Composition Contest Committee

Chair: Mark Dorr . E-mail: dorr@grinnell.edu
The Composition Committee organizes and administers the annual PAS Composition Contest. Activities include determining categories, determining rules, and providing rules interpretation. The committee also secures judges for the competition, publishers for the winning compositions, and secures performances of winning compositions at PASIC.

Committee Report and PASIC 2007 Meeting Minutes
Submitted January 15, 2008
by Composition Committee Chair Mark Dorr
The Composition Committee was very productive in 2007 and has grown in size to 14 with the addition of four new members: Nathan Daughtrey, Josh Gottry, Brian Nozny, and Peter Saleh. We have delegated responsibility for year-round activities and subcommittee work to all members of our committee. Christopher Deane was responsible for PASIC meeting minutes in 2006 and 2007; Dan Adams wrote the Percussive Notes review article of contest winners (Vol. 45, No. 5, October 2007); Steve Riley was in charge of facilitating contest adjudicator selection. Each committee member was asked to submit names of potential judges to Riley for consideration. In addition, each member was asked to submit ideas for contest categories as well as suggested wording for our mission statement revision and proposal for revising policies for publication of contest winners. As committee chair, I submitted to the PAS Executive Committee a written summary of our adjudicator selection process, updated the comprehensive list of composition contest categories from 1974 to present, and constructed a category selection frequency chart to aid in the brainstorming of categories for future competitions.

The 2007 PAS Composition Contest drew a sizable number of entries. Category I was Marimba Solo (unaccompanied). First place was awarded to “Fear of Silence” by Joel Harrison. Second and third places were awarded respectively to “Memento” by Ivan Trevino and “Abaca” by Guillaume Le Picard. Category II was Medium Percussion Ensemble (5-8 players). The winners were, from first to third place, “Accidental Migration” by Kenneth D. Froelich, “Exit IX” by Peter Saleh, and “Xati” by Payton MacDonald. Competition categories for 2008 are: Soloist with Percussion Ensemble (4-8 players) and Duet for Voice and Vibraphone or Voice and Marimba. The committee has determined contest categories through 2010. They are currently posted on the PAS Website. We continue to work with other PAS Committees to promote winning compositions and assure that they are performed during various PASIC events.

PASIC 2007 Meeting Minutes

Committee Members Present: Mark Dorr-Chair, Christopher Deane, Lynn Glassock, Josh Gottry, David Long, Steve Riley, and Brian Nozny
Guest: Lisa Rogers-PAS Vice President and committees coordinator
Absent: Mario Gaetano, Brett Dietz, and Daniel Adams.

Committee Meeting Agenda:
1). Selection of an individual to take meeting minutes. Our gratitude to Chris Deane for doing so during PASIC 2006.
2). Approval of the minutes from PASIC 2006.
3). Review committee member contact information. Make any corrections / updates directly on the provided sheet.
4). Our thanks to Steve Riley for coordinating adjudicator selection for the 2007 contest. Select an individual to do so for the 2008 contest. Adjudicator selection will need to be completed by January of 2008.
5). Our appreciation to Dan Adams for writing the PAS reviews of the 2007 contest winners. Select a reviewer for 2008. The review process takes place starting in mid-June.
6). Updates (if any) on the 2011 commissioning project. Comments and brief report from PAS Executive Officer present at meeting. Executive Committee has accepted our proposal to have both the commission and contest in 2011.
7). Discussion and finalization of committee mission statement.
8). Selection of contest categories for 2011 and 2012.     
9). Discussion of suggestion by members of the PAS Executive Committee that contest winners not be guaranteed publication by a particular publisher. Revisions to wording in contest flyer and drafting of a response proposal to Executive Committee.

Meeting Minutes:
Friday, November 2, 2007
1:00 p.m.

Dorr welcomed everyone and requested committee members to check their contact information for the PAS office. He requested a motion to accept the minutes for the 2006 meeting.     

Steve Riley made the motion to accept the minutes. Deane seconded the motion.

Dorr expressed appreciation to Steve Riley for coordinating the selection for judges for the annual composition contest. Riley provided a summary of the year’s selection process. Dorr then brought forth for discussion the idea of requiring sound recordings as part of the contest submission process. Discussion ensued. Dorr suggested that it be stated clearly in the judging guidelines that either the presence or absence of a sound recording should not influence the judges ranking of the submissions. Wording should be included in the packets sent to each judge. The committee agreed. Dorr asked Riley to develop more detailed rules and guidelines to help future judges.

Furthermore, Josh Gottry commented that he had received judges’ comments for one of his composition submissions and did not receive comment sheets for another submission in a separate contest year. He asked if judges were required to submit comments for the composers. Riley reported that some judges write extensive notes. This is required in the judging guidelines, but PAS is not under any current obligation to supply these comments to the composers. Further discussion ensued. Deane commented that due to the complex nature of composition judging and time constraints of score study that it would be a lot to ask judges to then supply comments. Perhaps it could simply be an option. Dorr will definitely put something together and forward that on to the PAS Executive Committee for consideration.

Dorr introduced Lisa Rogers, detailed her work and praised her contributions to the committees. Rogers thanked the committee for its work and shared news about the 2011 contest. Dorr detailed his communication with Rogers regarding the possibility of having the contest during the same year as the PAS 50th anniversary-commissioning project. He reported that the PAS Executive Committee approved a composition contest for 2011.

Dorr then stated that PAS has requested that there not be publishers associated with the composition winners because there were self-publishing issue conflicts. Dorr asks Rogers if this had come up in meetings regarding the contest. Rogers responded “not recently”, but encouraged the committee to make a proposal to the PAS Executive Committee if the committee felt strongly about reinstituting the relationship of publishers and composition winners. Committee discussion continued on this topic. The committee unanimously decided that they would like to see publishers once again associated with the composition winners. Dorr said he would formalize a proposal and send to the PAS Executive Committee for a decision. Then, Dorr outlined the 2008 contest information.

He then introduced the topic of the committee mission statement and charges and discussed the composition contest categories for 2011 and 2012.

The committee’s mission statement became the committee focus at this point. Dorr requested that the committee look at the various committee mission statements. Dorr asserted that details such as number of judges should be looked at and updated. Deane suggested that there wasn’t enough time to “wordsmith”. Rogers would like to have all mission statements online shortly after the new year.

Dorr postponed the assignment of adjudication coordinator for the 2008 contest due to numerous committee member absences. He also felt the postponement of assigning someone to write an article on the composition winners would be appropriate as well. Gottry was interested in writing the article. Riley offered his services again as coordinator of judges for the contest. Dorr reminded the committee that each member should contribute names to the pool of judges.

Dorr requested input on contest categories for 2011 and 2012. Brian Nozny suggest marimba quartet. Glassock stated that there is a keyboard ensemble category. Riley suggested solo snare drum. Long suggested percussion soloist with woodwind or brass quintet. Percussion duo was suggested by Gottry. Marimba with string quartet was also suggested. Dorr summarized and promised to e-mail ideas for future categories to all committee members.

Meeting adjourned.