Strike A Chord FAQs

Chamber music is music played by a small group of musicians – for this championship it needs to be between 3-8 players. There needs to be just one player/singer per part, and no conductor. Learn more about chamber music and read this brief history of chamber music from Wikipedia.

If you have group lessons on your instrument, then you have a ready-made chamber ensemble right there!

Our definition of classical music is fairly broad, but we do not allow pop, rock, or jazz style pieces. If you’re in any doubt as to whether your chosen piece fits the guidelines, please contact us and we’ll let you know!

Yes! We welcome entries from groups of all kinds of instruments and voices. As long as there’s one player per part, your group has 3-8 players and no conductor, and you’re playing classical music (i.e. not jazz, pop or rock), we’d love for you to enter! 

That’s a great song by Adele, but unfortunately it doesn’t fit the repertoire guidelines.

Have a chat to your teacher/tutor, or browse through our repertoire resource section, and you should find lots of suitable music to perform. Remember, you don't have to play the most difficult piece of music you can find, choose a piece of music that you enjoy and that your group can play well together.

No cuts to music are allowed, except in exceptional circumstances, and written approval must be obtained from Strike A Chord Management: strikeachord@musicaviva.com.au 

Not at all, you may perform as many or as few repeats as you wish. Use your good judgement in deciding which repeats to perform and ensure that your performance still fits within the required time limit of 4-12 minutes, or 1-5 minutes for the Novice Section.

Yes, you can write your own piece of music, or arrange an existing piece of music to suit your group. It will need to fit within the competition guidelines and your group will need to notate it and provide sheet music for the piece.

For Strike A Chord:

Non-vocal Groups: All non-vocal groups are required to submit a single piece of more than 4 minutes. You may play two movements of the same work, but the total time must not exceed 12 minutes. 

Vocal Groups: Vocal groups may submit one or more different pieces by the same or different composers to make up the minimum time limit. The total playing time must not exceed 12 minutes.

For the Novice Section:

This category is for groups with players of skill levels up to AMEB grade 4, and only requires entries between 1 and 5 minutes long.

All performers must be enrolled in an Australian primary or secondary school program (or home-school equivalent) as at the Grand Final date in the year of entry.

Yes you can, but just make sure you don't over-commit yourself!

Yes, absolutely. There are no restrictions on where each member of your group goes to school or in what year level.

Definitely, we’d love to have your entry.

No. Pianos are permitted as part of a chamber group (e.g. a piano trio of violin/cello/piano, or 2 pianos/8 hands), however must be performed by an eligible student.

Works for solo instrument/voice and piano accompaniment are also not permitted as they don’t meet the minimum requirement of three players.

No, anyone over the age of 18 years old can register your group. This can be a parent or guardian, school teacher or a music teacher. 

The person entering your group will be the main contact person throughout the competition, and they will need to make sure that each member of the group who is under 18 has permission from a parent or guardian to enter the competition and has consent to be filmed.

YOU WILL NEED

• A teacher, parent or guardian over 18 years old to submit the application on the group’s behalf

• To provide names, instruments, schools and year levels of each person in your group

• To provide information about the piece you’re playing including the title, composer and duration. Please include movement/s where appropriate.

• To include a URL link to your performance footage and pdf files (more info below)

HOW TO SEND US YOUR FILES

We ask that applicants upload both videos and accompanying files to a file sharing platform of your choice and provide us  with the URL link in the entry form. 

You will need to upload the following files:

• Your performance video in .mp4 or .mov video format (videos files from your iPhone are in .mov)

• Your introduction video (max 3 minutes) in a .mp4 or .mov video format

• A scanned copy of your sheet music - If you are having any difficulties with this, please contact us via email. 

It is your responsibility to ensure that all of the files are uploaded onto a file sharing platform and that the files are viewable for the judges and are not restricted or on private permissions for your entry to be eligible. 

We recommend the following easy to use file sharing websites:

• Google Drive (15GB free space) - How to share files guide

• Dropbox (2GB free space) - How to share files guide

• We transfer (2GB free space)

• One Drive (5GB free space) – Important Note for school/education-based One Drives: we can access some, but not others. Please check your institution’s rules and accessibility settings carefully if you are taking this option. Please note we are unable to access files on QLD Education Sharepoint services.    

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Please ensure you have read the rules and regulations and meet the entry requirements. If you have any questions or are not sure about something please send us an email strikeachord@musicaviva.com.au

We understand that not everyone will have access to high quality video/audio recording equipment. Videos may be recorded with any device, including smartphone, video camera, etc. The quality of the video recording won’t unduly influence the decision of the judging panel but groups are encouraged to test recorded sound quality in advance of the performance and make reasonable adjustments where necessary (eg. microphone placement) so that the judging panel can hear the group at its best.  

Check out our Recording Tips Webinar with Matthew Lorenzon video from 2021. 

If you have a question that’s not covered here, please email us at strikeachord@musicaviva.com.au and we’ll be happy to help. 

Yes, your performance video must be in a single take, no editing.

It is up to you whether you would like to have an audience - sometimes it helps to feel like a proper concert! - but they don’t need to be in the video. If you do have an audience, make sure your camera is set up directly in front of you and not behind the audience, to get the best video and audio recording you can.