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IN A DIFFERENT WORLD YC Composer Competition - Summer, 2020 We live in a bit of an unprecedented time and it seems that many of us are, understandably, feeling many emotions ranging from anger to fatigue to even hope. Whatever your reaction, welcome to this summer's competition, where you'll attempt to express it as creatively as possible. I. Topic: Compose a piece that in some way mirrors one's reaction to the 2020 global pandemic and how it may or may not sway or adapt over time into something else. II. Eligibility: 1. You must be a member of the Young Composers forum in order to enter. Sign ups will be in the comments below for JUDGE or ENTRANT. Comment "I'd like to enter as ____" for entry. 2. There will again be no limits regarding instrumentation. There is no minimum length, but there is a maximum length of 15 minutes. 3. You must have some sort of audio rendition accompanying your work. 4. You must present a score of your music for judging. 5. If you volunteer to be a judge, you may not enter as a contest participant. III. Scoring: Scoring will be split into two categories with two "winners" – member voting and traditional judging. Member Voting: Once submissions have been entered, members will get three votes in which to vote on each other's pieces. These votes are tiered, meaning you will vote for your favorite entry, your second favorite entry, and your third favorite entry. The criteria or reasons for your vote need not be explained, though participants are highly encouraged to leave reviews on each other's works regardless. Members will send their first, second, and third choice picks to the facilitator @Noah Brode after the submission deadline. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Traditional Judging: How well is the central process of the piece executed? How effective is the progression, or in the case of a lack of a linear one, how well is it represented? Most importantly, how internally consistent is the piece in the construction of a narrative? /25 How well is the piece orchestrated? Do instrumental orchestration (range, ability, etc.) and voice leading seem to be appropriate? How effective is the treatment of the ensemble? /20 How clear is the score and audio of the submission? /5 A brief written segment (1-2 sentences) is required to explain the premise of the piece, if any. /0 Entrants whose primary language is not English are encouraged still to participate, as the diction and syntax themselves will not be judged. Judges will not judge the premise itself and will use the explanation to rationalize participant choices. Timeline: Members will submit entries by first submitting their piece to @Noah Brode, both the score and the audio file. SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR ENTRANTS: AUGUST 14, 11:59 PST JUDGING DEADLINE FOR ENTRANTS: AUGUST 28, 11:59 PST - CHANGED FROM AUGUST 21. JUDGING DEADLINE FOR JUDGES: AUGUST 28, 11:59 PST Current Entrants: 1. PaperComposer 2. Thatguy v2.0 3. caters 4. Quinn 5. danishali903 6. Left Unexplained 7. HoYin Cheung 8. Hendrik Meniere 9. Leonardo C. Núñez 10. Gernt 11. Joshua Ng 12. Rodrigo Ruiz 13. i(don't)suckatcomposing 14. Austentite Current Judges: 1. @Noah Brode 2. @Tónskáld 3. @Monarcheon

There is a bit of both involved in it. It kinda creates a feedback loop. Incoming longpost: I kinda talk about this in my thread on here about the deification of Film/Game composers, and I have had a number of (disappointing) discussions with composers, even very successful ones, IRL and online. On a number of occasions, I have talked with trailer music composers and the like who literally cannot fathom the idea of music not simply being a "product" but something more important than just a tune that fits the latest Marvel trailer. I have had many conversations with musicians who believe that a musician's skill can purely be measured in how many soundcloud or youtube followers you have, unaware of the fact that the most popular music YouTubers are often just hot girls with patreons and modest musical skill. Everyone wants to be an "epic" composer because that's where the money is and having your track in the trailer/game/movie is like this big status booster, because so many people are hooked on these products and even incorporate it into their identity. For example, for years I was a part of another forum called OCReMix, and I have a few remixes that were on their albums and YouTube channels and such — some of them have 10s of thousands of views, I think. Some guy even made a guitar hero play-through of one. While I really liked the community there, the one negative thing I can say is that a lot of people had too much attachment to "video game music" in particular (because they were super attached to video games) and it is my opinion that the site frankly has leveraged that consumerism against the musicians. Like, a few years ago, I remember there was this big blow up when it was found out that the owner of the site monetized all of the thousands of remixes on their YouTube channel (a service they do not pay for) and had intentionally avoided telling the community about that change for 3 whole months and his defense was "nobody noticed." As you might expect, at first, this sent the community into a rage, but the Admin was able to easily dispel by spinning some yarn about how it was going to make the site better and enable them to better realize their "mission" in spreading the love and cheer of video game music (I guess) and that he intended to file for the site to become a non-profit organization. They have since become a non-profit, going about whatever their crusade supposedly stands for, and that means that any excess money not used for "operating costs" (of which they have very little) goes back to furthering that cause. The Admin, who just finished admitting he deceived the entire community, expects you to believe that he does not make any money of this endeavor he's been building for most of his adult life. Now, all of the remixes past and present, which were created for fun by fans and do not generate them money, are pulling in ad revenue not just for OCReMix (via a platform it does not cost them to upload to) but a portion also goes to all of the video game publishers who own the music, and are multi-million or billion dollar, global corporations all while the musicians make nothing. The community is now not just fine with it, but many champion it as something virtuous because they see these games as a part of their very identity as a musician, but in reality — they're just being exploited. Giving once free but now paid advertising to global corporations via music remixes that can never truly be theirs. I once got into a heated argument with the community about why we should place more value on our OWN compositions than on covers of video game tunes. Music which, while certainly has a lot of good stuff, was ultimately made to be attached to something that was meant simply to sell, sell, sell. It is not of the same origin as something like Beethoven or Grieg, and their connection to PEOPLE. The one musician who first brought this whole monetization fiasco to the community's attention, and was a respected member of the community with more posted remixes than anyone for a long time, was quickly turned on by the community and banned for opposing the Admin's decisions. To most of those people, music is at its best when it's a part of a consumer product; consumer products that their fandom of, forms an integral part of who they are as not just musicians, but people. It's sad. When you say "composer" to most modern people, they think of all the mini Hans Zimmers working on the next movie or they think of old guys who make a bunch of weird, abstract art music they don't like and doesn't resonate with them. But when you sit in on say, a really-great Celtic folk music performance: And you just are awestruck by the performances, the catchy and soaring melodies, how well crafted the whole piece is, how everything falls into place so perfectly and both layman and expert alike are inspired by its beauty and genius — it is the same as one feels gazing upon the Neuschwanstein Castle or one of the Japanese castles while the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, at the Chapel in Notre Dame, or standing before a Bernini sculpture or Bryullov painting — even though the name of the composer of the piece may be lost to history, it's beauty endures and it still burns with the unique spirit of the people who created it, and still brings them together and inspires them forever. THAT is what it's supposed to be about — and avant-garde noise and drone music, or meaning/formless splatter paintings, and a cross dumped in urine will never be able to be that kind of positive force.

This choral piece was composed in April 2020 and it was designed to celebrate my 15th anniversary since me and my wife became the couple. 🙂 Hence the premiere took place on social media on 30th May. Due to quarantine 16 students of Conservatoire for Music and Ballet Ljubljana accepted this "mission impossible" and recorded the composition throughout the May and put all separate recordings together. It was probably a heck of a challenge but the result is quite impressive. The choral sound is very unique though... 😉 It is one of my most inspired choral works in recent years and it has a special emotional component. 🙂 The musical language is generally tonal, with frequent add of lydian augmented fourth and sudden surprise chromaticism. This is also prominent at the end of composition when the harmony seems to be content resting on A flat major chord but it ends with sudden C major (I simply heard it to be appropriate).

This is quite impressive! Some parts reminded me of something Schubert would write, some had a more Rachmaninoff quality to them. Beautiful recording as well. It'd be nice to see a score too. If you need a violist in the future, I am at your service 🙂

You are making this way too complicated for a friendly competition which is really for personal satisfaction and with no tangible prize. How about just having separate awards for judges, members, and entrants separately, similar to how competitions have an audience prize. Make the judges award the "official" result but still allowing for others to have their input.

Another prelude in my set of 24 for each key. A very short one this prelude capturing my interpretation with C# Major. short and too the point but beautiful while it lasts. please leave thoughts down below.

Nice piece! I see you continue in your quest to a prelude for each key, and you're doing great so far. The sequentially repeating of the motif is overall really pleasnt across the piece, and those bits like clef changing in the bass to preserve the other half of the motif there, as well as the contrast between different subdivisions on each voice while approaching the end, both add extra difficulty that makes it even more interesting to play. Keep the good works coming!

Any chance you'd transpose that to the enharmonic, Db major? Not a lot of people sight-read C# major as well as Db, so it would just be easier on the eyes. I think it's a very wise thing to work through the key signatures with these preludes like you're doing, so you can get a better feel for how they fit together. This prelude works well, almost like an etude, but with enough unexpected turns to keep it interesting. I liked the flowing-ness of this one a lot. Keep up the good work!

This is what you said in reference to value judgments about music. You yourself said they weren't very important. Who cares if ACO thinks your music sounds below garage-tier recordings rock music? Not you, according to your own statement. And then you put up some works to defend ACO's value judgment that will likely end this thread. Sigh. Now, I'm going to throw logic aside and just tell you how I feel. From the moment you entered this thread, everything has been about you. We were having a perfectly civil discussion, yet within literal minutes of your arriving on the scene, the thread had been shut down and you were on the forum chat, touting it like it was a victory for you. Even now, you say: This is how little you care about what others might value. You would rather prove your point to save face than preserve enjoyment for others who have nothing to do with this. They/we are innocent bystanders who have become casualties in this war to salvage your own ego. I was enjoying this discussion immensely, as were many others—who have since left the discussion because it became awfully one-sided. Yes, you can project your feelings and say "this is all ACO's and Quinn's fault, they're the ones who attacked first." When we point fingers, though, there are always three pointing back at us. Recognize your part in the blame, too. And that's what I'll leave you with: admitting your mistakes. You aren't a perfect human being and nobody expects you to be, except maybe yourself. Give yourself a little grace and apologize to others every once in a while. It'll keep you humble. And I think people will like you more for it. For my part, I enjoyed our discussion. Unfortunately, I've found your behavior towards those who cross you inexcusable and have blocked you, so I won't be able to see your replies. I'm sorry to do that, but these kinds of hostile exchanges between parties affect me deeply, and if I have the power to avoid witnessing them, I will exercise that power. To the moderators: I hope this thread can be salvaged. 🙏 To the forum: I apologize for my part in feeding these unprofitable exchanges. Please, please overlook the unrelated discussion and continue to offer up your opinions on this very interesting subject!

Great piece. Good variation in the left hand (you know I'm obsessed with that...). The piece flows very well. I don't think the first part should be discarded. It's a good contrast. Perhaps a little part could be improved: the transition (measures 17 - 20). Transition between two parts can take lots of work if those are very different. This video by @Jean Szulc (great work) is very good and talks about this problem and some tools to resolve it. @J.Santos Me parece una pieza muy muy buena y que encaja totalmente en el período ese clásico-romántico primero. Los cambios armónicos son muy bonitos. Saludos.

In the end, you have to have an audience. Though my exposure to modern music is admittedly low, I did study music composition at the university level and was generally discouraged by the seeming attitude of modern composers (at least whom I was exposed to) where their style was more as a deliberate attempt to be iconoclastic rather than pushing music to evolve in a more natural way. To me, no one personifies this more than John Cage. When you're considered a great composer and your most famous work is 4'33" of silence, there is something seriously wrong. As another example, during my time in college, a pianist friend of mine was asked to premiere a new work for four hands by the composer in residence at the time. The work was for "prepared piano" so it involved various coins and other objects in the piano and the piece itself was virtually unplayable as written so she and her partner didn't really practice it much at all. They were understandably nervous when then the performance came and they completely mauled it to their admission. So when the composer came up to them after the performance, they were bracing themselves for being chewed out. Instead he commended them for a wonderful performance that was even better than he could have hoped and asked if they would be willing to premiere another piece in progress which they politely declined.