Test of the Orchestra
By captdanjou
The discipline of Art and Music currently has just one test involving music, can we better that?
The Idea of this test will be to create music as a group rather than individually. The judging system will be closer to that of Pyrotechnics than other art tests.
Test as it is written on the monument construction site
captdanjou 6th November 2008
I have tried to be very specific on the mechanics of the test, may be Pharaoh will implement it as planned!
Test Of The Orchestra Final On The Monument
Test as I origionally proposed it here for public vote
Forming and practicing your orchestra
An orchestra will be made up of a certain number of musicians, each with a musical instrument. The person attempting to pass the test will be the maestro and will not use an instrument themselves.
- The size of the Orchestra will depend upon the complexity of the music you wish to create, however there will be a limit of perhaps twenty musicians. As with Pyro, it is not necessarily the biggest shell that wins, but the most artistically interesting
- each musician will have in their inventory an instrument, instruments can be made by anyone, what is important here is not making instruments but using them effectively. None the less making instruments will be "realistic":
- Barrel vise will be used to make different drums from different types of treated boards and rabbit pelts
- Carpentry shop with twine, thread, different metal wires and different treated boards will be used to make string instruments
- etc. A good skill will be required to make instruments, thus reinforcing the necessity of cooperation to get the desired instruments
- Each instrument, when made, will be able to make a certain range of different notes (just one for a Drum, two full octaves for a string instrument etc) Detailed design work will determine the exact cost and capabilities of each instrument, but the idea is to have an interesting "palette" of different sounds and notes, unlike windsong where we only have different notes
- The Maestro must make their own music stand this will not be difficult to make and will actually be the real means of creating music, with the necessary interface.
- The budding Maestro must assemble at their leasure their orchestra to "reherse". This will involve the maestro dropping their music stand and opening the editor. The assembled musicians will "tune their instruments" by clicking on the music stand and telling it what instrument in their inventory they will be playing.
- since configuring a good piece of music will be inevitably a long laborious process, once the instruments are "tuned", the members of the orchestra can leave the radius of the music stand and as long as the music stand stays on the ground the maestro can configure their music at leasure. Well not quite at leasure because:
- As the maestro configures their music, using an editor with the different instruments, a time line and soft-medium-loud controls for each instrument, they will be allowed a set number of test runs, ten for example. After the allowed number of test runs have been exhausted, the maestro will have to re assemble their orchestra to re-tune all the instruments. clearly they will have to be the same instruments held by the same musicians! This twist will make it more difficult to "impress the crowd" with a very large orchestra, and give all players with or without a crowd of docile guildies and alts, a fair chance to pass.
- The total length (time duration) of a concert will be fixed at, for example, between one and two minutes. A minimum to ensure a minimum effort has been made and a max to not make it too complex for the game server to handle
- Once the maestro is happy with the result of their practicing, they can organise a concert.
Concerts (ie, how to actually pass the test)
- as we have seen, the "musicians" do not in reality play their instruments, otherwise lag would render this test impossible. The music that will be played at the Concert is for the purpose of the game, a recording. To maintain the "group effort" of the test, the Maestro must still assemble their orchestra (exactly the same one that they practiced with: same instruments, same avatars playing them)
- having placed his music stand on the ground the orchestra will "tune their instruments" as for practice.
- The public who have been convened by the maestro to enjoy the concert will then have five minutes to sign up as critics by clicking on the music stand, after which the maestro will play his music.
- At the end of the piece of music, all critics will get a pop up to vote on the music. The number of critics and the average vote will create a score for the concert. If there are twenty critics all voting excellent the Maestro will receive a score of 140 (20 X 7), for example.
- Each time the budding Maestro performs a concert their score will accumulate. The first Maestro to reach a score of 500 in a given week passes the test, and no other passes will be possible that week and any other concerts given that week will not be able to raise the Maestro's total score above 450, regardless of the actual score attained, leaving all budding maestros at best at the same level at the beginning of the next week.
- It is well known that accoustics and atmosphere are vital to any successful concert, and it is well known that Universities of Art and Music have excellent accoustics whilst Banquets have an excellent atmosphere. As a result, all concerts must be given within a short radius of either a U Art or an ACTIVE banquet table: Banquets are few and far between but you are sure to have a receptive crowd of critics, U Arts are a bit out of the way, so Maestros will have to publicise their works to gather an adequate audience of critics.
- All successful pieces of music are still played by orchestras or "music machines" (MP3, CD, Vynil, Music box etc...) Many years after, so a test winning concert will involve the distribution of three "music boxes" to each critic and musician in the Orchestra, and 49 "music boxes" for the Maestro: sounds like Pyro? Absolutely! these music boxes will behave just like ground fireworks, to liven up any party or wedding or whatever with some lovely music! (and of course will be consumed, like ground fireworks)
Feedback/Opinions/Questions