Announcing a Competition for Singers: Landlords and Tenants

Do you sing — alone or as part of a singing group? Would you be interested in having your voice featured in a music video on YouTube? If so, listen to the melody embedded below and read the lyrics:

1. About the Song

“Landlords and Tenants” is a song from the musical The Debt Collector. The music is by composer Daniel Carter. The words are by me: Aya Katz. The Debt Collector is a libertarian musical about a landlady, her tenants, and a debt collector. While each party is seen as having conflicting interests at the beginning of the play, by the end they all realize that they have to work together to make their world a better place.

“Landlords and Tenants” is the last of the nineteen songs in the musical. It is meant to be sung by the seven Lark children. They are putting on a skit for all the other people gathered there: their parents, who are the tenants, the debt collector, who is the knight in shining armor, and the landlady, Mrs. Hauser. Also present in the audience is Siren, the social worker. She is the servant mentioned in the song.

The Debt Collector is a morality play, and this song carries the moral.

2. About the Competition

The competition will be open from today until December 20, 2011. If you are a minor, you will need to get your parents to sign a parental consent form. Voice teachers and choir directors are encouraged to enter singing groups into the competition.

Here is how we will proceed. You may contact me through a message to my YouTube account requesting the sheet music and the entry form. You will also be given an mp3 file of the accompaniment music, although you may use your own instrumentalist if you so desire.

When you have a complete rendition of the song that you would like to enter into the competition, you may either send it in as an mp3 file or as a video response on YouTube.

There is no cash reward for the winners, but their entry will be prominently displayed here and on YouTube, and we will be showing the performance chosen as a demo to prospective producers of the play.

If you have any questions, please post those in the comment section here, and not on YouTube. I look forward to hearing you sing!