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Any style you want! You can submit a piece that is modern or classical. As long as it could be called a prelude or fugue, go for it! I am allowing such a broad range so we can have a collection which showcases the different members, and thus YC as a whole.

Have you read a crash-course in writing fugues? You can start practicing writing fugues by taking melodies (from other composers or your own) and write only expositions for three or four voices

The answer can be in dominant (5th up or 4th down) or in subdominant (4th up or 5th down). Answers in subdominant are very rare, though , but there are some examples - Toccata and Fugue in d minor by Bach or Bach's Sinfonia from Partita in c minor.

Congratulations, @Ken320 on a well-deserved victory, and also to Gustav for a very worthy entry. If this were a college seminar, I would pray that we'd all be graded on a curve. Thanks as always to Monarcheon for her patient and tireless dedication to judging and reviewing for these competitions and the site at large. And Gustav hit the nail on the head when he said these themed competitions can really give you a creative boost, and a deadline is always a good motivator. I'd be in favor of continuing the competitions; I have no qualms with being either a judge or contestant as needed. Yeah @Monarcheon it's okay with me to use this for your project, although my write-up was pretty... cataclysmic 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

About real/tonal answers: In fact Bach did use tonal answers very often, 16 of 24 fugues in WTC 1 have tonal answers, in The Art of Fugue every simple fugue have tonal answer. About your fugue: I think the subject would be better if the third note was "a" not "b flat". Also watch out the parallel octaves at the beginning of measure 3 and 5 (S and B), and parallel fifths in beginning of 4. Voice leading means to watch the intervals between voices, for example you have to avoid ninths and sevenths in two-part counterpoint (see measures 4 second half of beat 3). But I agree with Monarcheon, the way you did the answers is a little strange. The second entry of subject could be a great real answer in subdominant, I think

Good! You aren't afraid of new techniques. The bowed guitar sounds very nice here. Beautiful piece.

@Youngc, the word "Heroica" was originally part of the name of the piano quartet. I called it that for the competition which I submitted the first movement of the work to. The first video, by the way, is the performance of it at the competition's concert. Later on, however, I decided to just call it "Piano Quartet", without the word "Heroica" attached to it.

Starting out with a bang really got my attention in a hurry! I also liked your depiction of the "eerie" in that the harmonies were actually lovely and maybe more fanciful than "uncomfortable." That was a good choice which kept it firmly in the realm of music and not sound painting.I especially like the minor key meloies and the references to "The day the Earth Stood Still," whether intended or not. I'm glad you took the time to contribute with this brief but memorable journey. Good luck to you in the competition!

This is good work, Noah. I like the themes and the way you build it/etc., so points there. A really nice contrast with the lyrical section in the middle. Watch for unconventional orchestration things (i.e. the flute in the lower range would be way covered up by the rest of the instruments accompanying it). The chords in the third section are truly awesome - they have the right character for an ending. I think that really highlights one of the strengths of this piece: your harmonic ideas. The melodic motifs were developed in as much as they were passed around, but you might have strengthened the development by choosing a snip of the motif and altering it as you developed. For example: On the last notes of this theme in the viola solo, you added sixteenth notes as you passed it around. Try maybe altering the interval between the third-to-last pitch and the penultimate pitch? Or altering the interval to get to the lowest pitch? Or something similar. The rhythmic ideas and harmonic ideas are good, and you made good use of instrumental "gestures". Strengthen the melodies (at least at points, doesn't need to be all the time!) so the audience has something a little more obvious to follow. Honestly I struggle with these skills a lot, too, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt! Loved listening, thanks for submitting! Gustav

I think the music you've made is very true to a cataclysm of that kind as it's not sad at all at first. It's just terrifying and it doesn't give the time to be sad. It does bring some desolation in the middle when the survivalists try to help each other and don't really understand what's going on, but I think that's the point. Everyone is on the panic mode. That's my point of view and very good job to you. I think it's a nice idea to think of how someone could explore other emotions around cataclysm. Like a more romantic view or a last will.