A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...

s, soloists,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Examples of music competitions in popular music include the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

Open Mic UK Open Mic UK is a live music competition for singers, vocalists and solo artists run by Future Music Management in the United Kingdom, UK. Competitors compete at regional auditions to qualify to perform live at live music showcases and reach an ...

, the

All-Japan Band Association The All Japan Band Association (AJBA) (全日本吹奏楽連盟/Zennihon Suisōgaku Renmei) is an organization that exists solely for the purpose of facilitating annual music competition among Japanese wind bands. This competition has largely promot ...

annual contest,

Live and Unsigned Live and Unsigned is a music competition in the United Kingdom for unsigned bands and vocal groups to perform live for substantial prizes. It was founded 2007, and has attracted over 40,000 entrants annually since its inception. Competitors perfo ...

, and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

''.

History

European classical art music uses competitions to provide a public forum that identifies the strongest young players and helps them start their professional careers (see

List of classical music competitions A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

). Popular instrumental ensembles such as

brass bands A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

and

school band A school band is a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together. A concert band is usually under the direction of one or more conducting, conductors (band directors). A school band consists of woodwind instrum ...

s have also long relied on competitions and festivals to promote their musical genres and recognize high levels of achievement. In the recent decades, large competitions have also developed in the field of popular music to showcase performances by pop vocalists and rock bands (e.g. " ''Idol'' (franchise)" and " Battle of the bands" events). One of the first and oldest large-scale musical contests is the

which started in 1951 and was also the inspiration for the

Examples

The music

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

s with the largest

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

s are widely

televised Television (TV) is a telecommunications, telecommunication media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of signal transmission, ...

events in the

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, such as the

and ''

''. The

and

contests in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

each garner approximately 10,000 contestants annually, making them the largest contests in the region. According to 2005 statistics, more than 650,000 visitors attend the

World Music Contest The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

(Kerkrade, the Netherlands), which has 19,000 contestants from over 30 countries, making it one of the largest competitions in Europe. The

annual contest appears to be the world's largest music competition in terms of the number of active contestants, with approximately 800,000 competing musicians in more than 14,000 bands. A competition which has recently hit the United Kingdom music scene is called SoundWave Music Competition. This competition allows for singers, bands and all acts of all genres a chance to play at the O2 Academy Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow. SoundWave Music Competition is a high profile competition and the biggest music competition in Northern England and Scotland where entrants can win radio slots and recording within the best recording studios in the United Kingdom and Scotland. One of the oldest music competitions in the world is the

International Naumburg Competition The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation sponsors competitions and provides awards for young European classical music, classical musicians in North America. Founded in 1925, it operates the prestigious Naumburg Competition. Foundation and concerts It ...

, in New York, which had its first competition in 1926. In recent years, the largest music competition in terms of number of global genres represented appears to be

Sharq Taronalari Sharq taronalari (Oriental Melodies) is UNESCO listed international music festival that is held in every two years since 1997 in Registan square of ancient Samarkand. Vocalists from different natioans and countries participate in the festival. Hi ...

, an enormous festival sponsored by UNESCO and the government of Uzbekistan. Various online music competitions for young musicians are now gaining popularity, including Unsigned Only, which is a global music contest based in United States, and Machan Music, an open and ongoing music contest based in India. The Songwriters Resource Network organizes the annual

Great American Song Contest The Great American Song Contest is an international music competition run annually by Songwriters Resource Network since 2000. Overview The contest runs annually, organised by Songwriters Resource Network, an educational resource for songwrite ...

which is open to songwriters and lyric writers internationally.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Competition

History

Examples

See also

References