Since 1987, VOICES, has sponsored the Young Composers Project for children 5-12. Submissions for the 2015 contest are now open and will be accepted through March 1.
This participatory and non-competitive program is an opportunity for young children to develop musical abilities by writing their own music, working with an established composer on their compositions, and having their pieces performed by VOICES Chorale in a concert on April 21, 2015.
Children are invited to compose a piece of music with a vocal element for a soloist or choral ensemble, either unaccompanied or with instrumental accompaniment. The music may be written down in any kind of notation, formal or invented. Parents, piano teachers, and music teachers are invited to support, but not edit, the child’s composition, as children hear things in their own imaginations differently from adults.
Submit a recording and three written copies of the child’s music (with the child’s name and age, assisting adult’s name, phone number, address, and child’s background in music), together with a $12 processing fee, to: VOICES Composition Contest, P.O. Box 404, Pennington, 08534.
Deadline for submissions is March 1.l
Established composers will review all entries and children will receive written feedback and encouragement on their pieces. In addition, there is a composition workshop for all children who enter. At the workshop, the children play their pieces for each other and receive comments from their peers. Because the goal of the contest is to encourage composition, most children are declared gold and silver winners. Many children write a song with no accompaniment; others write a solo with piano or guitar accompaniment. Still others, primarily those who have been part of the program before, write for chorus.
For additional information on this contest and free song-writing workshops for children and their parents, leave a message with Ms. Evans at 609-291-7456, or email drsevans@comcast.net.
VOICES, a community chorus with over 50 members, held open auditions at Music Together, 225 Pennington-Hopewell Road (Route 654), Hopewell Township.
Interested singers should call VOICES’ auditions coordinator, Susan Evans, at 609-291-7456.
VOICES Chorale meets on Mondays for weekly rehearsals at Music Together from 7:30-9:45 p.m.
For more information about VOICES, visit www.VOICESChorale.org.
