Contest winners Anthony O’Toole, Bojan Hoover, and Adam O’Dell

Today we’re pleased to announce the winners of the “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” composition contest.

For those of you unfamiliar with the contest, we asked contestants to develop a musical theme to create a piece of music—using Garritan sounds—that evoked their dream travel destination.

More than 200 entries were submitted. Ten finalists were selected by nearly 15,000 votes. The winners are:

• Anthony O’Toole of Media, PA, won the grand prize for his composition CA-91.
• Bojan Hoover of Minneapolis, MN, received a runner-up prize for his composition Sagarmatha.
• Adam O’Dell of Dubuque, IA, received a runner-up prize for his composition An Irish Morning.

To illustrate the ability of superior sounds to transport the creative process (and our listeners), the contest awards are travel-related. Anthony will receive a $2,000 United Airlines gift card and $500 in spending money. Bojan and Adam will each receive $700 United Airlines gift cards.

I hope to share more about the winners and their compositions in future blog posts.

Please join me in congratulating Anthony, Bojan, and Adam, as well as all the other contestants. The quality of the entries was amazing and my coworkers and I enjoyed hearing great sounds used so well. Check out all the compositions at the contest site.

Provided theme from the “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” composition contest.

As we posted last week, we plan to announce the winners of our “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” music composition contest next Tuesday, April 3, 2012. The winners will be selected by our panel of judges.

Who are these judges? In order to prevent cases of caviar and champagne mysteriously appearing in their mail slots, we’re keeping their identities confidential. But we’re glad to share a little about their credentials.

Our judging panel consists of four active composer/performers who all work in MakeMusic’s repertoire development department. Their department’s primary responsibility is the creation of notational content for SmartMusic. Regarding their accreditation:

• Judge #1: Bachelor’s degree in performance from the Manhattan School of Music
• Judge #2: Bachelor’s degree in commercial arranging from the Berklee School of Music
• Judge #3: Master’s degree in composition from Ithaca College
• Judge #4: Master’s and PhD in music composition from the University of Minnesota

While we all wait to hear their decision next Tuesday, I have a quickie contest to share with everyone.

The contest question is: “What significance does the provided theme (seen above) have in the context of the “Take Your Music Further” contest?” Or: “What about this theme makes it ideally suited for this contest?”

Whoever provides the correct answer first, by clicking on “Comments” below, will win a Finale T-shirt.

Please note: while blog comments are time-stamped the instant you send them, they don't appear until they are approved by a human. This keeps a ridiculous amount of spam off of the blog, but does result in a delay, so don't worry if you don't immediately see your reply!

Back in January we launched our “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” music composition contest.

Created to illustrate Garritan sound libraries' ability to transport the listener, the contest encouraged composers to develop a musical theme to create a piece of music – using Garritan sounds – that evoked their dream travel destination.

Today the contest finalists were announced. Determined by popular vote, the ten compositions that will proceed to the final round are:

• Rome - The Empire! by Jonathan Williams of Estes Park, Colorado
• CA-91 by Anthony O'Toole of Media, Pennsylvania
• Colorado Canyons and the Rivers of Time by Wanda Canfield of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
• The Grey by Bryan Laurienti of Phoenix, Arizona
• Divided Korea by Bruce Buckingham of Kent, Washington
• Sagarmatha by Bojan Hoover of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• An Irish Morning by Adam O'Dell of Dubuque, Iowa
• Egyptian Verve by Dylan Perese of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• The Gates of Olympus Mons by Michael A. Russo of Brooklyn, New York
• United Soaring by Michaelangelo Henegan of Athens, Georgia

The next step will be for the contest judges to identify the contest winners. The results will be announced on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

To underscore the ability of superior sounds to transport the creative process, the contest awards are travel-related. The grand prize is a $2,000 United Airlines gift card and $500 in spending money. Two runner-up prizes of $700 United Airlines gift cards will also be awarded.

I’d like to congratulate all the finalists as well as everyone who submitted a piece—everyone I’ve spoken with has commented on the high quality demonstrated by the entire field of entries.

Please listen to these amazing entries and learn more at the contest site, then share your reactions with us by clicking on “Comments” below.

JACK Quartet -- Photo by Justin Bernhaut

Last fall we announced the 2012 Finale National Composition Contest, cosponsored by JACK Quartet, the American Composers Forum, and MakeMusic. The goal of the competition is to encourage creativity by student composers currently enrolled in graduate and undergraduate institutions in the United States. 

Today we’re announcing the three finalists: Taylor Brook (Columbia University), Michelle Lou (Stanford University) and Nathan Shields (The Juilliard School).

All three received a cash prize and have been asked to write a string quartet for JACK Quartet, which will be workshopped and performed by the ensemble in New York. The final prize, which includes an additional cash award and future public performances by JACK Quartet, will be chosen by JACK Quartet at a public reading session at the DiMenna Center in New York City on Friday, September 14, 2012.

Please join me in congratulating Taylor, Michelle, and Nathan. I look forward to featuring them in future Finale blog posts and I hope to attend the public reading session in September.

What do you hope to do with Finale? Win our other composition contest? Something entirely different? Please let us know what you’re up to, or simply encourage my boss to send me to New York (or Siberia, if you prefer), by clicking on “Comments” below.

Last month we launched our “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” music composition contest.

In it, we invite contestants to develop a provided musical theme to create a piece of music – using Garritan sounds – that invokes their dream travel destination. The grand prize is a $2,000 United Airlines gift card and $500 in spending money.

Where would you go? Thailand looks good to me today.

We’ve enjoyed hearing the first batch of entries in the contest, and you can check them out too. To do so, and learn more about the contest, visit the contest home.

We’ve received feedback that people would like to see the contest rules before they install the Facebook contest app, and we’ve made that change: Simply click on “Official Rules” on the contest page and the rules will appear.

Note the rules indicate that eligible music compositions will not exceed 90 seconds in length. Nevertheless we’ve received a handful of submissions that were just a little longer than 90 seconds. When this happens, contestants are asked to resubmit a shorter entry. I’d suggest checking your audio file, by playing it in iTunes or another application, to make sure it is 90 seconds or shorter before you send it in.

If I was eligible to enter the contest, I’d probably keep refining my piece and not submit it until much closer to the deadline at noon (ET) on Thursday, March 15th. Are you a procrastinator too? Let us know how it’s going by clicking on “Comments” below.

This week instead of shivering in Minnesota, I’m enjoying the California sun at the annual NAMM Show, the music industry trade convention.

If you’re thinking that you’d like to be traveling somewhere yourself, I have good news: MakeMusic just announced the “Take Your Music Further with Garritan” composition contest.

Contestants are asked to develop a provided musical theme to create a piece of music – using Garritan sounds – that evokes their dream travel destination. The grand prize is a $2,000 United Airlines gift card and $500 in spending money. Two runner-up prizes of $700 United Airlines gift cards will also be awarded.

Whether you’re dreaming of palm trees, or of ice fishing contests in central Minnesota, this could be your chance. Check out complete details here and get your entry in before Wednesday, March 15, 2012.

Contest winner, Andy Akiho, pictured with eighth blackbird. L to R: Michael J. Maccaferri, Timothy Munro,
Yvonne Lam, Matthew Duvall, Andy Akiho, Lisa Kaplan, and Nick Photino – Photo by Kipling Swehla

MakeMusic announced today the winner of the Finale National Composition Contest. Andy Akiho of New Haven, Conn. won the final prize, which included $3,000 and a future public performance by the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird. Learn more about Andy, and see an example of his handiwork with Finale, in this interview from the Finale Blog.

The Finale National Composition Contest is a partnership between MakeMusic, the American Composers Forum and the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird. The objective of the competition is to encourage creativity by composers throughout the United States and to recognize and reward their accomplishments.

The contest was launched in July 2010. In February 2011 three finalists were selected from more than 500 submissions. Each finalist subsequently wrote a piece specifically for eighth blackbird and traveled to Chicago to rehearse and prepare the music with the ensemble. On Dec 8 all three pieces were performed at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, and the winner was announced later that evening.

A second competition, the 2012 Finale National Composition Contest, was announced in October 2011. This time MakeMusic and the American Composers Forum team up with the acclaimed American string quartet JACK Quartet. Finalists will be announced by February 1, 2012, and complete details can be found on the contest website.

Please join me in congratulating Andy by clicking on “Comments” below.

Photo by Stephen Poff

JACK Quartet electrifies audiences worldwide with "explosive virtuosity" (Boston Globe) and "viscerally exciting performances" (The New York Times). Focused on the commissioning and performance of new works, JACK has worked closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, James Dillon, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Sharp, Beat Furrer, Caleb Burhans, and Aaron Cassidy.

Would you like to add your name to the impressive list of composers above? You’re in luck. JACK Quartet, the American Composers Forum, and MakeMusic announce the 2012 Finale National Composition Contest.

The competition’s goal is to encourage creativity by student composers who are currently enrolled in graduate and undergraduate institutions in the United States. Three students from the total applicant pool will be chosen as finalists. They will receive a cash prize and be asked to write a string quartet for JACK Quartet, which will be workshopped and performed by the ensemble in New York. One of the pieces will be chosen to receive the final prize, which includes an additional cash award and future public performances by JACK Quartet.

Interested? Check out the application details on the American Composers’ Forum contest site. You can also view the latest information on the 2011 Finale National Composition Contest on the Finale Blog.

Are you working on a contest submission or something else? Let us know what you’re up to by clicking on “Comments” below.

William Shatner is the host of Myouterspace.com, a new social network for creators and fans of science fiction. Myouterspace.com has launched a free-to-enter music composition contest—open to everyone—that gives you the opportunity to score the theme music for The Zenoids, an animated web series. Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Up, Star Trek, Lost) will judge the contest alongside Zenoids stars William Shatner and Amanda Tapping.

Interested? Learn the full details at the contest site, then score to the video clip above (which is also available at MyOuterSpace.com). Finalists will be posted on Myouterspace.com where everyone can vote for their favorite composer. The Grand Prize winner’s theme will be used as the main title of the animated web series, and runners-up will receive prizes from JBL, Big Fish Audio, Slate Digital, and, of course, MakeMusic.

Have you checked out Myouterspace.com? Let us know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below!