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Let this comment mark my intent of joining this competition. Good luck to anyone who may join and I am excited to see whom may take up arms in this fun little game of music creation!

The members have voted in this poll; Spring 2026 Competition Poll and have decided about the form and details of the next Young Composer's Composition Competition! As per the previous trend, this competition has no monetary rewards - only kudos and badges. Also in accordance with the results of the 2025 Halloween Satisfaction Survey, we are inviting the members/competitors to participate in the creation of the badge awards that will be dispersed at the end of the competition! So if you have any ideas for particular badges that would accord with the kind of music that will be submitted for this competition and the theme of this competition, let us know in the List of Manually-Awardable Badges thread and we will take your ideas into consideration! Please reply to this topic to declare your intent to participate in this competition! The winners will be determined by popular voting polls! Reviewing and Judging: The reviewing of the competition submissions will once again be spearheaded by our volunteer staff and those who wish to contribute their time and effort to reviewing the entries out of the goodness of their own hearts (and/or sense of fun!). You may use the Official Competition Reviewing Template, or jettison the template and review the submissions just like you would any other piece of music on the website! You could even make your own template! You will be rewarded for your efforts with "Ardent Reviewer" badges in three tiers: Featherweight Reviewer - for reviewing 33% of the entries Welterweight Reviewer - for reviewing 66% of the entries Heavyweight Reviewer - for reviewing 100% of the entries Thank you for whatever time and effort you're willing to give! Instrumentation: as per the poll, the members are free to compose for any kind of trio/quartet/quintet from a Pierrot ensemble to a kazoo trio to a quartet of Tibetan throat singers! Write for the serpent! You may use any combination of 3 - 5 monophonic or polyphonic instruments/voices. Pictures, Photos, Paintings: You may submit a picture, photo or a painting of the landscape you based your composition on. This is totally optional, but if you submit one, please do not use AI to generate your image. However, you may use a screenshot from a game. Or you can use a completely imaginary landscape. Duration: 3 - 7 minutes with a sweet spot of 5 minutes. Deadline: Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026 Entrants thus far: @Fruit hunter @MK_Piano @UncleRed99 @MrBelegro @Luis Hernández @Musicman_3254 @TristanTheTristan @Wieland Handke @L.S Barros @Some Guy That writes Music @therealAJGS @ferrum.wav @Monarcheon @InstrumentalistElle Here is the submissions thread for the competition where participants are encouraged to post links to their composition (rather than posting their piece directly into the pre-existing topic - make your own dedicated topic so the members at large can review your music there): We are instituting a policy of not allowing any AI generated works in the competition. Because of this you will be required to detail how you created your piece and submit a PDF score or midi file for the perusal of the staff and members at large. Original compositions only.

I will do the thing that is writing something or other for the thing mentioned above, and things. (I am declaring my intent to participate. for those who have to think a little bit too hard to figure that out) ☠️

This forum update was a big one, which is why I put it off for a year. But I have about 90% of things back. As of now, I just made another update. MP3s and PDFs are back and with improvements. We have proper view counts now (finally!). I will be working on getting our old colors back, and don't worry, the logo will be back too. Hopefully I can also bring back the chatbox, I just need a few more days. Another major update which has been quite hidden, is the integration of a new music notation software that I've been working on for some time. That's why I had to update the forum, I'm getting ready for a release of Version 1 soon. The early adopters of Music Jotter will be migrating here and I'll be using the forums for issues and customer management. I'll also be opening up a subscriber tier (The forum will always remain free but the subscriber tier helps me develop Music Jotter, for those interested in the new technology). Overall, this forum software also should be a lot faster, so hopefully we see some improvements with speed!

Hello again! I just finished my comments and am eager to share. Please find this PDF for your convenience! Go to the end of the score to see the final comments. May anyone else on this thread also consider checking out the comments and share your thoughts! M. Neupauer - The Great Lighthouse (ANNOTATED).Pdf

I'll try to see if I can come up with something, but no promises it'll be done in time...

Here is my A level composition. I'm doing it roughly in the style of Chopin, but the overall style is just trying to be romantic. The structure is ABA, and the B theme is highly similar to the A theme. Things the exam board focus on are: 'Motivic development, form and structure, harmony, and texture. The time limit is 2 minutes 30, so I'll probably just play some parts quicker next time. Any feedback would be appreciated!Elegy in G#m.pdfWhatsApp Audio 2026-03-31 at 16.37.38.mp3

Yes - thank you for pointing that out!

It's that time again! Time for another Young Composer's Musical Composition Competition and thanks to @TristanTheTristan who has instigated this poll! There are a few things we'd like the members to help us determine (and to help gauge the level of interest in another competition): 1) What should the competition be about? To write background music for one of @chopin 's Retry Bro's YouTube videos. Explanation: @chopin has a new YouTube channel! It's called Retry Bros. and consists of him playing Super Mario Maker levels and coming up with entertaining narration from Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, and other assorted characters. There's also a musical element. So far, Mike has come up with some clever lyrics and used AI to make realistic sounding songs that go along with the video. Now, where you would come in is that you'd be writing background music for one of @chopin 's new videos! To write some kind of autobiographical piece with a paragraph describing how the music portrays the autobiographical material. This one is @UncleRed99 's suggestion. The idea is to "write a piece that simply tells a story about your life, and something meaningful within it. Utilize complex elements to express emotion, tension, or any other desired emotional or mentally relatable expression. Provide a brief summary describing the root of the story being told." @Thatguy v2.0's proposal is for everyone to write a piece about their home landscape. This theme could be called "Landscapes - Soundscapes." @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu bestowed his theme proposal to me so I decided to include another theme in the options: "Sound Mimesis - Acoustic Anatomy". The idea is to use the instruments at your disposal to mimic sounds in your natural environment (although the sounds don't technically have to be created by nature - they could definitely be artificial sounds, but should be mimicked by acoustic instruments). My own idea is for the members to write M&M&M's - Mock-ups, Mash-ups and Medleys. The idea is for the members to take 2 or more preexisting themes from different genres of music and to make mash-ups and Medleys with them. 2) What kind of ensemble should the competitors be free to choose to write for? Solo piano/keyboard or solo polyphonic instrument (such as guitar or harp) One monophonic instrument accompanied by one polyphonic instrument Choice of mixed trio/quartet/quintet of individual instruments Chamber orchestra (string orchestra) Full orchestra 3) How many months should the competition span? (1 month, 2 months or 3 months) The duration of each piece should once again be between 3 - 7 minutes. Reviewing the entries will once again be spearheaded by the members/competitors at large. You are free to use the Official Competition Reviewing Template or you can review the entries in any way you see fit or create a template of your own making! There will be tiered "Ardent Reviewer" badges given out for this event: Featherweight Reviewer - for reviewing 33% of the entries submitted to the event Welterweight Reviewer - for reviewing 66% of the entries submitted to the event Heavyweight Reviewer - for reviewing 100% of the entries submitted to the event We are instituting a policy of not allowing any AI generated works in the competition. Because of this you will be required to detail how you created your piece and submit a PDF score or midi file for the perusal of the staff and members at large.

liebestraume-no-3 un orchestra.pdfUploading Attachment... I know it's been done before, but I really wanted to try making an orchestral cover for this btw I'm aware that player and tempo markings are a lil weird here, mainly the lack of div. unsi. and player marks for the winds and brass at times, I just didn't bother writing that, as this isn't going to be preformed. feedback would be appreciated :P (unless you're gonna tell me the climax comes too soon, I KNOW) liebestraume-no-3 audio.mp3

I want to join this competition

Hello, Since the duration of the pieces has been set at around 5 minutes—which I think is very manageable—and I think the evaluation template is great, I’d like to participate, to the best of my ability and based on my knowledge, as a reviewer... Please let me know if that’s okay. Best regards.

[INFO DUMP - WARNING ] You play this very wonderfully. Without the score, it is very pleasing to just close your eyes and listen. Easily very romantic, and as you said, very Chopinistic sounding. As an observation, Chopin's Op.48 no.1 Nocturne in C-minor feels like the source for your compositional style in this work; especially with the triplet recapitulation. Now to my raw comments, I have a range of things from literal score engraving and my own interpretation of the score from the eyes of another pianist: First thing from the score is the meter changes. I personally do not think you need to change the meter at all. Since you are imitating romantic style, I think it best to truly adhere to those compositional trends before breaking them. More specifically, the 2/4 bar at measure 5. It turns your 4-bar phrase into a 4 1/2-bar phrase and it only happens once? It is very atypical for that style. To add, you do not restate your opening melodic idea except the very beginning and the A' recap. Seeing the score, it does not imply a strong sense of A-B-A', but instead, a through-composed improvisation session that was transcribed. Even with 2 minutes & 30 seconds for this, I think you can bring the opening theme back to end the first A section, however, by modulating to the Dominant (As you did originally). With the B section, it seems more often than not, the left hand is the only hand doing 12/8. The right hand is still in 4/4 (or 2/2) as evident by all your duples. Just keep the same meter, and add triplets in the left hand, keep the right hand in a simple meter, and just re-add your 6-tuplets or other spots as you originally have. It will make the whole piece look and feel more cohesive to an outside view. Nearing the end, your "Recap" is not as strong or decisive as you think. We hear the opening material/ motif come back, but what about the harmony? Your piece is in G#-minor, so doesn't it make sense to end either in G#-minor or Ab-major? Instead, you never resolved the work by ending on an Eb-major chord, which is the enharmonic dominant of G#-minor. For musical clarity, please find a way to get us back to G#-minor. It is very common to use the END of the B-section as a transition into the opening key. Reference the Op.48 Nocturne I mentioned for this point. Lastly, the meter: You mark Alle Breve with Largo. If your reference Chopin Op.28, no.4 Prelude in E-minor, we see the same technique. If you play this, you need to keep the half-note intact; thus, it should be played faster. Your triplets in the B-section were too slow for the meter you picked. Alright, time to end! A nice work and very refreshing to hear. May these comments serve you well and if you would like to see these comments annotated for visual aid, let me know! Good luck in your exam and keep up the good work!

This original piano piece has very simple chords and melody, with the goal to create a soft, intimate and peaceful mood. Yet also with some underlying uplifting feeling and emotion. Simple, with 'stirring' quality if you know what I mean. Hope I achieved that. Let me know. 2019: This is an improvisation I made in 2019, recording live into my DAW without following the DAW metronome. So I had it in midi but measures do not follow a metronome beat. I couldn't record to a metronome anyway because there is much intentional rubato in this piece. 2026: Now I wanted to use a better piano sound and that was easy- just play the midi file with a good piano vst. The piano you hear is the UVI Model D Piano vst playing the original midi file I improvised in 2019 (with some minor note improvements) However what was not easy is creating the score! Which requires quantized notes. So I had a lot of work remaking every measure to have midi notes quantized, not for playing, but for the score. So the score does not play the piano but does show the accurate notes of the midi file that is playing the piano. Comments and suggestions welcome! score available for purchase at: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/1956655/Product.aspx Follow score pdf:

Hello @Marek , I see, that you have joined the forum recently and now at the first topic you have the fortune – or even the evil – that you’ve received a very detailed review which is not only intended as suggestion on the improvement of your particular piece but useful to all other members in this forum. So I could imagine, that there will be many replies on this topic in the future – perhaps a discussion or even a little dispute about the issues MK_Piano pointed out, especially on engraving. So there is my advice, take that serious, but not personal. I remember on a topic by Frederic Gill where some members had (their own) conversation about details he surely had not in mind and finally was a bit overwhelmed and „overteached“, so that I was a bit afraid he would be too disappointed and would leave the forum at all. Therefore, I now come first to your music, where I only speak from my listening impression: I can really imagine a shore in the morning where the fog is slowly lifting and the sun comes on shining through the clouds. It’s a very calm and serene moment, in which the perception of time seems to be gone away. After you’ve walked an endlessly seeming time at the shore, you turn your head and look back – now discovering the great lighthouse you hadn’t seen before, since it was hidden by the cliffs above, you now have passed. I tell that story to express the sole criticism which I have, and that is the length of the piece in comparison with the things that happen. And in this I can only agree with MK_Piano’s comments on his final pages of the annotated score. Now to the comments concerning engraving: Hello @MK_Piano, thank you for your effort you have put into annotating the score. I think this is helpful not only for Marek, but also to me and many other forum members. There are a few general rules you pointed out which one should follow to achieve a clear score presentation, for example • No dynamics on rests. • Not to prolong notes using ties whenever it is possible to notate otherwise, for example with dotted notes. • No separated rests whenever it is possible to combine them into a larger rest. • No diminuendo to „nothing“ (e.g. unplayable dynamic marks like „pianississimo“). • Some aesthetics (clashing dynamics symbols). And in the examples in that particular score, it is „obvious“ to follow that rules would be a huge improvement. However, as I remember at some of my piano preludes and fugues, there are some situations where I intentionally violated that rules in situations where I find that the score becomes more readable when using tied notes instead of dotted ones or when separating longer rests and put the shorter against the notes of the same length in another voice – to mention some examples. I don’t want to go into detail with this at Marek’s thread here, so I would ask you whether I could discuss that topic with you in the future, for example when I’m about to present that respective pieces here on the forum. One advice I can really emphasize, is to maintain two different scores. One as the „printing“ score to be used for playing from, and one solely for the purpose of recording in your software. I do so with all of my pieces, and the „recording“ score is full of exaggerated articulations, dynamic marks and even micro tempo changes to achieve a satisfying, more realistic recording result wherein I can express my ideas about the interpretation.

This is a very small and simple Fugue i made in one sitting, im still pretty bad at making fugues and baroque music in general, so please have a bit of mercy on me! LOB 53 Fuga.mp3

I was listening to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations again after quite some time, and I’ve become convinced that, personally, I believe it might be the greatest work ever written for the piano. It filled me with such excitement and inspiration that I sat down at the piano and wrote a variation of my own. Knowing the story behind this theme—that about fifty composers each wrote a variation on it—it felt like a great opportunity to test myself as well. Because of my enthusiasm, in a single sitting of about half an hour I improvised and came up with this charming figurational variation. I hope you enjoy it and appreciate it.

I admit that was my implication, yes. Also, appreciate the graphic, as that is information I already know. I will also confess that seeing all the photo and video graphics in quick succession with your posts does give the impression that you use gen-AI to create the videos, photos, or other graphics (on your profile for instance) in tandem with the music creation. Thus, it has also made me wonder if the music, usually electronic in sound, was also gen-AI. Apologies if I have casted an offense, as I do not mean to do so; this is more of a personal curiosity. I don't mean to take this comment section away from your post, so I do not mind chatting in a direct message thread instead.

Thanks for posting @Sebastian Guzman ! It's been a while since I've listened to the Liszt B minor Sonata, but I am definitely getting vibes of it here (most assuredly from your B-octave motif). Your musical language in this work does feel very Lisztian to me, which is inclusive of the harmony and the piano textures, and that I mostly do mean as a compliment. I'm curious to know what other influences/inspirations you may have had while writing this movement though, as some sections do seem to draw from other wells of musical ideas (e.g. the harmonic movements in b. 91-105 felt distinctly modern to me). I confess that I am not really in a position to offer super helpful advice but I hope you'll find this useful anyway. I also don't mean any suggestion as an attack on your writing, of course, but as an exchange of ideas that you could optionally disregard :) Exposition The B-octave motif is very reminiscent of one of the motifs in the B minor Sonata, haha. I see that the majority of the dotted rhythm in this motif is the backbone for the rhythm of the A theme, if I am correct... I noticed in your trimmed-down video you seemed to have cut out b. 54-62 from the A theme and b. 105-118 from the B theme? Admittedly, I prefer the abridged version as I thought the material in question to be a little redundant, given that you do cover well and to great length both themes in the exposition. My thematic economy side of my brain would like to think that one should only state a theme until the listener is familiar enough with it to recognise said theme when it pops up in the development. If you wanted to keep said material for symmetry/form-related reasons/other personal preferences, though, by all means do so. I do love the B theme in all of its mellow sweetness, especially its first half. The second half of the B theme feels a bit static with the repeated notes, but coupled with the rolling left hand accompaniment, it does give a sense of floating/gliding, if that is what you desired. As I said, I quite like the harmony you move through in b. 91-105. A charming change in texture from b. 154 onwards! Development The fugato start of the development seems a bit dry? I can see where you are going with the material but I'm not super convinced by b. 164-187, though I suppose some pedal would help, or varying the articulation and texture a tad more even if a fugato. I didn't quite exactly get fugato vibes from it either, given how long the statement of the theme is. This is completely a suggestion, of course, and it is up to you as to how you'd like your sonata to work, but perhaps using only the first phrase of the theme (b. 164-166) and then building up a series of entries in other voices could be rather effective. I somewhat find this example to also be a bit dry, but I like the energy build-up of this fugato moment in the development of the fourth movement of Scriabin's Third Sonata, if you wanted something similar. Interesting, from b. 178 onwards in the fugato, you introduce another voice that is the B theme, or at least an echo of it, if I'm correct? I am a big fan of juxtaposing thematic material in the development sections of sonatas, if so... The material in b. 196-215 seems a bit overly virtuosic? I'm uncertain whether there might be some significance in the chords/harmonies you use here, but I think it'd be great to insert more of the existing thematic material in here, fragmented or whatnot. Overall, the development feels short to me, not in the least because I feel like you could've pulled out your compositional chops a bit more. Given the length of the exposition, I think this deserves a heftier development with varied treatment and inclusion of all three of the A and B themes and the B-octave motif. Trying to set the tempestuous A theme or the B-octave motif into the suave atmosphere/mood of the B theme, for example, or more chopping and changing, there are a wide variety of things you could do. Liszt can of course be a great source of ideas here! Recap Nice to restate the B-octave theme. Maybe the transition from the end of the development could be made smoother? I'm not sure though. I like the recasting of the textures in the recap of the A theme, but it feels a little airy? I'm not sure if you were going for that feel, and if you were, then I am in no place to complain. I suppose you could add some deep bass notes on the offbeats to give it a bit more body and hold them with your regular pedal, or see if the sostenuto pedal could work (though it could make the right hand arpeggios rather dry). I also appreciate the A theme being a bit shorter here... With b. 236 onwards and B theme, the energy seems to drop somewhat, with almost the exact statement of the original B theme but transposed. It is once again up to you, but you could also recap the B theme in a different texture, as you did with the A theme. I felt like the energy levels ought to have ramped up a bit more moving further and further down to match the energy of b. 282 onwards to the coda, possibly? At the moment, the ending feels mildly content with itself, though I would think the large chords and dynamics would suggest otherwise. With notation and formatting, I also admit I'm not the best person to offer advice, but there does seem to be the occasional odd things, e.g. whatever is stretching out b. 122 (the rest in the upper staff can also be removed there), the clipping of text at the end of the system at b. 248-250, and the slightly overzealous floating slur in b. 288. I've been told that with hairpins, it's best practice to state exactly which dynamic the hairpin starts and ends at, including double hairpins like < so >, but I am open to corrections. Yeah, that's most of what I have to offer with thoughts. Excellent playing, by the way, I almost forgot to mention! This already looks like a difficult sonata so far with this first movement and you interpreted it very pleasingly, at least to my ears, and in a very convincing way (though I suppose it is up to the composer yourself to decide whether it was served justice, lol).

Wow! I actually think this piece has many qualities that make it a convincing imitation of this french baroque style, so overall, very well done. Some things I want to praise is your use of ornamentation, the tempo and time signature changes in the Passacailles, solid structure, your use of the same dotted rhythmic motive throughout both movements, and occasional, but functional dissonance. There are some sections in your piece where I think that, despite this "lute" style of French Baroque you are going for, even in the non lute sections, some of the intervals are too wide (like E4 to Bb5), to the point that even if they could be rolled, or even shared by both hands, they could be slightly unidiomatic, especially with all of the ornaments going on and the different voices, so just something to think about. Another thing I want to mention, is the lack of articulation. Sure, you have ornaments, but surprisingly, as opposed to Bach's music and other baroque composers, this is actually pretty common for the French Baroque tradition, leaving it up to the performers. Overall, I think this is a great imitation, I think you did a wonderful job on this experiment, and I look forward to see where you take this piece moving on!

Yo, Since some people have asked about what I'm up to for film scoring I figured now would be a good time to make a thread. Firstly, I am scoring a very cool action/horror film that begins shooting next month, but they are looking to raise some additional funds. Check out this spoiler-free (mostly), behind-the-scenes video (which I also scored). The film stars stuntwoman and actress Alleya Bourne, whose work you may have seen on "The Last of Us" and the film's effects, including the animatronic creature itself are all practical and provided by an Emmy-winning team who have also lent their talents in prosthetics, makeup and puppeteering to Hollywood films like "Sonic The Hedgehog" and "Child's Play". The entire cast and crew would greatly appreciate any support you might able to offer, which you can do so at this link: The Customer - Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark Oh and you can check out the teaser trailer (which features a heavily-reverbed version of a vocal track I wrote for it) for another film I composed for, a dark supernatural drama called "Crossroads" starring Dave Greason (MGM+'s Billy The Kid) Both will be doing the festival tours in North America later this year so you can catch them in a number of major cities! Thank you for checking it out and all the support the Young Composers community has given me over the years!

aight im in

Funnily enough, it's very telling of commenters who don't have much of substance to say about the overall quality of my work when they start pointing out the most banale, trivial nitpicks. Not your case by any means, but it's a relatively common occourrence in the comment sections of some my videos. Things like "this is supposed to be 3/4, not 6/8 meter" or "the panning of the background choir doesn't match that of the Cantāmus one". I wouldn't say it's a matter of reputation. I also wouldn't write such replies unless I have any observations or criticsm of substance to offer, as I believe it's a waste both of my time and that of the composer whose work I'm reviewing. Besides, this composition is technically a revised version of and older work: a repost, if you will, so I wouldn't blame more seasoned members who frequently comment on my posts for merely withholding what has already been said before. I had never tried this double-scoring method before, and I must admit it sounds as effective in rendering more human-like expression as much as it seems to pose a whole lot of work. The closest thing to this I usually do is manually inputting the exact tempo gradation values for the ritardandi at the end of each piece, since before MuseScore 4 came out there was no way to insert working rallentandi automatically into the score, or at the very least, not that I knew of. So in order to cover my tracks while still keeping those tempo markings functional, I manually alter the text format to make them invisible, even inside the program itself. That alone often turns out to be an absurdly tedious process and I hate it. At the moment I doubt I could even imagine myself inputting all those rubatos and expression markings and then subjecting those to the same formatting process without cleaving my head open in half out of exasperation. Even if the improvements were marginally or even substantially noticeable, I have much more valuable things to do with my time than attempt to "humanize" the recording manually. The mere thought of engaging in such a tiresome toil for a result that could far more accurately and naturally be replicated through MIDI input or a simple performance recording sends me quite aback. I've heard of this software before. A Discord user by the name of @grpnr1345 applied the software's protocol's to one of my earlier fugues under the same guise, and the results were mixed for me, because the sampling and reverb values were just deplorable, turning the overall timbral quality of the piece essentially into a downgrade, but the altered recording itself, as well as the intricacies of its transformation, felt rather convincing. For context, the audio file in question has been attached to this post. Lastly, thank you kindly for your detailed review. As for the software you mentioned, you're free to apply the Lilypond protocol to my score whenever you feel like it or have time for it. It will most definitely be interesting to see how different users of the same software modify music in the same style, so you have my full permission and encouragement to "humanize" the recording as you see fit. Fugue in G-sharp minor No. 17 Pablo Marinero Cueto 2023 - Zell 1737.mp3 Fugue in G-sharp minor #17.pdf

I'll join

me me me. I intend!

Regarding the Criteria for the Contest I presume the rules include " ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS ONLY" , Renditions & Covers Rejected ?

Oh reeeeeally... I can't wait to come up with some nonsense

Hello @Fugax Contrapunctus ! I’m a bit surprised and even disappointed that your fugue hasn’t received a single review over the last two weeks, and so I’ll try to be the first one. Perhaps the reason is that most of the members hesitate to write a „I-have-very-enjoyed-your-playful-piece-Thanks-for-sharing“ reply because of your reputation. I’m thinking of your razor-sharp introductions, packed with background knowledge and specialist terms as well as that counterpoint – fugues and even perpetual canons – is considered to be very hard and not everybody is experienced enough to give profound comments. The choice of the subject for your fugue – I think I’ve already watched the video a year or so ago – from the G sharp minor fugue of the WTC1 has captivated me since that particular fugue is for me a distinctive one and one of my favorites (while there are many). The original key of G sharp minor has such a characteristic mystical and gloomy mood reminding me somewhat at Halloween – and interestingly your „Halloween-fugue“ which I have seen on YouTube, too, is consequently also in that key! And even your A minor version retains that pitch nearly exactly in the tuning (A=415) you’ve chosen! Even if you use the subject from Bach’s fugue, your fugue is a completely different one – showing which incredible possibilities counterpuntal composition offers – always having material with which to compose. While Bach’s one has a more walking character, your one has a continuous flow due to the complementary rhythm created by the semiquavers in the counterpoint and the episodes. That made it not as easy for me to discover the subject entries, so that I took the time to look in the score thoroughly and annotate them; I think I’ve detected the following ones: • Exposition: Bar 1 (bass, a minor), bar 3 (alto, e phrygian), bar 5 (soprano, a minor) • as sole subject entry in the 1st episode: Bar 13 (tenor, b minor) • 2nd Development: Bar 23 (alto, a minor), bar 27b (tenor, g minor), bar 29b (soprano, c minor) • 3rd Development: Bar 35 (bass, d minor), bar 39 (tenor, a minor), bar 41 (alto, e minor) • 4th Development: Bar 47 (bass, a minor), bar 49 (alto, e phrygian), bar 53 (soprano, a minor) Now I feel comfortable enough voicing a few points of criticism, which—intended as suggestions— could bring the experience of the listener and the reader of your score to another level: What prompted my “analysis” above was the fact that the subject entries are relatively difficult for the listener to perceive. You have – for example – omitted the staccatos on the last four notes of the subject in all recurring entries. Or to be more clearer, there are no articulation, phrasing, dynamics, pedaling and tempo marks (except the ritardando in the coda) at all. This might be completely intentional, since such annotations were unusual in the Baroque era, but - in my opinion – a human player would always apply that to express its interpretation, and I’m sure that was also the case during Bach’s time. And for a recording from a „software“ it is essential to apply these things to achieve a – more or less – realistic impression and to avoid that the recording sounds too mechanical as it is inherently the case due to the „exactness“ of the midi output generated from the „pure“ score. I have made the experience, that investing effort to articulation, phrasing, dynamics, pedaling and micro tempo changes brings a huge improvement of the realism of the recording and made a piece I nearly was going to throw away since I felt it boring worth to listen to. Since then, I always maintain two scores. One as the „printing“ score to be used for playing from, and one solely for the purpose of recording in the software. I do so with all of my pieces, and the „recording“ score is full of exaggerated articulations, dynamic marks and even micro tempo changes to achieve a satisfying, more realistic recording result wherein I can express my ideas about the interpretation. I must admit, that I have the temptation to take your fugue – if you don’t have anything against -, type it into my software (I use „lilypond“) and add the articulation, dynamics etc. according to my interpretation. I would be excited how it would sound like. (I can’t promise to do so, perhaps soon or in a year or never, regarding the time I find.) A last comment on your score: When I’m looking at it at the first glance, there are some intervals that seem to be unplayable or uncomfortable to be played. I’m sure, that all of them are playable, but you have (while done otherwise) omitted to take over the note in the other hand. This might be better for reading the score for analysis purposes (only). But when coming to playing and especially sight-reading and a note of an interval is written in the “wrong” staff, the recognition pattern that a sight-reader normally uses to identify that interval is inherently lost, forcing the player to identify a single note and add it to the chord/interval being played, which slows down the process. Consequently, such situations require practice and/or memorization, which contradicts the approach of sight-reading and playing the piece “without practice.” Therefore, I very appreciate scores where the chords/intervals are notated as a complete pattern in that staff where it is to be played by the respective hand. I must admit, that such a score looks sometimes a bit „cluttered“ because of the „kneed beams“ and sometimes cross-staff note stems (producing sometimes problems for the collision resolving with dynamics, slurs etc), but if the player finally makes the respective annotations by hand in its score, the readability is reduced, too.

I hope you don't mean that you're composing a solo piano type of thing for this competition... Since we're only doing trios, quartets, and quintets. Also.. are you intending to enter this competition or not? You haven't made that clear from your previous posts..

Hello, I'm looking forward to the new contest and would therefore like to announce that I will be participating. Unfortunately, my favorite among the topics – „Mock-ups, Mash-ups and Medleys“ – did not win the poll, but „Landscapes – Soundscapes“ also sounds very interesting – while also very challenging. The duration of two month seems appropriate to me – not too short and not too long. I think depicting a landscape musically with no more than five instruments might not be easy (though still better than using a solo piano)—usually, painting “landscapes” requires the use of a full orchestra. But let’s see what happens ...

I would like to participate in this competition, please

I declare my intent to join into this competition

This score was conceived on the idea of building a chord using an interval pattern built as: Root (Any note) > Perfect 5th > Perfect 5th (from the prev. note) > # Semi Tone > Perfect 5th. I found that this gives you (X)min9 every time, regardless of what note you start it on. But built with intervals like this gives it a very wide, open, airy, ethereal sound that I just couldn't get enough of. Additionally, there is some personalized nuance included in the direction and theming of this piece, that is intended to depict a feeling of melancholy, mixed with a sense of hopefulness; It tells a story of losing one's purpose within their life, and struggling to find their way back to a specific goal again. I am having a difficult time sticking myself to a certain structure/form, and struggling to find more direction as to where this piece could go... Any suggestions or comments are highly appreciated :) Update: Have reached the final measure barline. Not sure if this is how I want to conclude. I also notice I don't have much of a bridge-like section, aside from the sudden but fitting change in left hand rhythm for a section... I'd like to have some sort of alternate melody section that then returns to the motif again for the end, but if it's fine the way it is, let me know. lol Aurora.pdf32468483.mp3

Thank you! I'm glad I was able to capture the intended mood of the overall work. Found the pattern while messing around on my MIDI keyboard the other day, playing with spitfire LABS VST3 piano sounds. Also, if you've seen any of my other works, you'll notice I tend to have a bit of favoritism for open-spelling chords & triplets / tuplets in general. 😅 I like the suggestions for the form, here. I sort of just allowed my ear to guide it up to the point seen in the post. If you have the time, I have an entirely different conceptualized structure written out in a separate score file, that was inspired by some creative liberty granted to @MK_Piano while in a discord call the other day. I will share this new info right here: Aurora-UpdatedVersion.pdf Aurora-UpdatedVersion.mp3

Your charisma is noteworthy 😀 Also... I got a WWE Intercontinental championship belt from the last competition. Winner gets it... but ask Peter, he has it.

I am shocked that you said you are not an orchestration expert! You definitely are an expert for me with your ochestral works posted here! Henry

I am not an orchestration expert, so everything looks very fine to me and is well orchestrated. For the cymbals parts it’s best not to choose a decrescendo on an attack since the decay is already a naturally happening phenomenon. Other than that, I like how the brasses used throughout what you have provided.

I'm creating an absurdist world, where the series link together...so it might be weird if you aren't into that kind of humor lol. But I rely on music to help with storytelling. Here's an example of a musical, but I also started doing mini episodes.

Hello everyone! I‘m very excited looking forward to the next competition I would like to participate. The suggestions concerning the the topic in combination with the instrumentation are very interesting, but also challenging. After a quick look, I’m not really sure yet which topic/instrumentation I would prefer, and which musical idea would best fit for any of them, so I need to take some time thinking about, how to vote in the poll. (Hopefully, I won‘t miss the deadline ...)

That sounds really interesting. Is there a video of @chopin doing something like this that I can watch? I like this idea, as well as the landscape one and the mashup. As for the overall theme, I don’t know—it should be open-ended, right? And as for the duration of the competition, maybe two months at most, so it doesn’t spill over into the next season.

Wonderful suggestions! I am eager to see what this one turns out to be. In my opinion, I wish I voted for two genres as both landscapes or autobiographical writing seems very interesting to me. I do like writing for large orchestra, but for things like this, I find the intimate nature of a chamber group or solo instrument befitting for a few minutes depicting spring. Two months seem very appropriate to start a brand new work and finish it.

Hello everone 🙂 My first post here is part one of larger composition I am currently working on. The composition is called The Great Lighthouse and is inspired by Christopher Paolini's book Fractal Noise. Part one is written in largo - A minor and is called Discovery. Please enjoy and any feedback would be appreciated 🙂 Musescore: https://musescore.com/user/60829534/scores/32485457

We already have "Counterpoint Wizard" badge for it! I myself receive it twice lol! We have the badge "Amorous Romanticist" for it, though no one ever receives the badge lol! What is featured in an outstanding Prokofiev writing lol? Only @Thatguy v2.0 himself can be better than himself until Thatguy vUlimited.0 lol Henry

Hello Marek Please don't despair or feel Broken hearted, for trying hard to make a composition be appreciated, for being Special . It is appreciated and special , because its Totally Unique, your the one who created it. Medicine can taste Horrible, and make you feel ill, but in the Long-Term, it can actually help. and its the same with advice from those who are qualified to give it ,and without payment required, so thats a good thing. This is your First Post, and it was good, but MK's advice can also lead you to better things in future posts , so please don't be too despondent There's even greater scores for you to discover , in your future compositions. i wish you luck. MK.............. Im pleased your post was recognized by PeterthePapercomPoser!

this piece was composed with me hearing absolotly nothing while in the making of it, I wanted to see how well can I make pieces like that. yipieeee.mp3 wadanada.pdf

Things added - drums- riser at start- bass near end part- added instruments for beat drop- anyway, here it is:

I have just updated the post - up to 13 themes now!!!

Thanks for the comment! I’m sure there could be plenty of changes to do, however, this work was one of my earlier attempts at writing for the orchestra. A time before I got any composition feedback from any mentors. I thankfully won a competition and spent a week working with composer Robert Bradshaw. During that time, he gave me tips on voicing, orchestration, and understanding tessitura. My rewrite was not to completely redo the work but polish it with the new information and techniques I learned. So, while I appreciate the feedback, I will not be rewriting certain spots in the work as I still want to keep it as is to show my growth overtime.

@Wieland Handke Apologies, I didn't think anyone would be interested in seeing the score. In any case, here it is. SCORE.pdf AUDIO.mp3

Hello @Luis Hernández, I’m sorry, but today I’m writing only silly comments …. For the first moment I thought it were a piano exercise how to play a crescendo on a long, tied note and how to perform a tremolo just on a single note … 🤣 But no, its seriously! And your solution is a great example what can be done with orchestration if the underlying piece of music (or sketch) is well crafted! Thus it shows, that one should first compose the piece for piano (for example) or for a small ensemble before going to the full orchestration. (Unfortunately there was no score and reading from the video was a bit uncomfortable, since relatively small ...) Very enjoyed.