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Elton Joel RW2 2'25
With apologies to them both. A rock piano solo without lyrics.
Recording (mp3, 1.9MB)
Elegy RW2 2'25
Many, many parts to weave and balance - needs ensemble skills, even though it's for solo piano.
Recording (mp3, 1.6MB)
Recording (mp3, 1.2MB)
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Snowflakes RW2 2'25Recording (mp3, 0.9MB)
Recording (mp3, 0.8MB)
Recording (mp3, 2.6MB)
Running a competition back to magazine homepage
Introduction | Hyping the lead-up | Limiting the time | Creating prize categories
Choosing great rewards | Certificates | The "Doubler" factor | Creating leaderboards | Team based competitions | Strategic timing | Interstudio competitions
Creating a Hall of Fame | Turning it into a fundraiser
Choosing great rewards
Being a champion in title only is nice, but if you really want your students excited about winning, then you need some exciting prizes. You need to budget for this, but anything you spend will more than pay for itself—motivated students are students who stay in the studio. So you're not just buying a prize, your making an investment in retention rates.
What makes a good prize? One way to find out is actually to put that to your students. When you first announce the competition, tell them that you're looking for prize suggestions - you'll hear some great ideas.
Otherwise, try to imagine the sorts of presents they'd really like to unwrap on their birthday. No socks or underwear here:
• Mp3 player
• Voucher from computer game store
• Book vouchers
• Book of cinema tickets
• Family pass to a theme park
Keep this issue in mind as you watch television - you'll find yourself noticing ads for hot toys an gadgets. If you've noticed these ads, chances are your students have too.
That voucher from the computer game store might excite the computer game junkies in your studio, but not everyone is going to want that - one way around this is to announce that the prize is "your choice of...", and then have several options that will appeal to different students. Once you know who the winner is, you'll know what to get.
If you want to offer rewards that will really have your students salivating—without sending yourself broke in the process—you might want to consider a multi-studio competition.