classical side, and that's the only way I'd want it. ;D

WritersBlock 2008-08-26 22:54:12

Classical does not include banjo, and it typically doesn't include guitar either. Or the harmonica. :-/
I'm going with viola, cello and piano. And not all played by the same person. =P

WritersBlock 2008-08-27 00:29:39

NO >:(

WritersBlock 2008-08-27 04:28:15

Aww...
<3
C|:-)
lolhat

WritersBlock 2008-08-27 06:12:19

If I ever meet you, I shall fart in your general direction.

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 02:54:34

Oh, is that how it is? Well, I would apologise, but you don't have any feelings so I won't.

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 04:30:08

http://audioreport.newgrounds.com /
But don't go telling anybody. It's a sekrit, k?

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 05:30:14

It's not just for the underdogs, it's got a whole bunch of neat stuff. Just you wait and see...

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 16:16:44

Srry, ur t22 cneddehen 4 da kompactishenn

Dunno if Sibelius has a Canadian ver. of the comp. You could look it up.

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 20:32:53

That's because the first edition isn't up yet!

WritersBlock 2008-08-28 20:34:21

D=<

WritersBlock 2008-08-29 17:29:56

lol, the first one is pretty average, the second one could be better, and the third one is not madness enough.

WritersBlock 2008-08-29 17:36:26

Yeah, but I doubt I'll have anything ready by the end of the contest...

WritersBlock 2008-08-30 18:13:57

Yes it is, but then I find that I appreciate life so much more when I stop putting myself under these extreme pressures. I might still finish the song, just to see what happens, but it'd be just for Newgrounds, I might show it to my old music teacher just to see how he'd react ("you SHOULD'VE entered it you shitfuck!" or "well, it's a nationwide competition, and it's for the real serious composers, but good on you for trying!").

I've become comfortable going on long arduous journeys without any reward at the end. It doesn't faze me anymore...

WritersBlock 2008-08-31 09:36:17

Yeah, or spending 7 years learning guitar and piano, with 5 of those years also learning theory, studying for the year 12 exams, only to pull out with about 4/5 months to go because I wasn't up to the grade.

WritersBlock 2008-09-01 08:58:35

Well, there was 2 parts, a performance and a theory part.
The previous exams I'd done over the last 2 years, I was lucky to get over 50%, but the theory was a bit better.
Theory was split into 3 sections, perception, literature and composition.
I always did pretty well with the composition part, that was just arranging a particular tune for 4 instruments, nothing original. Literature was remembering a ton of shit about composers and eras and the songs we studied over the year, such as the 16 minute programmatic orchestral work "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by Richard Strauss, or a selection of 4 songs from "Dichterliebe", a song cycle based from Heinrich Heine's set of poems about being rejected (to put it bluntly). I was a bit touch and go with Literature, although I can remember a ton of stuff now that I don't need it, such as the German names of the songs from Dichterliebe or the meanings behind some of the things in the songs, like Till Eulenspiegel's death, with the strings representing his body's final twitches as it hangs from its noose. Perception... well, the phrase "Perception is the devil" was tossed around A LOT last year. Picking intervals by ear. Picking chord progressions, melodies, rhythms, and not simple ones like "Mary had a little lamb". It was kind of Mozart-esque, write down a melody after only a few listens. It was tough for me, although I had my moments. There was a lot to learn, and although I didn't finish, I did learn a lot from it. I mean, some things are kind of hardwired into my brain now, whenever I listen to a song, I automatically split everything down to the different instruments, pick out the different parts of the song, the melodic phrases in the vocals. I thought that I had decided against a career in music, but since thinking about it, now I might reconsider...

WritersBlock 2008-09-01 12:57:07

Perception in that sense isn't terribly necessary, especially when you'll always have a keyboard handy to refer to, whereas in the tests we didn't have anything to tune it to. But, yeah. It is still damn useful.

WritersBlock 2008-09-02 04:28:39

He looks exactly like Wade.

WritersBlock 2008-09-02 06:20:16

No, you're confusing that with New Orleans.