Grand Union Launch a Composition Competition
Grand Union Launch a Composition Competition
7 October 2011
11.11.11
Jazz, the music of the liberated, the most liberated of musics.
A once-only event, an auspicious date, a beautiful and much-loved theatre…
November 11th, Armistice Day in a month which sees London awash with jazz, is the ideal occasion to commemorate the linked ideas of freedom in the broad sense and artistic freedom - since jazz is both the music of the liberated and the most liberated of musics.
A hundred years ago in New Orleans – the legendary birthplace of jazz – descendants of slaves took work-songs, rhythms and chants that can be traced back to Africa and mixed them with the music of the European colonists and Latin America to create an extraordinary and progressive new art-form.
East London at the beginning of this century is not so different, where generations of migrants are creating an equally exciting cultural melting-pot, and music from all over the world mixes and melds on a daily basis.
The Grand Union Orchestra, with its renowned jazz and world music performers, embodies this spirit, joined in this celebration by a host of guest performers from East London, including a galaxy of musicians from Indian, Bengali, Gypsy, Turkish and African improvising traditions, local choirs, the Guildhall School of Music Jazz Singers and the unique Grand Union Youth Orchestra.
The event will also see the première of a brand new collectively-created 11-bar blues!
(See below for details)
Composition Competition
The 11 Bar Blues
Composition Requirements
Your theme should:
- have an 11/8 time signature.
- have a tempo of around quaver = 111.
- be 11 bars long
- explore the theme of 11.
- be accompanied by a chord sequence.
- be in concert pitch and written in treble clef.
- be written to be played on any instrument (except voice)
- be harmonised and/or accompanied by a bass line.
See Tony Haynes’ composition blog for some useful tips.
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY IN NOTATION VIA EMAIL TO:
mail@grandunion.org.uk, OR VIA HARD COPY TO:
The Grand Union Office, 76 Wentworth St, London E1 7SA
DEADLINE TUES 1ST NOVEMBER (11 DAYS BEFORE THE BIG NIGHT!)
This competition is open to anyone of any age. Happy composing!
