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CMC - Conceptual Music Competition 21: Determination

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CMC: Conceptual Music Competition

abadoss-CMC.jpg

This competition is based on the rules of the classic TOMC (Thematic Original Music Competition).

The CMC (Conceptual Music Competition) is designed so that each participant enters a piece of music based on a set theme. The participants take the theme and interpret it as they will to come up with something that fits. Any style can work, as long as it portrays a sense of what the theme is.

Feel free to be imaginative!

Each successive theme will be chosen by the winner of the previous competition. For example, say the theme of the last competition, CMC 28, was "Swept Away" and the winner, Maggie, submitted a piece that knocked the socks off of everyone, so she won. Maggie then gets to decide the theme for CMC 29.

This competition is open to registered members of the forums of

OverClocked ReMix, VGMix, VGMusic, Gaming World, Young Composers, and GameDev.

CMC20-forums.jpg

CMC 21: Determination

"Pure, solid determination. No matter what kind of shit you're in, follow your dreams!" -xRisingForce

Results!:

There are 9 entries and 2 bonus entries for this round...

Rich Douglas - "The Final Play"

  • "It was the final 15 seconds of the game, time enough for one more play and all they needed was one touchdown to win. All of the stadium lights glared brightly down on the players as the coach called a timeout, this one play would change the lives of many of these kids as a handful of recruitment people from colleges all over the country were watching. The coach walks to the center of the huddle: 'Alright boys, this is it... I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass here, you know what to do. You need to have pure, solid determination to win here and to succeed at life. No matter what kind of shit you're in, always follow your dreams! Let's go win this thing.'"

HoboKa - "True Heroes Never Fall"
  • "True heroes never fall. Against all odds, the logical solution would be to surrender. But not for Captain <insert generic hero name>!!!! He is the best of the best, the craziest of the craziest, and the sexiest. Armed with his space ship, the Epiphany Alpha, Captain ____ is determined to blast through five thousands enemy fighters to defeat his arch nemesis, Mikhail Crackson, the Moon Walker of doom. Will he win?"

Richard Durand - "The Destiny of a Hero"

  • "Although his family was murdered and his home town was burnt to the ground, he was determined to complete his quest. He fought with all his might and feared no danger. He was determined to slay the demigod."

Blue.Nocturne - "Against All Odds"
  • "The beginning section expresses the lack of hope. It is dark and foreboding, but it leads to a section that becomes slowly more hopeful upon the entry of brass. Toward the end, the true theme of determination comes in, and it brings hope despite the troubles at the beginning. So despite being against all odds, there is hope and determination."

stephenspies - "Determined to Finish"

  • "The piece represents a runner who is determined to run and finish a race. It starts out with eighth notes in the violin and viola that continues through most of the piece to represent the people running. Then the melody comes in representing the runner's determination to finish the race."

quia - "Longing and Determination"
  • "0:00-2:42 Longing, desire and some determination.
    2:42-5:14 Hardcore determination."

Ubernym - "Grim Determination"

  • "A series of orchestral motifs, connected by full blooded drums. You have the Awakening motif, followed by the Preparation motif, followed by the Journey motif, and then the final Prayer of Determination motif. These are the ideas I felt when I thought about writing determination.
    Keep in mind this is the kind of determination that keeps you up at night, the kind of determination that never lets you rest until you've made your goal. It's not happy, it's not necessarily upbeat, but it is always their, narrowing your focus and priming you for that final hour..."

XFactor - "Let's Go! Time to Kick It with a Smile"

  • "It's a poppy tune, a bit silly, a bit self conscious, slightly repetitive in areas, but overall it's a silly poppy tune of DETERMINATION AND WILL that can empower you to turn the tide of the battle like any Jumpin' Jack Flash can. This is what happens when a veteran faux-musician can make bad music that sucks...in a classy way. This is silly music you won't be able to seriously judge on anything but the surface...it's not deep, it's not serious, but it's super ridiculously HAPPYYYY and that's why the hero of the story loves it. Maybe."

Aidin Ashoori - "Against All Odds"
  • "I took the theme of determination and gave it a heroic and militaristic style with an iron fist sort of vibe. I imagined a small group of soldiers and tanks closely together bravely marching through a post-apocalyptic warzone (one that is utterly impossible to make it out alive) under a scorched sky while annihilating hostiles in their path. They marched on and on, no matter what the cost and no matter their slim chances of survival."

xRisingForce - "Atarashii Hi No Taiyou (The Sun of a New Day)" (bonus entry)

  • No description given.

Sean Gilleece - "Army's Advance" (bonus entry)
  • "Basically I tried to encapsulate the determination of an Army marching to battle.The timpani remains steady throughout, as does the snare, symbolising the marching of the Army and there steady progress to their target. I used low brass instruments in this piece to show power and determination while the woodwinds show that there is a 'higher power' at play telling the army what to do and boosting morale and furthering determination."

Voting Rules!:

  • Voters will be allowed to pick a first place (3 points) and any number of honorary mentions (1 point). Only one set of votes from any one voter will be accepted and a person cannot vote for any one piece more than once. Corrections to votes, from the original voter only, will be accepted, but corrections will void the previous votes. Basically, a voter can vote and correct the vote, but only the final form of that vote will be counted. Send all votes to
Abadoss by PM. Please include any and all constructive critiques (not to be confused with bashing) about them with your votes as well, so that there's always a sense of growth in the artform. If you wish to remain anonymous, just state so in your PM. Thanks.

  • The voting period will last from the moment the entries are posted in the thread to the Saturday of that week. The voting period for this round ends August 23, so be sure to spend some time really listening to the pieces.

  • Any participant in the competition can vote, but not for their own pieces. However, in an effort to encourage voting among participants, any participant who votes will have 2 points added to his/her voting score (unless the participant chooses to be anonymous).

Official Rules!:

  1. Each piece must be originally composed for this competition. Arrangements and remixes will not be accepted. (Pieces composed by the participant prior to the competition will not be accepted.)
  2. Each piece must be 2:00 or longer and match the competition theme.
  3. Only one entry per person. Collaborations will be allowed, but each collaborator may not submit any other pieces. (This also means that a person cannot collaborate on two or more different pieces at the same time.)
  4. A link to the entry piece must be e-mailed or PMed to Abadoss prior to the deadline set for each competition. DO NOT POST THE LINK IN THE THREAD! However, feel free to post in the WIP:Other forum.
  5. Important: Each file must be labeled accordingly: Composer_Name_-_Composition_Title_CMC#.mp3
    (For example, if Suzanne Quinn submits a piece called "Foot the Sasquatch" to CMC 30, then her filename would be: Suzanne_Quinn_-_Foot_the_Sasquatch_CMC30.mp3)
  6. MP3 file format is required. Know that even OGG will need to be converted into MP3. (If someone is unable to do so themselves, Abadoss would be willing and able to do it for them.)
  7. Entries should be accompanied by a description and/or story to help listeners understand what the piece is about. (Not required, though.)
  8. All entries must be submitted by Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 11:59 PM - PST, GMT-8.

You can find the competition threads for each forum listed below:

Good luck and have fun! :D

Previous CMCs: http://www.abadoss.net/CMC.htm

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  • 2 weeks later...
xRisingForce Newbie

xRisingForce

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You changed what I PMed you D:

The theme is very simple: pure, solid determination. The song should inspire people to follow their dreams.

But whatever.. I originally had a much more exciting theme, winter (intentionally broad to encourage the individuality of interpretation to the fullest).. but Abadoss said someone picked snow or whatever before. Bah.

Alas, I don't have any means of recording distorted guitar and all Reason guitar patches suck, so I didn't finish in time. I know I can't enter this piece, but I don't want my work to be for nothing, so I'd still like to share it in it's humble midi format, if that's ok. And for some of those nasty sounds, the mp3 encoder I used really messed up some of the bass slides and guitar bends. As for the song itself, it's a pretty upbeat jrock song, just to remind people that it doesn't matter how bad things may be in the present- there's always hope in tomorrow. So, the song is aptly titled, "The Sun of a New Day."

http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/ldza/05-Atarashii-Hi-No-Taiyou-~The-Sun-o

On a side note, it really is interesting to see the amount of people who default determination to something apocalyptic.. disasterous, melancholy, to the people, like myself, who equate it with notions of success, happiness, conquering, etc.

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Abadoss Rookie

Abadoss

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You changed what I PMed you D:

Actually... I didn't.

The theme is very simple: pure, solid determination. The song should inspire people to follow their dreams.

That's a good start. It's pretty vague, though. Do you want to make it a little more specific?

Actually, no. I'm intrigued as to how others view determination, and I think such an open context will allow that sort of expressive freedom.

Okay. The next part is to create a description for the theme.

"Pure, solid determination. No matter what kind of shit you're in, follow your dreams!"

By the way, if you want to, you can submit your piece as a bonus entry. It will be included in the set, but it can't be voted on or for.

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HoboKa Rising Star

HoboKa

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You changed what I PMed you D:

But whatever.. I originally had a much more exciting theme, winter (intentionally broad to encourage the individuality of interpretation to the fullest).. but Abadoss said someone picked snow or whatever before. Bah.

Abadoss, haven't you heard of the ancient proverb: there were only two stories ever made. A love and a war story. Essentially, what I'm getting at is there isn't really that much variety in between different themes - unless perhaps its comedy - but that being said - I think that 21 CMC's by now have pretty much covered just about every said theme. Therefore, I think that we should be allowed to revisit previous themes.

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xRisingForce Newbie

xRisingForce

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Actually... I didn't.

Whoops :P

Sorry, then.

By the way, if you want to, you can submit your piece as a bonus entry. It will be included in the set, but it can't be voted on or for.

Yeah sure, I'd really appreciate that. The sound quality and pretty much everything about it production-wise is bottom-of-the-barrel, but I wouldn't mind critiques.

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