Western Student Composers Alliance

08/26/2026

NBA/Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest

The National Band Association/Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest was established in 1991 as a memorial to Merrill Jones, co-owner of Wingert-Jones Music Company, by his widow, Priscilla Jones. Mr. Jones was concerned always with helping the young composer. NBA past president Robert (Bob) Foster suggested a young composer contest, which would promote works for young bands. The result was a contest for composers under 40 years of age to be held every other year, now in the even numbered years, and which would produce works for concert band in the Grade 3-4 category.

Works must not exceed eight (8) minutes in length, must be the original work of the composer, and not be under contract to any publisher. Deadline for submission is November 1st. The contest is held every two years unless no winner is chosen. Wingert-Jones reserves the right of first refusal for publication. The current prize to the winner is $2000. The winner is announced at the NBA General Membership Meeting at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago following a meeting of the contest committee. The contest committed is chaired by NBA member Matt Smith (University of Kansas).

Here is a link to the NBA Composition Contest page; from there you access the application by clicking on "NBA/Merrill Jones Composition Contest."

NBA/William D. Revelli Composition ContestNBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Composition ContestSponsored by J.W. PepperThe William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977. It is named after Dr. William Revelli, who served as Director of Bands at the University of Michigan...

08/26/2026

5th Annual Young Composer Initiative (YCI). This program was created in 2022 and has continued to attract new works for wind instruments from around the world, with more than 70 submissions each year. The full rules and details are available at the link below. This initiative is in conjunction with the NMSU Composer Residency Program, which takes place every November. Past composers-in-residence who have also mentored the YCI winner include Joni Greene, Peter Meechan, Tom Davoren, Catherine Likhuta, Frank Ticheli, and Ingrid Stölzel. This year's resident composer will be Katahj Copley. The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2026.

Dedicated to nurturing emerging talent, the Young Composer Initiative is a global contest established in 2022, that champions the creation of innovative wind band compositions by aspiring composers worldwide.

04/07/2024

Congrats Tré Bryant on successfully defending his MA thesis on music in FromSoftware games and presenting a stimulating talk this evening!

04/01/2024

this is a really cool project involving former WMU composition major Kristopher Bendrick

6 track album

01/31/2024

SPLICE is an organization dedicated to the performance, creation, and development of music for performers and electronics. SPLICE is comprised of an annual Institute designed for performers and composers to study the integration of performance with electronics, an annual two-day Festival of concerts...

01/25/2024

Each night at SPLICE Institute ends with a concert of electroacoustic works. These concerts feature our faculty, guest artists, and on the last few nights: our participants!

Apply to SPLICE Institute 2024: splicemusic.org/institute/apply

01/25/2024

CMIX is a hub for the creation and presentation of contemporary sonic art in Kalamazoo, MI

11/01/2023

Graduate Studies in Music Composition at the Irving S. Gilmore School of Music at Western Michigan University – Application Deadline 2024-02-01 (please distribute)

The Western Michigan University School of Music invites applications for our Masters in Music Composition program. Our students enjoy professional performance opportunities, adaptive instruction, and training in innovative technology. We typically have assistantships available for both a composition and a technology GA. Assistantships include a stipend and support the cost of tuition required for the degree. There will be opportunities for composers, including readings with guest ensembles, through the Center for Contemporary Music, Improvisation, and Experimentation (CMIX).

Our degree program provides flexibility for students to focus on their interests, including concert music, digital audio, sound art, media scoring, or multimedia. We offer courses in Entrepreneurship, Audio for Video, Media Scoring, Sound Art, Electronic Music Performance, Songwriting, Effects Processing and Synthesis, and computer programming for audio and video projects, in addition to traditional courses such as orchestration and counterpoint. There are opportunities for collaboration, readings by visiting professional groups and School of Music large ensembles, and our student new music group.

Recent featured guests for our program include Wet Ink, Prism Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Spektral Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Mivos Quartet, and others. We host a large number of contemporary artists as part of our weekly seminar. We have a strong composition community, and our student composer’s group organizes and presents four concerts a year, applies for grants for guest artists, and organizes other community events (including open mic nights, coffee and donut hangs, and listening parties).

Students from WMU have presented their work at numerous conferences and festivals, including SCI, SEAMUS, ICMC, HighSCORE, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Espacios Sonoros, and NYCEMF. We have robust electronic music facilities. Students from WMU have gone on to pursue further study at Princeton University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and UC San Diego, among others. In addition to traditional composition and teaching paths, graduates have received jobs at Sweetwater and other companies.

Our composition faculty consists of Richard Adams, Christopher Biggs, David Colson, Lisa Renée C***s, Keith Kothman, and Carter Rice. Composers have also studied composition with members of our renowned Jazz Studies faculty, Matthew Fries and Andrew Rathbun.

Application deadline is February 1, 2024 in order to be considered for assistantships.

For more information specific to the composition program: http://wmich.edu/composition or contact [email protected]
Application procedures are available here: https://wmich.edu/music/apply

Undergraduate: How to applyWMU Application: Submit a general application to Western Michigan University (through the Common App).

10/27/2023