APTA invites your submissions of an original composition for any solo instrument, including voice, or any combination of instruments, to the annual Creative Music Writing Competition. Entrants will receive a critique of their work by a highly qualified adjudicator in August. Award winners and those receiving honourable mention will be invited to perform their selection at the annual CMWC Concert in late September.
The CMWC opens for submission April 15 and closes June 1. Entrants will be contacted to confirm receipt of their complete and correct submission in mid-late June, and again in August with the adjudicator’s critique.
Competition Rules
Please be sure to read all rules carefully before submitting your application. Late and incomplete or incorrect entries will not be accepted. Scores and recordings must be anonymous.
- This competition is only open to APTA members and their students. Entries are only accepted online.
- Each entry must be the original work of the entrant and not previously submitted to this competition or a revised submission. Entrants may receive assistance from others with transcribing only, but the composition must otherwise be their own work.
- Entrants must be amateurs (i.e. unpublished).
- Submissions can either be for performance or an etude (i.e, a study to address a specific pedagogic need.) As part of the score submission, etudes must include a description of the technical/musical skill that the study intends to develop. The etude can be for any music level; please indicate the level in your description. All etude entrants, whether by music teachers or music students, can submit etudes for levels lower than their performance level.
Each entry must include:
1) A completed online application with payment ($25 per entry). All fields must be completed, including the biographical submission:
2) An .mp3 audio recording or video uploaded to youtube/vimeo that is anonymous (only hands/keys showing, not face or body); and
3) An anonymous score (the entrant’s name cannot be on the document). The score can be neatly handwritten in black ink and scanned to PDF, or a PDF generated by music notation software. Manuscripts must include bar numbers minimum every 5th bar. Tempo markings, dynamics and other performance instructions should be included. If a name is on the score, or a video is not anonymous, the submission will be returned. Scores for etudes must include the description of the skill they intend to develop. Background information and description paragraphs for non-etude compositions are also welcome as part of the score, as long as the document remains anonymous.
Entries for the CMWC must be submitted electronically by June 1. Late entries WILL NOT be accepted.
Apply here
To receive further information about the Creative Music Writing Competition, please contact:
Rosanna Dagnillo
132-250 Shawville Blvd SE #136
Calgary, AB T2Y 2Z7
Ph: 587.998.9926
cmwc@aptaonline.net
