An off-stage item in which an entrant creates an original piece of music and submits it to be judged on invention, structure and how well it is written down or recorded.
Music Composition is a creating class rather than a performing one. The entrant invents a short piece of music of their own, such as a melody with a simple accompaniment, a song setting or a small instrumental piece, and it is the piece itself that the panel assesses. A good entry is a complete idea with a clear beginning, a middle that develops it and an ending that feels finished, not a loose collection of notes.
How the item is run is the organiser’s choice. Some festivals set a brief in advance, for example a given poem to set, a mood or a particular instrument, and ask for the finished score or recording to be handed in before the day. Others run it as a supervised sitting where entrants compose within a fixed time. Either way, the panel marks the work rather than a live performance, so scores are recorded per entrant and the highest totals take the placings.
On the eTalenter Welsh youth festival template it sits in the Off Stage category as an Individual item for boys and girls together, in Welsh, across seven school-year bands: Year 2 and under, Years 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13 and a 14-25 band. It is one of two writing-and-creating sections in the published syllabus, beside Literary and Composition. The published rules print no marking scheme and no time limit for the item, so the 100-mark total and the 10-minute field are the app’s defaults; an organiser should replace them with whatever their own notice states.
Organisers keep a composition class because it opens the festival to young musicians who may not be the strongest performers, and it rewards listening, imagination and patient revision. The best pieces are often played back at the prize-giving, giving the composer the chance to hear their own work performed.
Where Music Composition is run
On the eTalenter templates this item appears once, on the Welsh-language youth arts festival template in Wales, in the Off Stage category with seven classes. Composition classes appear in school and youth music festivals in many countries, but this page describes the item as it is set up on that template, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for the permitted form, length, instruments and whether the work is completed on the day.
- Wales
Key facts
- Individual item: one entrant, one original piece of music, boys and girls together
- Seven bands by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band
- Language is fixed to Welsh on the Welsh template
- Off-stage: the work itself is judged, not a live performance
- Marked out of 100 on the template; this total and the 10-minute field are app defaults because the published rules print no figures
- Idea: a brief such as setting a short poem, a mood or a chosen instrument can be used, but only if your own notice sets one
On eTalenter, Music Composition is filed under Off Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Music Composition is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Music Composition
What a Music Composition panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Originality: a musical idea that sounds like the entrant’s own rather than a copy of a familiar tune
- Shape: a clear beginning, development and ending, with repetition and contrast used on purpose
- Melody and harmony: a tune that can be sung or played, and chords or accompaniment that support it rather than clash
- Fit to the brief: the piece answers any set poem, mood, instrument or length in the notice
- Notation or recording: a score that is accurate and readable, or a clean recording where the notice allows one
- Suitability to the band: ambition that matches the entrant’s age and stage, finished well rather than overreached
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Music Composition under Scoring Setup, or start from the judge scoring and tabulation guide.
How to prepare for Music Composition
How entrants and their teachers usually get Music Composition right on the day:
- Listen widely before you write; hearing how other composers open, build and end a piece teaches more than any rule
- Start with a short motif of four to eight bars and test it on your instrument before building anything around it
- Plan the shape on paper first: where the piece starts, where it changes and how it ends
- Keep the texture simple and playable, using only instruments and voices you can actually hear or have access to
- If you set words, speak the poem aloud first and let its stresses decide where the strong beats fall
- Play your piece through to someone else and ask which part felt unfinished, then revise that part
- Check the notice for length, form and whether you hand in a score or a recording, and follow it exactly
- Proofread the notation: wrong key signatures, missing bar lines and unclear rhythms cost easy marks
Ready-made event templates that include Music Composition
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urdd Eisteddfod (Wales) | Off Stage | Marks | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Music Composition judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Music Composition a performance item?
No. It is an off-stage item in which the piece you create is what gets judged. Some festivals do ask for it to be played back, so check your own notice.
Do I have to write it out in notation?
The published rules for the Welsh template do not say. Some organisers accept a recording or a simple lead sheet, so follow the form in your festival notice.
Is it the same as Literary and Composition?
No. Literary and Composition is the syllabus’s writing section for prose and verse. Music Composition is a separate item for original music.
How is it marked?
The template marks it out of 100 as an app default. The published rules print no scheme, so an organiser can replace the total with their own.
Which age groups can enter?
The Welsh template has seven bands grouped by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band.
Want the full judging picture? Read the judge scoring and tabulation guide, or browse every off stage competition item.
Try Music Composition in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Music Composition, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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