HOW TO APPLY
GUIDELINES for 2008

There is no entrance fee.

Applicants must present ten to fifteen minutes of music in a preliminary audition. Mr. Wade will select six to eight musicians to perform before judges and a live audience in the final AUDITION/CONCERT. When the application document is received, Mr. Wade will contact the applicant to set up the preliminary audition.

Uel Wade donates $1,000. Also, if the applicant requests it, Mr. Wade provides piano accompaniment free of charge. Dollar additions to the award depend upon grants and contributions from individuals and businesses. The money is paid directly to a music institution or teacher, not to the applicant. (The award may not be used for study with the scholarship sponsors, Uel Wade and Marion Hunter.)

Designation of the scholarship award and approval of the institution or teacher to whom the award will be paid is the responsibility of the scholarship panel. The panel consists of professional musicians. Their decision will be made on evidence of musicianship, technique, commitment, intelligence, and passion.

Musicians may re-apply in subsequent years, except for first-prize winners, who must skip a year before applying again.

HINTS FOR YOUR ANALYSIS:

The Scholarship analysis request is not asking for the historical context of your music or biographical information about your composer. Stick to the music itself.

Consider the structure.

What kind of harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic materials does the composer use to build the whole? Notice themes, repetitions, variations, key relationships, textures, developments, colors, tempos, dynamics, articulations—all the elements of musical sound that contribute to a composition as opposed to an improvisation. Notice how the composer manipulates these materials to provide interest, variety, rest, or surprise. Notice what elements serve organization and unity and variety. Why does your piece work? Does your piece lean toward unity or more toward freedom and emotion?

You might discuss how the solo instrument relates to the accompaniment thematically, and, in the case of songs, how the music serves or enhances the words and how it influences meaning and emotion. Is the accompaniment a kind of support to the solo, or is the piece a balanced collaboration, a duet?

If some parts of your piece thrill you again and again, figure out why. Are parts of the work less than satisfying? Why?

Analyzing is careful, informed noticing followed by comparing and relating. Use the above ideas as triggers to your thinking. Don’t try to answer every question or deal with every element.