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[BrainyLucario]

Welcome to the 8th NSM Arrangement Contest!

Current Announcements:
ENTRIES:

Bloop: Forgotten Ancient Ruins
Dajwxp: Heroes are No Different
Dekkadeci: Prism of Delight
Echo: Judge, Jury, and EXEcutioner
InsigTurtle: The Town That Once Was
Lkjhgfdsa_77: Mario Medley
Static: Secret of the Celestial Tower
JDMEK5: Fate of Two Worlds

PM your two votes to Maelstrom by December 3


Heeeyy yooouuu guuuyyyss! The theme this time around is:

Mash-Up two video game songs and combine them into one awesome piece!



General Guidelines (Please read!)
- Take a track from two video games of your choice and write a  Mash-up 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 will submit a .mus, .pdf, .midi, (MP3 Optional) file that contains the Mash-up that you've created.
-After the deadline, the arrangements will be made public and polling and judging will start!
-Format anything specific like variation markings, or whatnot as measure-attached dynamics, NOT PAGE-ATTACHED TEXT so it attaches properly to the measures.
- We advise you to try and choose songs from different series/franchises. similar songs from same series could equal fewer creativity points.

Scoring
Here are the scoring guidelines:
Criteria (15 points): Do the songs the arranger combined work in a complementary way? Does the arrangement improve upon the original two?
Creativity (15 points): Creativity: Does the arranger modify the original pieces to convince us that their combination is the most unique? What sort of effect does the overall result evoke?
Preservation (10 points): Are the original themes recognizable? Be creative, but don't leave the source entirely. Someone who is familiar with the original tracks should be able to recognize your arrangement.
Orchestration (10 points):  Does the instrumentation compliment both songs equally well? How is instrumentation used to effectively combine the two pieces?
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.

[close]

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: September 8th
- Arrangement due: October 15th


People
Host:

• BrainyLucario (the one and only!)

Judges:

• Latios212
• Maelstrom
• Sebastian
• Oronoco
• E. Gadd Industries

Participants:

• Olimar12345
• MaestroUGC
• Zeila
• Echo
• NocturneOfShadow
• InsigTurtle
• braixen1264
• Static
• Bloop
• Yug_Guy
• dajwxp
• DS
• WaluigiTime64
• Dekkadeci
• Sir Dino
• JDMEK5
• Lkjhgfdsa_77

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

[BrainyLucario]

If something is wonky, let me know

[Dekkadeci]

Take a track from 2 video games

This phrasing is unclear--does this actually mean that I need to take a track that appears in 2 different video games (e.g. Jumper from Castle Crashers and Jumper from Geometry Dash)?

If you mean that I need to take 2 different tracks from video games, what counts as 2 different tracks? Do they merely need to take up different spots in soundtracks and/or sound tests? Does Spaceport Alpha from Diddy Kong Racing and Spaceport Alpha from Diddy Kong Racing DS count? What about King Dedede's theme and Masked Dedede's theme?

[Maelstrom]

Oh, and a reminder to format anything specific like variation markings, or whatnot as formatted dynamics, NOT TEXT so it attaches properly to the measures.
This was quite a problem a few contests back, and it should just be cleared up now.

[Olimar12345]

Oh, and a reminder to format anything specific like variation markings, or whatnot as measure-attached expressions, NOT PAGE-ATTACHED TEXT so it attaches properly to the measures.

ftfy

[braix]

Gah I only play pokemon so I can't find anything I like from other series D:

[mikey]

Gah I only play pokemon so I can't find anything I like from other series D:

mix main series with mystery dungeon

[MaestroUGC]

Are we still restricted to two games from different franchises, or has that been changed?

[cashwarrior1]

Oh gosh, due at the end of the month?! I still gotta make a piano arrangement of my songs! (Basing the instruments off of piano is easier for me) Welp, gotta start working fast O-o

[DS]

lez go boiz gg and gl

[BrainyLucario]

Are we still restricted to two games from different franchises, or has that been changed?

nothings stopping you...but it could cause you to lose creativity points if the pieces are similar

This phrasing is unclear--does this actually mean that I need to take a track that appears in 2 different video games (e.g. Jumper from Castle Crashers and Jumper from Geometry Dash)?

If you mean that I need to take 2 different tracks from video games, what counts as 2 different tracks? Do they merely need to take up different spots in soundtracks and/or sound tests? Does Spaceport Alpha from Diddy Kong Racing and Spaceport Alpha from Diddy Kong Racing DS count? What about King Dedede's theme and Masked Dedede's theme?

Me and the judges decided to encourage using games from different franchises. You can if you want, but don't expect a high score

[Static]

- Take a track from 2 video games of your choice and write a  Mash-up 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!)

I know this might sound like a silly question, but would it be all right if I used a "string ensemble" as one part instead of writing out several parts separately for different string instruments? It saves a lot of space and it sounds better in the soundfont that I'm using; and technically it would still be playable.

[Maelstrom]

Nah, that's not how it would be given to professional players. We're not about saving space here, but more about going beyond piano transcriptions, yet not going past the place where it still couldn't appear as a professional score.

It saves a lot of space and it sounds better in the soundfont that I'm using; and technically it would still be playable.

*Obligatory "This isn't ninmidimusic post"*

[Olimar12345]

I know this might sound like a silly question, but would it be all right if I used a "string ensemble" as one part instead of writing out several parts separately for different string instruments? It saves a lot of space and it sounds better in the soundfont that I'm using; and technically it would still be playable.

Well, you could write a condensed score, but something like that seems unorthodox for a string ensemble.

[Static]

OK, I figured as much. Cool, thanks!