Any Composition Competitions for High School Composers?

compmajor
Tue, 22 Jul 2014 03:15:13 +0000

Thank you for your comment compmom! As for school and medical issues I currently have a 504 but it took a lot of work to get one. I have Bipolar disorder, and since it wasn’t diagnosed until late spring it was hard to get the 504. My grades slipped because of the seer number of absences and in ability to do homework or makeup work at times. I will have a 504 coming into this school year and I have my condition under better control.

My teacher has mentioned getting some of the students at his university to play my pieces, but to be frank my music is very modern classical, a-tonal, and experimental; so I am unsure of how playable it is for an undergrad in state university. There are some techniques that I employ in a string quartet I am almost finished with now that I am not even sure how to notate. Regardless I’m sure my that my instructor can assist me in getting recordings.

I will definitely look into Walden when I begin to look for summer camps. As far as competitions I am less concerned with the “winning” something aspect and more concerned with the resume. I am pretty much set on going to a conservatory of some sort, with my dream school being Eastman. I have always lacked a born, “talent” for music and have to work very hard to get to where I am. Even now I struggle with ear training. Also, being a percussionist, I have above average mallet skills for my goals, but I am below average on snare and tympani. Because of this I feel I have to be overqualified in my composition in order to make it into schools that require instrumental auditions.

I have written several 1 minute solos as exercises and a 4 min cello solo in my lessons so far. I will have a 9-10 min string quartet that will be complete by mid august. I have a couple compositions from before my lessons but I consider them inferior. My teacher and I have already had discussions about building a portfolio and I believe he already has an idea of what he will have me do over the course of the next year and a half.

Thanks again compmom!