MusicFirst Announces ComposeFirst Music Competition

Students of all ages are invited to compete for prizes by submitting original compositions using the cloud-based tools offered by MusicFirst.

MusicFirst™, the digital education division of Music Sales Group™, is excited to announce the ComposeFirst Music Competition.

MusicFirst provides schools across the U.S. with easy-to-use and affordable cloud-based solutions that enable music learning, creation, sharing and exploration on any device at anytime, anywhere. Launching November 1st, 2013, the ComposeFirst competition encourages students to tap into their creativity while gaining insight into MusicFirst’s suite of groundbreaking software tools.

The competition is open to all music students in the U.S. from the elementary to high school level. Submitted compositions must be original works and be no longer than five minutes long. Entries may contain vocals and lyrics or other acoustic instruments as long as they are created using MusicFirst software tools Noteflight and Soundation. There is no purchase is necessary, as free trial versions of the software are available.

The contest will be judged in Elementary (1st-5th grade), Middle/Junior (6th-8th grade) and High School (9th-12th grade) age groups. Works will be judged on originality and musicality, creative use of MusicFirst software tools, composition structure, overall musicianship and technique. The panel of judges includes MusicFirst director Jim Frankel, electronic music pioneer Morton Sbotnick, and renowned conductor/composer Rob Kapilow.

First, second and third prizes will be given in each age group. First prize is $250 plus a feature on the MusicFirst website. Second prize is $100, third is $50, and both include a call out on the MusicFirst website. In addition, the schools with first prize winners in each age group will receive a $250 MusicFirst gift certificate good for any of the software available through MusicFirst.

MusicFirst will be offering several templates and lesson plans aimed at guiding students to create music for this competition. These materials will be available starting November 15 at www.composefirst.com.

Compositions should be saved as an MP3 file, emailed to contest@musicfirst.com and submitted by March 31, 2014. Winners will be announced by April 30, 2014.

To view a complete overview of ComposeFirst rules and guidelines, please visit www.composefirst.com.