• Contestant must be eligible by the rules of the Karaoke World Consortium.
• Contestant must remain civil. KWCUSA Event hosts are in charge.
• Contestants do NOT need to sign up in advance with KWCUSA
• Contestants may enter at events listed at this site.
• Contestant must fill out an entry form and submit it as may be requested.
• Contestant must pay the entry fee in advance of the start of the individual contest. (Late arrivals may be refused entry at the host's discretion.)
• Contestant will be prepared to perform as may be requested, up to six songs, over a period of up to three hours of the competition. (Larger competitions may schedule the male and female competitors separately, extending the show up to six hours total.)

• Judges shall be sought from the professional music world.
  Typical sources...
• Professional Singers.
• Band Members and Sound Men/Women.
• Music Stores Personel.
• Public School Music Instructors.
• Recording Studio Personel.
• Professional Singers.
• Professional Singing or Music Instructors.
• Band Members and Sound Men/Women.
• Music Store Personel.
• Orchastra Members.
• Choir Directors.
• University or College Music Department Educators.
The following are not prefered choices, (...but it is the host's show!)
• Personel from the establishment or venue hosting the contest.
• Personel of the hosting company, such as the DJ, KJ, or MC.
• Folks selected from the audience.
• Karaoke singers, ...who would qualify as contestants.
  (A judge may sing karaoke, but should not selected because of it.)
• Judges shall each judge all of the contestants.
• There shall be a minimum of three judges on the panel.
• In the event of a question or dispute brought to the host, the judging panel must be considered by the host and contestants to have the final "say".
• A form will be provided for each judge which will be used to score contestants, and the judges shall fill it in based upon their best of abilities in judging. The judges shall summarize their decisions by ranking the contestants from best to worst numerically (1, 2, 3, ...) on a form. The rankings of each performer shall be summed, and the best (lowest number) karaoke singers announced by the Host as the official event winners. Judges shall settle ties by voting.
• The following are guidelines and may actually mean different things to different judges. Our forms will include these below, but may be modified by hosts along the way. In the end, each contestant will be rated and assigned a rank by each judge; the rankings of the judges will then be added together, and by comparison two contestants (a male and a female) will be selected and announced as the winners. (This eliminates the scoring variation between judges.)
1. Voice (Vocal quality.)
   The quality and individual characteristics of the voice.
   Dynamic range. (loud and soft)
   Tonal color range. (smoothly here, gravely there.)
   Strength and range of voice.
2. Pitch (Intonation and pitch control.)
   Awareness of the intended key and mode.
   How accurately does the singer harmonize with the music.
   Use of vibrato. (often over used.)
   
3. Phrasing.
   Emotional expression.
   Articulation. (understandable words)
   "Riding the wave"
   Awareness of the rhythmic style of the piece.
   Staccato and legato sung correctly.
4. Presence (stage presence.)
   Facial expression, and body gestures.
   Command of the audience through eye contact etc.
   Appearance of confidence and relaxation on stage.
   Costume or dress appropriate to represent the nation.
5. Audience
   Entertainment value (overall of performance.)
   Audience reaction. (Applause.)

A note from KWCUSA: Our goal at KWCUSA is to provide travel and financial assistance to our finalists in the USA so that we as American's may participate in the world finals. Our prize fund (which is supported by 50% of contestant's entry fees) may be regarded as complying with this rule. Perhaps it would be better called our travel and lodging and KWC entry fee fund, for KWCUSA is only a stepping stone to the theo world title and our fund for contestants is not intended to be an award but part of a larger team effort by the American karaokoke community to participate on behalf of all America.

• The jury of the finals will consist of music and singing professionals.
• The finals will be held in Heinola, Finland, organized by KH-Viihde and copartners.

Glossaries

Glossary of Contest Terms

A Short Glossary of Musical Terms

acelerando - (accel.) gradually increasing in speed; becoming faster.

accidentals - signs relating to or indicating sharps, flats or naturals.

accompaniment - a portion of the musical text designed to serve as background for other musical parts.

arpeggio - the sounding of the notes of a chord in succession instead of simultaneously.

articulation. - The manner in which a performer blends the succeeding tones in distinction from another.

ascend - to rise in pitch; pass from any tone to a higher one.

beat - to mark (time) by strokes, as with the hand or a metronome : count 1 2 3 4 etc.

chord - a combination of three or more different notes played together.

chromatic scale - a scale progressing entirely by semi-tones or half steps.

chromatiism - the use of raised or lowered notes, instead of the normal degrees of the scale; chromaticism is a progression of tones or sounds that move by a half step - for this purpose accidentals are used sharp ( ), flat ( ) and natural ( ).

common time - ( C ) the same as 4/4 time.

composition - a piece of music.

descend - to go down in pitch; to pass from any tone to a lower one.

diatonic scale - a scale containing whole steps and half steps; major (also minor) scale.

dissonance - a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion; discord.

duet - a composition for two instruments or two voices.

duration - the length of time something continues or exits.

dynamics - the signs showing how soft or loud to play the music:
very loud;
moderately loud;
loud;
soft;
very soft;


flat - in musical notation the symbol ( ) placed before a note, lowers its pitch a half step.

form - the way music is constructed.

harmony - any simultaneous combination of tones.

harmonize - produce a tone which, (often a third or a fifth from the tonic but may also be an octave from the tonic or other seventh or ninth etc.,) is part of the intended cord, or harmony.

hold sign - ( ) this sign placed over or under a note or rest indicates the prolonging of its time value.

interpretation - the rendering of music so as to bring the meaning, or to indicate one's particular conception of it.

interval - the difference in pitch between two tones as between two tones sounded simultaneous (harmonic interval) or between two tones sounded successively (melodic interval).

intonation - the accuracy of pitch with respect to the musical background.

key - the principal totality of a composition, which may change through the piece.

major - related to a key in which the third note of the scale produces a major third interval.

major scale - a scale containing five whole Steps and two half steps; the half steps go between the third and fourth notes and between the seventh and eighth notes of the scale; the eighth note has the same name as the first, one octave higher; the major scale step pattern is: l, 1, ½, 1, 1, 1, ½.

assure - the music contained between two bar lines; bar

melody - the succession of single tones in musical composition, as distinguished from harmony and rhythm.

minor - related to a key in which the third note of the scale produces a minor third interval.

minor scale - a scale containing whole steps and half steps; the two forms of the minor scale are: 1. melodic 2. harmonic.

motif - a distinctive and recurring theme in any musical work

music - an art of sound in time which expresses ideas and emotions in significant form through the elements of rhythm, melody an harmony.

natural - in musical notation the sign ( ) places before a note cancels a previous sharp ( ) or flat ( ) and restores a note to its normal pitch.

note - a sign or character used to represent tone, its position and form indicating the pitch and duration of the tone.

octave - the interval embracing eight diatonic tones.

part a section or fragment of a composition or complete part of a or musical work such a movement of a sonata or a suite.

phrasing - the clear, lucid and articulated realization of phrases (see below). Phrasing is aided in performance by proper breathing, dynamic flow, note articulation and proper pauses.

phrase - a smaller subdivision of a melody, roughly compared to a clause in a compound sentence.

piece - a musical composition.

pitch - the vibration rate of sound. Measured in cycles per second, it refers to the exact frequency of a tone.

rallentando - (rall.) slowing down.

repertoire - the list of works which a musician is prepared to perform.

rest - a sign used to designate a period of silence between tones.

rhythm - the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats. included are the lengths of time in which notes sound and just as importantly the length of silent spaces between notes. Many styles of music are strongly associated with a particular rhythm.

ritenuto - (rit.) hold the movement momentarily.

rudiments - the elements or first principles of a subject.

scale - a succession of tones ascending or descending according to fixed intervals.

semitones - (half step, half tone) a pitch interval halfway between two whole tones.

sharp - in musical notation the sign ( ) placed before a note raises its pitch a half step.

steps - a degree (tone or step) of the staff or of the scale.

style - it may refer to the composer's manner of writing, the character of the music itself or to the style of performance.

suspension - the prolongation of a tone in one chord into the following chord, usually producing a temporary dissonance.

technique - ability to apply procedures or methods so as to effect a desired result, manner or method of performance.

tempo - relative rate of movement of a musical composition. largo-very slow, broad, stately a beat per second down to 40 beats per minute.
lento-slow
adagio-slower than andante
andante-moderately slow and even, walking
andantino-faster than andante
moderato-moderately
allegro moderato-moderately fast
allegretto-lively, light
allegro-fast, happy
vivace-faster than allegro
presto-very fast
prestissio-very fast 200 beats per minute or so.


theme - a principal melodic subject in a musical composition branch of music which deals with its principles or methods, as distinguished from its practice.

tie - a curved line between two notes of the same pitch - the first note is played and held for the time duration of both - the second note is not played but held.

timbre - quality of the tone; depends upon the quality of the voice and the skill of the per­former; color tone.

time - the general movement of a particular kind of musical composition with reference to its rhythm, metrical structure and tempo.

tone - a musical sound of definite pitch.

transposition - the playing or rewriting of a composition in a key different from the original.

triplet - a group of three notes to be performed in the time of two ordinary notes of the same kind.

tune 1. a succession of musical sounds forming an air or melody, with or without the harmony accompanying it - 2. (to tune) adjust a musical instrument to a correct or given standard of pitch.

Join the fun! Let us know that you are interested.

We have just formed a YahooGroup to better communicate with everyone. This will enable us to all communicate through our regular email program, or by going directly to the KWCUSA Contest YahooGroup website. Those using the form below will have their names etc. added to our KWCUSA Contest YahooGroup so that they will be able to stay informed with everyone else. Please use the form below when you have a comment or would like to participate in the management or hosting or sponsorship aspects of the contest.

If you wish to be a contestant send an email to:
kwcusa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
That will make you an official member of the KWCUSA Contest YahooGroup and add your name to the mailing list for the contest. It is free and there is nothing to download. You may also subscribe by going to the site directly:
Click to subscribe to the KWCUSA YahooGroup.

Those interested in management, hosting, sponsorship, or commenting, please use this form below.