Less interest - or less ignorance?

The previous monthly contest specified a specific musical work and the contestants simply submitted their recorded performances of the piece.

Thus, there was never a situation where people had to choose between a tonal work and a freeform work.

Here are a couple of thoughts on a monthly contest:

1) A person may win up to three contests per year.  This so that people have a chance to win.

2) The site moderators select judges who remain anonymous.  The contestant's identities are not given to the judges (thus, the entries would be .mp3s rather than video).  The idea is so that the performance is evaluated in a non-biased manner.

3) Some months will designate traditional/classical and others will be experimental/non-traditional.

I think the problem with voting is that often people with large friend's lists (i.e. on Facebook, etc) may simply ask people to vote for them and the whole thing devolves into a popularity contest.

Also, I think each monthly contest can have different requirements -- that is, some months may require people to submit solo theremin tracks without effects or accompaniment, some months may encourage fx, others may encourage new arrangements of old songs.   One of the issues that surfaced before was that some of us have studio resources that enable advanced arrangements/orchestrations while others will record with little more than a theremin and a microphone.

Ultimately, the idea would be that this would generate interest, encourage people to play and improve, and - well -- just to have some fun.

I think it is a great idea Kevin!!

Could care less about winning but...

We all win if we (as Kevin says) "generate interest, encourage people to play and improve, and - well -- just to have some fun"

We can store .mp3s on this site and then reference them like we do graphics?

Rich

Love this discussion!

I think we could easily do contests again like Kevin suggested.  I have several guest judges in mind, and I love the idea of keeping them anonymous.  I actually have a few prizes I could ship out to winners too, and if the contests garner enough interest, we could likely solicit new prizes such as albums, books, shirts, musical instrument accessories, World Peace, etc. (we have to dream, right?)

Re: studios vs. non-advanced equipment, I'd like to try to keep the rules as simple as possible and not over-manage the submissions.  At least we could start off that way and see how it goes, then pivot if necessary.

I agree. I've been playing for a month and a half. Not much I can make it sound like if I can't use my studio.

It shouldn't be about winning. It should be about making the best music you can and as Kevin says - having fun.

Rich

It shouldn't be about winning. It should be about making the best music you can and as Kevin says - having fun.

I agree with this. I think our goal should be to inspire people to push themselves, practice more often, learn new music, flex their creativity, etc. 

To that end, perhaps we shouldn't make them "contests", but rather "challenges".  We used to pick a song each month, say a national anthem or popular hymn, and then everyone would email me their submissions.  Unfortunately, many of the threads turned into b*tch fests that soured the whole thing.  I'd really like to avoid the nastiness this time, but as musicians, we all need to be open to some constructive criticism.

This time around, I'd suggest people post their music on SoundCloud or some other music sharing service so we can paste links into the forums to listen to the songs.

Yes, I'm all for that. Flex your creative muscles. I don't want to compete with someone on the best version of the Bolivian National Anthem (nothing against Bolivia, Bolivia Rocks!).

If we want to further the interest in theremin as well as have fun I think we all have to follow our own muses. Let everyone know how wide a range of music this wonderful instrument can span. I've seen other sites do this and they simply pick a topic or topical theme for a month or that time of year (to see how different people interpret an idea or emotion - almost any topic can create an infinitely wide range of styles from classical to experimental). This can also help people center on a musical idea. Like submit a funny piece, or a romantic piece or a scary piece, etc. Almost any style can be applied to topics so general. But my mind might go someplace totally different if you say "scary" vs. "funny". And this might make it fun for people to listen to as well.

Just a thought.

But my hope is that whatever we do, we all foster an environment of encouragement. 

Rich