The Blue Theatre Song Contest: Planning Update 1

I wish to thank all those people who have greeted my idea of a song contest in Minas Tirith with enthusiasm. To me, it seems like a great idea but not all members of the community are that keen on the pairing of music and competition. This I understand totally, I do not want my event to turn into some cut throat one-up man ship mega heated & combative affair.

My idea for a contest is to highlight the skill in arranging music for LOTRO, I know many arrangers in our community whom I would consider a shoe-in for The Blue Theatre Song Award and for a varied number of reasons.

What I want this event to be, is a celebration of all arrangement making with a round of applause for whom our community thinks has done a particually good job in one particular evening. The rest of it is just bells and whistles to entice folks to come participate

I also took a walk around this venue and thought it was a crying shame, this location wouldn’t get populated as it deserves to be, unless someone makes an effort to fill it. A beautiful indoor Theatre: something I have been asking to be added to LOTRO for a long time.

So where am I at with planning?

So far I have four bands participating I added my first duo today and have been campaigning on multiple servers to try and entice folks to sign up.

I think a strong aspect of my proposed event is the fact it is server-fluid. The winners of The Blue Theatre Song Contest Award get to choose which server we hold this event in next time, that is June 3rd 2017!

I have one band who have decided not to compete but have offered me their support, so all those Little Wanderers who are able to attend will be our Ushers for the evening, helping me guide bands on and off the stage.

I have been investigating the idea of a Poll for the public to be able to participate and vote also for their favourite song of the evening. This I have decided to call The People’s Choice Award. I was considering running a poll for a week but my good friends have been helping me discover the weaknesses of the voting system so I may keep voting open for only 3 hours after all songs have been heard.

Band and Band Leader Voting:

One Song, One Band, One Vote.

Song Choice: Song choice is at the discretion of the Band Leader, so long as it conforms to the 3-5 minute stipulation I have no restrictions as to genre, instrument part number or instrument choice. The only rule I have implemented is that I will not allow the same song title to be performed twice. I have been asking Band Leaders to PM me their song choice and have kept a note of all these. If a duplicate occurs I will give preference to the band who submitted the title first and ask the second band to choose another song.

Bands: I consider a band to be two or more characters in a fellowship. So duets are welcome. Those who run mulitple clients do so at their own risk. Any issues with client crashes during a performance slot will be resolved with a second chance to play after all the other songs have been heard. All bands are asked to do all they can to mitigate the risks of client crashes so they can perform in their allocated slot.

Voting: Each band leader gets one vote on the evening of the contest. I will ask for votes after we have heard each song performed. Band Leaders can choose to poll their members or rely their own judgement. I do ask that Leaders who vote do so based on the merit of their choice and for no other reason. My main goal of having bands vote for a winning song is that arrangers and band leaders are more informed as to what constitutes a good arrangement over a not-so-good arrangement. I will write more advice on this matter at a future date.

I ask all folks reading this to spread the word about this event. Please let every band leader know what I and the other Ninny’s are trying to do. I look forward to a fun, friendly sharing of this niche skill in June.

This is a new idea and as such it is being developed as we get closer to June 4th. Please come back to this thread/post to read of any updates or changes.

If you would like to be a volunteer musician, someone who helps a band make up musician numbers so they can perform a large arrangement. Please contact me at any of the usual methods.

Lilikate on Landroval

The Comments/reply section here on LOTRO.com , TheNinnyHammers.guildlaunch.com or TheNinny.wordpress.com

My Email: Lilikatebuggins.gmail.com (for all enquiries).