sound and Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) are delighted to announce that following two successful co-commissions in 2023, we will again offer this exciting new development opportunity for Scottish composers in 2024. This opportunity will involve writing a new piece for one of sound's youth new music groups Get Creative Ensemble, with the support of composer Hannah Kendall.
sound is a new music incubator based in North East Scotland, which aims to increase access to new music, encourage excellence and experimentation, and nurture talent. It achieves this through a variety of activities including the annual soundfestival, a year-round composer support programme, a youth programme, and other learning and engagement activities.
CoMA is a participatory new music charity, with a vision for contemporary music to be open to everyone, celebrating participation in new music-making as a meaningful and essential part of our lives. Our mission is to create a culture of musical participation and collaboration. It establishes environments for amateur, emerging and acclaimed music-makers of all backgrounds and abilities to build musical communities and new repertoires.
Get Creative is sound’s creative music making programme for young people in North East Scotland aged 8-18 years. Get Creative offers regular creative music-making workshops throughout the year, providing young people with the opportunity to gain musical skills, experience playing in an ensemble, and foster a wider understanding of creative music making with experienced musicians and composers.
Get Creative is split into two groups:
- Creative Orchestra (participants aged 8-11)
- Creative Ensemble (participants aged 12-18)
Opportunity description
One emerging Scottish composer will have the opportunity to develop a short work scored for mixed ensemble forces in our Creative Ensemble.
Creative Ensemble (participants aged 12-18)
- Flexible score – e.g. high instruments, mid instruments, low instruments, piano(s) and percussion.
- Notation suitable for the mixed level of the group (currently grade 2-7).
- Length: around 5-6 minutes.
The new work will be performed at Aberdeen Performing Arts’ Light the Blue Festival in June 2025, and following that may be used by other youth CoMA groups and possibly as a tool to aid new music education in schools.
Key dates
Get Creative Ensemble session sit-in
6th October 2024 1.30-4pm
King’s Pavilion, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX
This session will allow the chosen composer to sit in on the Get Creative session and talk to the ensemble/leader to help them get a better understanding of the context of the commission.
1:1 Mentoring session with Hannah Kendall
Dates and Times tbc
Get Creative Ensemble
24th November 2024 1.30-4pm
King’s Pavilion, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX
Playing through the draft piece.
Delivery of 2nd draft and feedback from CoMA
20th January 2025
Delivery of completed full score and parts
17th February 2025
Get Creative performance as part of Light the Blue Festival 2025
June 2025
The chosen composers must be available to attend a Get Creative session on 6th October 2024 and workshop a draft of their work with the ensemble on the 24th November 2024.
This requirement is kept flexible for those living with disability, or those for whom such participation might be tricky due to any other reason related to their underrepresented characteristic. You will be able to discuss this with us upon successful application and we will help find a solution.
Please note, we offer this flexibility in order to open our opportunities for those with access requirements and for whom participation is difficult due to their underrepresented characteristic. If you are not able to attend those days, and your reason is not related to the above, please consider applying to a different opportunity
Mentoring
The successful candidate will receive a mentoring session with Hannah Kendall between the first session and the delivery of the draft pieces.
Candidates
The successful candidates will be Scottish-based ‘emerging’ composers. They will need to be able to articulate their development needs and how the opportunity would benefit them as this point in their career:
- By emerging we mean composers who are able to demonstrate a number of years of compositional experience, but who don’t consider themselves mid-career, or established. They can be of any age and background, including those who have had to take a substantial career break due to maternity leave or other reasons, or those who practised composition as amateurs in previous years and have now started to take steps into the professional world. They might also be those who had a career in another field of music and are only now identifying as composers, or those who have just graduated etc. It is up to you to define yourself as emerging according to your own personal circumstance.
- By Scottish-based composers we mean composers of any nationality, who have been resident in Scotland for at least 18 months. Scottish-raised composers who are studying elsewhere in the UK for a limited amount of time may also apply, but will be expected to pay for any travel to get to Scotland.
We are committed to working with and supporting composers from under-represented groups. Female, trans, gender-diverse, and global majority and Gypsy/Traveller composers, composers from a low-income background, and/or composers with a disability are encouraged to apply. By global majority we mean people from all ethnic groups except white British and other white groups, including white minorities.
Commission Fee
£1,500
Accessibility
Access costs will be covered for those who require it. You will be asked about your accessibility needs upon successful application, this will be discussed with you individually, and the programme and schedule (where possible and required) will be tailored towards your needs.
If you need any accessibility assistance in applying for this opportunity (for example using alternative application methods such as email or interview via Zoom), please contact Anna on anna@sound-scotland.co.uk
How to apply
To apply for the opportunity please complete this form: https://neartail.com/sm/efBNCzQoz
In the application form you will be asked:
- Your name, email, age, pronouns, postcode, and to confirm you are Scottish/resident in Scotland, and to identify your underrepresented characteristic if you wish so.
- Why are you interested in this opportunity and how will it help your development as a composer? (text, or upload video or audio).
- Biography or CV (text only).
- Small portfolio of your work: two PDF scores (notated, graphic, or description) and, ideally - recordings/midi of the same pieces.
- You will also be asked to fill in an equalities monitoring form.
There will be an online information session for this composer development opportunity on Thursday 22nd August from 2pm for those who need further advice or information. Here’s the link to register for the session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88204534876?pwd=bYqR46A51cJMtWBdQfyZSHT2CYpZ9a.1
If further information is required, please contact Anna on anna@sound-scotland.co.uk
Deadline for applications: 2nd September 2024 at 11.59pm
We are offering a 2-day “grace period” until the end of day on 4th September for applicants who can’t reach the deadline due to health challenges, having to care for family members, or other reasonable and/or unexpected circumstances. Please state your reason in the application form. We will inform you whether you are successful or not by September 23rd 2024.
Selection Process
As mentioned above, sound is committed to working with and supporting composers from under-represented sections of the population. To enable this, there is a two-stage application process: an initial selection is made, and then this is narrowed down in a second stage selection process. If you are a woman, LGBTQ and/or gender diverse, global majority or Gypsy/Traveller composer, disabled and/or from a low-income background, you can choose to self-select automatically to the second round.
The selection panel will be made up of a representative(s) of Get Creative, CoMA and sound.
NOTES TO COMPOSERS APPLYING
What to expect
- Your creative process should start at the initial date of this project, and continue throughout, punctuated by online or live sessions with the composer mentor and/or musicians.
- You will be working mostly individually, using any medium of your choice during the creative process to help you generate ideas.
- Any mentoring sessions will be aimed at helping you shape your ideas into a suitable composition.
- For the mid-project live session, you will be expected to present a draft notated score and parts in advance for the ensemble (you can use graphic or semi-graphic notation, and/or text instructions, if that is how you normally work). A deadline for this is to be confirmed.
- After this you will be required to prepare a final fully notated score and parts for a date to be confirmed.
- In between sessions, it is up to you how exactly you would like to manage your process.
If you have any further questions or personal requirements in regards to this, you will be able to discuss them with the manager and/or mentor of the project upon the successful application.
What NOT to expect
- Tutoring - your mentor is your sounding board and advisor, but you are expected to work as a professional, and will be making your own decisions based on your experience.
- Time management and preparation guidance - while we will provide you with a schedule, we will expect you to manage your own creative flow, and make autonomous decisions on any creative preparations for meeting with musicians, etc. You will always be able to discuss any logistical questions (equipment, access, timeline, etc.) with our manager.
- Please note that this is a development opportunity leading to a live performance of your work. It may be possible to make an audio and/or video recording of the performance which, provided the players are happy with the performance, will be available to you for personal, non-public use only, including submission to competitions and as part of educational assignments.
Selection for new music opportunities is inherently subjective and the criteria used can differ from project to project. We are frequently over-subscribed and often the quality of applications is extremely high from a wide range of composers, which usually means making difficult decisions.
Reasons for selecting one composer over another are not always to do with skill level or experience. We may, for example, be looking for the right fit for us as an organisation at a particular point in time e.g. we may be looking to develop specific strands or activity or genres of music.
For development opportunities that happen in a group setting, it may be that we need to take into consideration the coherence of that group e.g., we may prefer to have composers of a similar experience-level. We thus sometimes end up turning down composers with more experience or skills, or giving opportunities to composers who we feel would benefit most from a particular opportunity at that stage in their career, and faced with difficult choices we may sometimes turn down composers who have already benefitted from a number of opportunities in the past.
We would however encourage composers to apply for any opportunities that interest them and for which they fit the specification, and not be discouraged if they are not selected for a particular opportunity, as it does not mean that they are not “good” enough. Please do continue to apply for any opportunity that interests you!
This opportunity is part of sound’s Get Creative and soundcreators programme focusing on nurturing creative talent.
Get Creative is generously supported by Aberdeen City Council, UK Government, Creative Scotland, Aberdeen Endowments Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, Educational Institute of Scotland and David and June Gordon Memorial Trust William Syson Foundation.
soundcreators is funded by Creative Scotland, PRS Foundation Talent Development Network supported by PPL, Aberdeen City Council, Radcliffe Charitable Trust and Hugh Fraser Foundation.
CoMA is primarily funded by Arts Council England.
