“Jerry Goldsmith Sound-Alike Contest”

Jerry Goldsmith is the composer behind some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.  His epic themes can be heard in everything from “The Mummy”, and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, to “Rudy”, and “The Planet of the Apes” and while Jerry Goldsmith may no longer be with us, his unique musical style and structure continues to make an impact in films, and has inspired a whole new generation of composers.

The Austin Wind Symphony announces it’s “Jerry Goldsmith: Sound-Alike Contest” where composers from all around the world can submit a :60 second piece that sounds as if it could have been written by the late Jerry Goldsmith.    You pick the genre, you pick the orchestration, we’ll pick the winner!

One lucky composition will be selected and performed LIVE by the Austin Wind Symphony on October 9th, 2009 as part of their “Fantasy Film Scores” concert.

** CONTEST INFORMATION AND RULES **

1.) The piece should not exceed :60 seconds

2.) All submissions must be emailed in Sibelius or Finale formats to filmscorechallenge@austinwindsymphony.org by September 1st, 2009

3.) Winner will receive an Austin Wind Symphony t-shirt, and an .mp3 of their piece performed LIVE!

4.) The Austin Wind Symphony is given your permission to perform the piece, which can be used in promotional items, and linked to the website.

5.) Only one submission per composer will be reviewed.

Best of LUCK!

Submit your compositions to filmscorechallenge@austinwindsymphony.org

filmscorechallenge@austinwindsymphony.org

AWS gets a record deal

by: Jenny Baxter – AWS Percussionist

Well that’s half true. The Austin Wind Symphony recorded for Pigeon Impossible, a short animated film written and directed by AWS saxophone player Lucas Martell. Most of the symphony members haven’t done anything like this before so it was an interesting experience.

Practices for concerts are more like a progression, steadily improving pieces until the big night. But for this, we sight read and practiced for one night and then came back the next week to record, fixing and improving on the go. I like to think of it as a kind of musical sprinting.

But now we’re back into long distance performance, preparing for the Adventures in Great Film Music in June, just in time for the action-packed movie season. Check back for updates on our musical progression.