Arrangement Contest No. 7 in D-double-flat minor "Seasoning"

[Latios212]

Welcome to the 7th NSM Arrangement Contest!

Current Announcements:
Results are up! Congrats to everyone!


Hi there, friendly friends! The theme this time around is:

Take a video game theme, and write one variation for each season.

Example of seasonal variation

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General Guidelines (Please read!)
- Take a track from a video game and write a variation for each season using whatever real instruments you choose. (Theoretically, a person/group of people should be able to pick up the sheets and play your arrangement. If you have questions about instrumentation, please ask!) You are free to vary instrumentation between variations!
- Do not use the original piece as a variation; rather, you will submit a .mus file that contains the four variations that you've created. Each variation will be different from the original track, and the other variations. You may start off with any season, but please follow the chronological order from the season you start with. (For example, autumn-winter-spring-summer)
- Give your arrangement a title and clearly label which section corresponds to which season variation.
- If you are participating, you have one week to PM me your song choice. Try to avoid tracks that already have variations (I won't ban using them, but if you draw too much from the existing variations, you'll lose creativity points; really, you should choose what you feel like you can work best with). Once I approve your song choice, you are free to start!
- PM me a .mus file of your arrangement before the deadline. Other files can be sent, but are not required. After the deadline, the arrangements will be made public and polling and judging will start!


Scoring
Here are the scoring guidelines:
Criteria (15 points): Does each variation represent the season well? Are the variations distinguishable and unique?
Creativity (15 points): How do you expand on the given theme and add your own personal touch?
Preservation (10 points): Is the original theme recognizable in each variation? Be creative, but don't leave the source entirely. Someone who is familiar with the original track should be able to recognize your arrangement.
Orchestration (10 points): How well does the choice of instruments suit each seasonal variation?
Popular Vote (15 points): How does your arrangement fare in the poll conducted after all arrangements are revealed? Exact point numbers will be determined after all entries are in.
Presentation (10 points): How user-friendly is the sheet? This category factors in three components:

Spoiler

Formatting: No need to follow the site guidelines, but please include a title, subtitle (containing original song title and game), composer, arranger, measure numbers, and page numbers. If you have Notepad or are otherwise unable to follow these, just send me a message and I'll help.
Legibility: How clear is it to a performer what to play, and how? There's no need to go overboard on fingerings and the like, as long as it's readable (e.g. no excess of ledger lines).
Playability: Would a reasonably skilled musician/group of musicians be able to perform this? Make it sound nice, but make sure someone would be able to play it too.

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This last category is meant to be easy points - we're just making sure that your sheet looks nice and would be learnable by actual people.
Total of 75 points


Deadlines
- Signup/song choice: January 4
- Arrangement due: February 1 8


People
Host:

• Latios212 (yours truly :J)

Judges:

• mastersuperfan
• Yug Guy
• BrainyLucario
• fingerz

Participants:

• Olimar12345
• MaestroUGC
• Zeila
• Oronoco
• NocturneOfShadow
• InsigTurtle
• braixen1264
• TheMarioPianist
• Clanker37
• Bloop
• E. Gadd Industries
• Dude

Links to Past Contests
Here are some links to earlier contests, for consideration:
Arrangement Contest No. 1 in A "Praeludium"
Arrangement Contest No. 2 in C "The Grand Dance"
Arrangement Contest No. 3 in G minor "Going Solo"
Arrangement Contest No. 4 in F diminished "Nightmarish Visions"
Arrangement Contest No. 5 in E-sharp "Variable Mix"
Arrangement Contest No. 6 in G# Phrygian "Bossification"


I look forward to seeing what you all cook up!

[Latios212]

TL;DR if you want to participate, post here and PM me with your song choice within a week! (If you could include a YouTube link that'd be great.)

[Olimar12345]

I'm in! I just have to pick a tune now.

[MaestroUGC]

I'm in, I'll send you my piece of choice sometime tomorrow.

[Zeila]

I'll participate, I just need to pick which song I'm doing

[Oronoco]

I'm in. I can't resist a contest in D-double-flat minor. )

[mikey]

Needs cumin
or is that I'min

[Latios212]

I'm in. I can't resist a contest in D-double-flat minor. )

Needs cumin
or is that I'min

Hey look, people read the title! xD

[BrainyLucario]

We made the perfect title!

[InsigTurtle]

If a piece has more than one section, could I pull ideas from only one section? Or does it have to include ideas from the entire piece?

[braix]

put me in coach

[Latios212]

If a piece has more than one section, could I pull ideas from only one section? Or does it have to include ideas from the entire piece?

Use your judgement! It really depends on the piece. Rather than make lots of restrictions on what you can and can't do, I'd rather you just do what you feel is best (within the reasonable guidelines) to make some cool sheets.

[TheMarioPianist]

I'm in, still deciding on a song (and obviously not thinking of one atm because it's like 2am)

[Clanker37]

Imma in! This gone be good.

[Bloop]

I'll participate too!