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"Adventure. is a large and energetic orchestral piece that takes you through the eye of passionate searchers, who wander deep in a forest in search of something that they believe are essential to their community. Through many obstacles and difficult paths, these passionate searchers scramble and traverse the extreme conditions of the woods. In the end, their work pay off as what they had found is beyond what they had expected." Howdee everybody! This is my submission for the "From Bits to Bangers" competition! I...kinda just don't know what to say other than to thank you the judges and the participants. For the judges, I appreciate you all for judging all of our pieces fairly and giving them feedbacks. I know it's hard to objectively review these pieces without getting too much into subjectivity, and the feedback that you guys have been getting, but I think the judges team did a very good job! I love all of you guys' reviews! For the other participants, don't let the result discourage you to a certain degree. I believe that competitions like this really help you keep track of the progress you've been making as a composer, at least for me anyway. I would like to also thank the voters who voted for me on the popular voting polls. I'm delighted to be one of your guys' favorite submission. I think that's all that I'm going to say since I can't think of anything else. This project has been heavy for me, especially the scoring process (oh look, that's me complaining about making the sheet music for pieces again. Seriously though, the software would literally froze every time I click on something). It's actually my first ever orchestral project that I was able to finish and score, so that's something. But I think in the end, It was all worth the effort. Though I am probably going to take a break from composing orchestral pieces, literally got a fatigue from it. Oh also fun fact, I wrote the piece description and the title like minutes before I submitted, so... yeah. Alright ya'll, enjoy the piece!

Hi all, This was my submission for the "Bits to Bangers" contest. Though I was only aware of the contest pretty late, when I saw that the Castlevania 2 theme was one of the options, I knew I had to give it shot since it was one of my favorite games from the Nintendo era and I loved the music from that game in particular. Because of time constraints, I didn't do as much with the theme as I would have liked and was admittedly pretty conservative with it and couldn't compare with the excellent submissions from the other competitors but it was a lot of fun to come up with something!

It's that time again. I may have gotten weird with the score.

Well guys, I'm making this reply because I have received some very kind comments that deserve a response. I have to say that I wrote the above because I thought it was the right thing to do (which I still believe), however, as I said, I have received some legitimate comments from some users that I understand, and it's not my intention to create what I think would be a bit of a weird atmosphere, so it's ok to leave things as they are, I won't withdraw the entry. However, I'd really appreciate it if you'd consider the issue of judges voting in the polls (and to a lesser extent users voting on their own works haha). Maybe you can take this as a little advice to improve certain things and have a better organization in future contests : ) It's fine, don't worry. Thanks for your reply!

Then why enter the competition? The way in which the competition was going to be judged was disclosed ahead of time in the competition announcement, including the 8 criteria of judging and the 8 point scale. It was obvious also (since this was also announced), that the competition would have 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place winners as well as winners in all the other criteria and popular voting categories, and this obviously also requires that the entries be compared to each other in some objective way. Yes, apparently, for you, your piece is a masterpiece. But if you already knew this, and if your opinion counts above all others, why seek out the opinion of others in the first place? I mean, it's obvious that you enjoy your own music, and that's all that counts right? Nobody is attacking your right to enjoy your own music, but your motivation for entering the competition in the first place is suspect if all you're going to do is use the results of the competition as an opportunity to assert that "I think I am entitled to my opinion and my opinion counts." Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but it should have been enough to assert your opinion here in the forums instead of attacking anybody who has different opinions. And can you really expect that others won't have different opinions? We live in a very diverse and opinionated world! The competition is not an occasion to jump on the reviewers, who all judged the competition in good faith. The fact that anyone gave you a 0 or any other score matters little in isolation. The numbers only have meaning relative to each other, and using both 8's and 0's only means that the reviewers are using the full length of the spectrum of the scoring definitions to evaluate the entries. In the end, I hope you don't take the reviews and scores personally. Maybe if every contestant had written a one to two minute piece for a solo instrument, the odds of you winning or getting higher scores would have been more likely. But, even just comparing the sheer amount of work that others put into their entries, your (really short) piece just couldn't compare. I know it can be a bummer but I hope that you use this as a learning experience and inspiration to compose more in the future. Peter

Hello @luderart, To your post I will have the following reply. You are right that music cannot be judged entirely objectively, and you are entitled to your opinion and your opinion counts. But you may forget that arts also has INTER-SUBJECTIVITY in it. There IS a general consensus on the taste and craft of a piece of work. Your vote on your piece as masterpiece counts, but the piece has also to be judged by others as well. You can also claim "Mary Had a Little Lamb" a masterpiece... but it can in no way compare to a Beethoven Symphony. This is also a consensus no only by the judges, but also on YC since your score in the popular poll is also one of the lowest. We as judges of course have our own subjective taste, if you say it's bias. But to be a competition comparison between entries is necessary and crucial for making the scores. You can listen to all of the other contestants' works and you may know why we give you the score. Overall I give you a 3.5 since I think the music is less satisfactory and inferior to other contestants' entries. If we give you high marks, I am afraid it will be unfair to other contestants and ruin the whole competition. Also we are all volunteers who won't receive any benefits by deliberately devaluing your works. We are all using our extra time and energy to organize the event and judge all of them; @Tónskáld even gives out prize money for the winner. It is unfair to say that we "cross lines and let our subjective biases show through". If it doesn't matter, then why do you get this agitated? Just enjoy the appreciation in your dogmatic slumber if you really believe your music is of such a high level. This will only prevent your growth and progress as a composer. I myself am not professional either but I won't be as stubborn as you to reject all honest opinions towards your music and name them as "unacceptably harsh" and "degrading, unacceptable, judgemental and devaluing judgements". I think you really should re-evaluate your conception of a "masterpiece". You can find numerous of them in the great composers, but at least not in your pieces. But as you have your distinctive opinion you can of course stay with your taste and remain your conception of masterpiece which includes your own works. But other people's taste should be valued as important as yours so you should never challenge others first. I hope you will understand the intention behind our scores and I feel it necessary to defend ourselves. Henry

luderart, Hi, it's me, Vince, the one that gave you the lowest score. It sounds like you're clearly upset about the results of the competition. Your defense seems to be that since music is largely subjective, and since you view your own work as a masterpiece, my score was out of line. This was a competition of "Bits to Bangers"...you know, 8 bit tracks very limited by technology that were bumpin' and awesome, and you were supposed to bring it to life. You chose, "Dragon's Lair", one of my favorite tracks to choose from. What are some things that come to mind when listening? In the 8-bit track, I hear a haunting bass line, slight minor chromaticism in the melody, interesting chord changes, diminished/minor harmonies...things that evoke a spooky atmosphere awaiting a hero to save the day. So how did your piece relate to it? Well, literally the only way I heard it relate in any way was the stock rhythm you took from the bass line. To me it sounded like you didn't really adhere to the concept of the purpose of the challenge, like exactly everyone else did. Hence, I gave you a low score. My scores were very close, except for yours, because you gave us nothing remotely close to a Dragon's lair, and instead chose to take that dotted eighth sixteenth rhythm and run with it in whatever way you saw fit. Aside from the music, how dare you challenge what we chose to give for scores. The whole staff constantly confers on discord, including questions we may have had regarding any of the competitions. We're all out here surviving just like you, and we took a lot of time to make sure that we gave every last detail to the best of our ability. None of us have written masterpieces like you claim to have done, and I think I could say that they would all agree with that assessment. The six of us have spent our own time and money on creating these competitions to keep this place growing because we all love what it has to offer. We're all making our way through the world wielding this art form of composition and trying to get better all the time, unlike a maestro as great as yourself as you like to self proclaim. So get off your high horse and accept the 2 that I gave you. Your music was barely reminiscent of the theme, used a sort of boring theme-sequence kind of form, didn't take advantage of what a solo instrument could do (again, like I told you in your review, I thought a solo instrument could have been cool), and DIDN'T HAVE ONE DYNAMIC MARKING. You couldn't be bothered to even tell us how soft or loud to play, so I couldn't be bothered to score your pieces remotely close to the efforts of your competitors. Post your soliloquys all you want, you won't hear anything bad from me. It's a cool concept. But don't slander the hard work we all put into YC and accept the score given to you. It reflects the effort and music you offered, not you. Listen to what everyone else submitted...imo BANGERS. Quit crying and don't get offended that your music wasn't up to par...it wasn't even close.

I've been composing for about a year now, I'm a junior in high school. Here's a messy, at least not computer generated performance of a piece I just recently finished. It's part of a set of 5 preludes that represent different textures. This is definitely the densest writing I have attempted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpKQkvI_aoc

This is the first of the set and also the first one composed. This was also my first work in which I attempted tonal vagueness or an impressionistic style.

Hello! I've just realised I've been very absent from here for a few months, so here's a setting of the Kyrie I've done today in a couple of hours. It's very rough at the moment, so please excuse some score presentation issues! I'm regretting writing it as a reduction, and I think I will eventually present it as an open score, given all the different melismata in different voices.

Hi Telliur. I understand your point and agree with it, but it is also true that the popular voting didn't get much exposition. In any case, I voted hours before the poll closed just to prevent my votes influencing anyone (though I don't think that would have happened anyway, it is not like we really have a prominent voice in other composers' opinions). Perhaps a good way to prevent this would be making polls anonymous, what do you think? I agree, what you mentioned was not in the requirements, but we judges did also make our decisions according to what we felt it was right. In other words, what I saw as an excellent, solid and precisely engraved re-interpretation of the theme you took, and in particular THE THEME YOU TOOK in regards of the way you remade it, others just saw it differently and tried to give one explanation or another. We had different views on it based on various factors (I believe) such as how we perceive the 8-bit genre, what we consider as good melody/harmony —simple and catchy vs. complicated and fanciful; plain vs. elaborated, correspondingly—, and a large etc. which includes, for the better or worse, subjective treatment and predisposition to certain styles. A personal example: I do think my judgement would change if everyone but one person submitted their pieces in plain midi format (with that not being a requirement nor production value being a thing to score), since as much as I would like to separate the music with the "playback sound", I am kind of sure that would be impossible to do 100%. I would try to refrain myself of altering everything but the taste score, yeah, but that's just how I work and my judgement can be as flawed from others' perception as other judges' overall. In summary, we tried to do our best in the way each one of us considered the propermost. 🙁 Sorry if I was too dense, and in any case, thank you for participating and creating such a wonderful piece because of it. I look forward to check more of your pieces posted here. There's no issue with withdrawing, though it's a great loss in my opinion. Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.

Hi, I have looked through your score. It is a solo piece, which already makes it difficult to compete due to monophony (I know there are some double stops). Beyond this, I have to ask you: what do you see here that pushes that boundaries or makes you better than other composers (living or dead)? What I see: basic and standard rhythms, all in normal meter, pretty much all diatonic D minor, limited use of range, no use of extended techniques or unique timbres, small dynamic expression range, and lack of form. I have not listened to the track; maybe some of these would blow out my expectations. I host a competition every year for people to submit their music to and get it played. Your work would not make it to the second round in its current state. We do not necessarily need to be boundary pushing composers all the time, but I believe some level of pushing ourselves to do things we are uncomfortable with as composers with each work is important. Any composer could noodle around on D minor with some knowledge of etudes and music theory to create something loosely similar to your work here. THAT is why it got a low score, I guarantee it. It is one thing to be upset that not enough people enjoy your work (I also had two judges say my work was not for them), but why do we need their approval? We write to be great for ourselves, not for internet/judge randos. Being unopen to criticism is what will keep you stuck in a hole of ignorance, though. There are plenty of points you can take and grow from this competition. Right now, you are taking a childish approach and walling yourself off from anything that degrades your perfect view of yourself. Just ask yourself, “What level of hard work did I put into this work that deserves recognition?” I spent 500 hours writing, editing, engraving, and pushing a wind ensemble piece I composed. I am so proud of it, but it isn’t most people’s cup of tea. But, I worked damn hard and will not let negative comments drag that work down. Instead, I funnel constructive criticism into my next piece in order to continue growing as a composer. You don’t have to keep everything or most things, but constructive criticism helps other people influence you into growing.

Oh guys, I feel really bad about writing this because all of your feedback and comments were so kind that it makes me sad haha. However, I think I have to make the point. As you may know, I asked in the chat if it was okay for the judges to vote in the poll and, to be honest, I felt a little uncomfortable seeing the judges pick their favorite pieces in the poll. As I said before, after all, they're showing their preferences with the ongoing competition, and even when users can vote for their own works (something did hahah, but which also shouldn't be allowed imo) the judges will be the ones who will score your work. Now, please don't take this the wrong way (actually, it took me a while to think about it), but given the above including that my work also won the poll (including votes from the jury and myself) I think the best thing I can do is to withdraw my work from the contest. This seems to be a healthy community, however, if a user says that the poll gave a hint to know the winners, I couldn't argue with that because I was among the winners, and I'd really like to avoid that situation. Again, please don't take this badly, nothing against the judges or the rest of the contestants, I'm glad you chose my work but I feel a bit uncomfortable within that context. I entered the contest just for fun and that's how it was. I'll be happy to give all the honors to the next on the list, or maybe you can leave the place deserted, as you wish. I hope you can understand that, it's just a personal matter, nothing more :) That said, thanks for the comments I received, I'm very glad you liked my work! Before I forget, two things. First, I'd like to mention the entries A, B and E. Perhaps they weren't the most lush and complex entries, or perhaps some of them lacked harmonic fluency or put a double stop wrong or something like that. However, they were the pieces with fewest errors in writing and reading. In the same line, but with a little more work, the entries C, F and I. (I may regret it in the future haha, but at a quick glance they gave me that impression). And second, I hope I'm not taking the words too literally, but I didn't understand one judge's point in pasting some sort of complaint all over the entries about how disappointed he was because the contest turned out to be "From Bits to Ballades". If you want a specific style or mood, you should include that in the rules. Since the contest was pretty free (at least I didn't notice any special requirements), I think we all did what we felt was right, without following a specific requirement. So don't be disappointed expecting something that wasn't required 👍

I made some edits to the first movement and composed a fugue as well as coming up with some program notes: This two-movement work for brass quintet features the driving Allegro and complex Fugue. The Allegro features some strong rhythmic playing broke up by a section that is reminiscent of a canon with lines and voicings that draw a lot of influence from George Gershwin. The subject of the Fugue is a twelve-tone row of Eb, G, Db, F, B, Bb, D, Ab, F#, A, E, C. Despite a modern concept of the twelve-tone system, most of the traditional rules of the art of the fugue are followed creating a unique juxtaposition of an old form with a new sound that is fitting for the brass quintet repertoire.

Congratulations to all the entrants, they were outstanding and I learned a lot from all of you. A hearty congratulations to all the winners and most of all, thank you to the judges who clearly took a great deal of time to listen and provide constructive feedback to each submission.

"This is my first Caprice for Solo violin. It is my submission to the "From Bits to Bangers" Young Composers music competition. I chose the first of the five 8-bit video game music tracks available to be chosen from, the "Dragon's Lair". The beginning of my piece starts off from my perception of the starting part of the track. Then I proceed to build on it what becomes my caprice. Later that initial part returns in various different forms." The above was my description of the piece that I provided with my submission to the competition. For me the piece sounds like a masterpiece all-through. And since music cannot be judged - at least not entirely - objectively, if at all (its appeal being largely subjective), I think I am entitled to my opinion and my opinion counts. And yet, most of the judges of the competition - at least 3 of 5 of them - judged it as extremely a bad piece, failing to see anything good in it at all. One even had the impudence to give a score of "0" in one category! The question arises: in such competitions where judges rule, who judges the judges? Are there no criteria to hold them accountable when they cross lines and let their subjective biases show through? I guess my music is of such a high level that it is only appreciated by a select few. And since music's appeal is largely subjective, if the majority of judges and even the audience condemn it as bad it should not and does not matter. I have spoken this time when at other times I did not (when posting a judged piece) since this time the judgements, especially by 3 of the judges were unacceptably harsh and would seem to amount to a devaluation of the piece. And also because if I stay silent again this time, it will be taken as acceptance of all that degrading, unacceptable, judgemental and devaluing judgements by 3-5 of the 6 judges. As to why I chose to speak here, a place that might seem inappropriate since it is intended for posting pieces, the reasons are twofold: 1) I did not want to be lured into the "Dragon's Lair" of the judges themselves by responding with my objections in the premises of the competition where my piece was almost trodden underfoot. 2) There must be a re-evaluation of my masterpiece - at least in my opinion - and so when posting it I could not afford to not make my opinion of the unacceptable nature of the judgements it underwent in that competition clear!!!