King of Swing - Original Blues Harmonica Instrumental Songwriting Contest Details

It’s time to place what you’ve been learning at BluesHarmonica.com into context! The three winners will have the opportunity to perform with Mark Hummel’s band Saturday, Jan 28th at the legendary Yoshi’s Nightclub in Oakland, California. The audience will judge the three performances, with the overall winner given the opportunity to perform in the grand finale with Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Boy Arnold, Sugar Ray Norcia, Curtis Salgado, Mark Hummel and David Barrett!

Rules
1) Use Diatonic or Chromatic Harmonica - Custom tunings, valving, etc. are allowed. You may also use more than one harmonica if you wish (switching harps in multiple positions).
2) Original instrumental composition (no vocals) - Adapting a non-harmonica tune to the harmonica or rearranging another popular harmonica tune is allowed, but arrangements too close to the original will be scored low.
3) May be acoustic or amplified
4) Accompanied - There must be at least one other instrument to accompany you. Using a pre-recorded jam track (most will do this), a live band or just a guitarist/pianist are all good examples. You may have other instruments solo in your instrumental.
5) Groove – Even though the contest is called “King of the Swing,” the groove can be of any type as long as it’s 80bmp or faster. We will score grooves higher that are closer to the swing feel than ones that are not.
6) Must be recreatable live on the bandstand (including no electronic loopers or sound-on-sound devises).
7) Less than 5 minutes in length
8) Must be a current, subscribed member of BluesHarmonica.com from the date of your submission to the announcement of the winners.
9) You may not use a submission previously used at BluesHarmonica.com (such as the Shuffle King)
10) Have fun… enjoy the process!

Judging Criteria
Good instrumental writing practices are taught in detail in the Improvising Study lessons at BluesHarmonica.com, but here are the general areas we’re focusing on as judges (David Barrett, Mark Hummel and Gary Smith) for this contest.
1) Head/Hook - How catchy is your hook or head in your composition? If we can't stop humming it after we listen, you did a great job!
2) Body - This is the solo section of your instrumental. How well you use Chorus Forms, Focus Notes, Rhythm, Texture, Breaks, Bridge, Dynamics and possible Soloing Theme to make your soloing interesting.
3) Execution - This is the technical side of your performance: your tone, rhythm, control of technique (bends played in tune), etc. This doesn’t mean that you have to use difficult techniques in your composition (areas 1 and 2 above are scored higher), but what you do play should be executed well.

Schedule
12/1 - Entries can be uploaded to site
12/28 - No more entries accepted
1/2 - Winners announced
1/28 - Performance!

Video Details
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qm-yvlg7TI