Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Upcoming Fall Contest
Hi All,
I hate to say it but fall's just around the corner (we all know how fast MN summers go by) and Neisen's/KRDS FM is looking to do this with us again. We've been told that we will have bigger prizes. The South Metro Contest was something that Terry & I put together to "kick the tires" and see how things went. To say the least, you guys made it a wonderful success and all the participating bars commented positively. So with all that said, I need to get suggestions and ideas for making an even better contest for everyone. I'm thinking things like having quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. I also want to increase the difficulty by forcing finalists to perform songs from at least 3 genres. Also, with a larger cash prize involved we would probably have to put male against female for the "Grand Prize". I need suggestions on how you would like to see the finals play out. I would like to separate the categories so the night of finals we would have more time, however if you are finalist in multiple categories it may require you to attend 2 nights in a row......Does that seem unreasonable? Terry and I are trying to get a summer location locked in for a regular show so we can have an opportunity to work with everyone on a more individual basis. That way we can get proper song versions and get to know your singing style so I can be sure to provide the best sound for you when you're on stage. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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I like the multiple genres idea -- soem of my friends suggested that as well. I think it gives a better overall view of that competitor's abilities to the judges. You'd have to work with each contestant however, to ensure their understanding of GENRE. THere may be Country versions of Rock songs and vice versa -- or songs that sort of fall into BOTH categories (liek a Shania Twain or Carrie Underwood -- coudl be considered country and pop) or you'd have somethign that could be either rock or pop -- so which genre would that be? You'd almost have to OK their pick list before hand and let the judges know you've determined the contestants HAVE met that requirement in your eyes.
ReplyDeleteShowing up on multiple nights may be tricky - consdiering people have day jobs, school, kids etc.- you may get less contestants showing up on the semi finals that way.
I am unsure about the GRAND PRIZE male vs female - I could go either way on this. It's alway nice to see a "best in show", but you may get more entrants with multiple top prizes -- and I think it can be difficult to compare "apples to oranges" from a judging perspective -- easier to comparie males to males and females to females, but I think you'd want to poll the judges form this last one to get their take.
I know you guys did a great job for the first one -- it's good to see you are looking at continual improvement.
Beth
Oh yeah! ANother item for you -- I think you might want to consider limiting participation (at least for the fall one since it's SO clise to the spring one) to those who did NOT place (1st/2nd/3rd) previously. Allowing those to come back and compete again may discourage others from participating. Instead - you could have previous winners sing a song, judge, whatever. Just something to consider.
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth....Your comments are ideas are great. Only one clarification, my idea on the multiple nights for semi-finals would only affect those singers in multiple categories such as male/female vocal and duet. If you remember the night of finals we had about 2 hours taken up for the youth and duet/group categories...I'd like to give that time to the individual singers to accomodate the multiple genre idea. What do think of posting each finalists songs and genre category on the website prior to finals so all contestants and judges can debate it on this post or they can take it off line? Personally, I would care if everyone new the songs I'm performing but others may have objection. One thing the judges commented on was that the scoring was real close and song selection was the make or break point for many to place. I'm still thinking about your point on the previous winners competing due to the recent timing, but I need to get better detail of how this particular contest will play out. It may be a different monster entirely with the stakes being raised, so I will give details as we get them.
ReplyDeleteOOps.....I would NOT care if others knew the songs I was singing for competition.
ReplyDeleteOK I get it. I think multiple nights would be fine in the context in which you're thinking. WIth multiple songs and categories - you may need 2 nights JUST FOR the Male and female soloists -- in which case, one option would be to cut down the number of semi - finalists --If you went with the previous suggestion of adding a quarter-finals to cut out some people -- you could take care of that easily. That said - maybe you only introduce multiple genres at the FINALS. Just a thought. I don't think it will be a deal-breaker to have multiple nights. To the other point -- I have nothing against posting the songs people are singing online. Prior to posting it, you may request that he FINALISTS email song selections and genres of those selections to the Judges (or you) - you clear those as "ok -- this fits that genre and it appears they are choosing 2 or 3 different ones" - and THEN post. Plus, for those of us who like to strategize what others are doing to optimize our own song choice, it might be kind of cool to see. The only downside -- once others see what everyone else is doing -- you might get a bunch of people trying to change THEIR song because of something someone else is singing (the backlash).
ReplyDeleteYes, the multiple genre would only be for the finals, but I'm thinking the contestants will have to identify at least 5 songs with the genre category turned in by the semi-final round. This would give enough time for debate and if we separate the semi-finals and finals by a 2 week period, in that time Terry and I would offer 2 or 3 nights the off week at different locations for practice and open karaoke (maybe one night at Neisen's and another in the southern metro and so on.
ReplyDeleteOK-- that sounds like a solid plan
ReplyDelete