Nature is a great source of artistic inspiration. Simply paying attention to the processes of certain species, the cycles of certain ecosystems, the colors in flowers, and the symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi can fill us with awe and curiosity (keys to creativity).

Today, I want to talk about a migratory bird that really catches my attention: the Arctic tern, known for its extraordinary journey. These small birds travel about 71,000 kilometers (44,000 miles) annually between their breeding grounds in the Arctic and their wintering grounds in the Antarctic. This means that over its lifetime, an Arctic tern can fly the equivalent distance of going to the moon and back three times! Can you imagine all the adventures and challenges these brave birds face during its migration? Aren’t you amazed by the intrinsic wisdom migratory birds possess, knowing where and when to migrate, fearlessly surrendering to their migratory destiny?

The challenge

For this challenge, we want you to choose a migratory bird that catches your attention, research it, and compose a song that makes listeners feel what it would be like to be that bird on its migration journey.

Instructions

  • The composition must be an original piece, specifically created from scratch for this challenge in Flat. We will review the score's history to ensure compliance with this rule. Submissions that do not adhere to this requirement will not be considered.
  • In the description, let us know which migratory bird you chose and any additional information that you find relevant for us to understand your composition choices.
  • You have to use a wind instrument to represent the bird you choose.
  • We accept collaborations this time (up to 3 composers max).
  • The song must be 1-3 minutes long. We know this is a very limited time, but we're receiving so many submissions lately, we want to ensure we can carefully review each of them.
  • You can only submit one score.
  • Deadline: July 31st. No late submissions will be accepted.
  • Remember, we cannot consider private scores.

Scoring system

✅ Accuracy (30)

How accurately the song represents the migratory journey.

✅ Engagement (30)

How well your song captures the listener's attention for its entire duration.

✅ Transitions (30)

How smooth and well-designed the song's transitions are (e.g. modulations).

✅ Founder Enjoyment (10)

How much the founders of Tutteo, the company behind Flat, like your piece.

If you win more than once during the period of the yearly subscription you won, the prize will be applied as follows:

  • You can give away the yearly subscription to a person who does not have a premium subscription yet of your choice.
  • If you decide to keep the prize for yourself, we will add one extra month to the annual subscription you already won, and the second place will be awarded the annual subscription prize.

Bonus points

  • Subscribe to our YouTube channel (2 points).
  • If you are a free user (5 points).

🥇 The score with the most points wins!

We'll announce the winner on August 9th.

Prize

🏆 One-year Premium subscription.

Additional incentives

  • Promotion in our blog and social media.
  • Special badge for a year showing you as the winner of this month's challenge!

Submissions

Please send your submission 👉🏽 here.

Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered.

⚠ Private scores cannot be reviewed! Please make your score public before submitting it.

After submitting, we will manually add your score to the Challenge tab on the Flat Community Page. This isn't an automatic process, so you'll need to have a bit of patience.

We can't wait to hear what you come up with!