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Thanks to all 20 participants who submitted a whopping total of 26 submissions to the 2025 Christmas Music Event! They will be the recipients of the "2025 Christmas Participant" award! - A Christmas Mash-up by @PeterthePapercomPoser Jesus was Born this Day by @Vonias Another Christmas Mash-up by @PeterthePapercomPoser My submission to the 2025 Christmas event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by @therealAJGS Song for the Fallen (2025 Christmas Music Event Submission) by @Musicman_3254 Submission to the 2025 Christmas Music Event by @TristanTheTristan March of the Gingerbread People (2025 Christmas Event Submission) by @Crescent Roulade Fugue on "We wish you a Merry Christmas" (2017) by @J. Lee Graham Motet a 8 "O Magnum Mysterium" in E-flat Major by @Fugax Contrapunctus fantasia on jingle bells (2025 Christmas Event Submission) by @Monarcheon March of the Snowflakes - 2025 Christmas Event Submission by @Vavrinec O Soul, Seek Revelation 14:9-11 by @SeekJohn14v6 (Very Casual) Christmas Mesh Up by @HoYin Cheung The Empty Church - Submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event by @Wieland Handke Highland Shepherds - Submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event by @Wieland Handke Jingle Bells and Dashing Through the Snow by @chopin Christmas Carol by @Aiwendil Instead of Christmas (Submission to 2025 Christmas Event) by @Luis Hernández Coventry Carol (Christmas 2025) by @mercurypickles With Every Beat My Heart Knows by @HoYin Cheung A Christmas Scherzo by @PeterthePapercomPoser I composed a Christmas Song! - It went great! by @raymond doerr My Christmas Submission by @Mooravioli Christmas Mash-up No.3 by @PeterthePapercomPoser Glory to God by @SeekJohn14v6 Nutcracker inspired final by @Tunndy And thanks to all the reviewers who ardently and painstakingly reviewed all the entries to the event! (the AI generated ones aren't required): @chopin, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @Wieland Handke and @PeterthePapercomPoser. They will be the recipients of the "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award! - (Note that if people still want to review all the submissions after December 31st, they are free to do so and be added to the list of "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award recipients ex post facto. Check how many more reviews you need to make before getting the badge in the 2025 Christmas Music Event Reviews Spreadsheet. If you're not on the list yet I will add you once you review a more substantial number of pieces.) And thanks to @PeterthePapercomPoser for the event announcement thread, managing new submissions, creating the Christmas calendar event, advertising the event in various discord servers as well as making this conclusion thread! He will receive the "2025 Christmas Organizer" Award! - And we all hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that your 2026 year will be great!!! To see the 2025 Christmas Music Event announcement thread go here:

My view on the matter is that while any pieces of "music" that are generated using tools like Suno should be completely banned, the use of AI tools like Cantai to generate mock-ups from midi or notation should be allowed as they are not really any different from generating a mock-up using sound samples (as others have already said). With regards to the issue of how we should go about detecting AI "music", I like @UncleRed99's idea, though I recognise @TristanTheTristan's concern that asking for technical music theory things like starting keys/time signatures may unfairly exclude composers who do not work in theory/notation heavy genres. I propose that we require users to write a short description of their piece naming some musical elements/techniques that were used (e.g. chord progressions, instrumentation etc.) alongside any additional details they might want to mention, like maybe what inspired them?

Just saw this and voted. Those results so far

My answer of "Other" on Question 1; I don't downright "hate" the idea of generated music, as we've adapted as a society from traditionally only ever using real live instruments for music, into the use of MIDI, VST2/3, and other realistically generated playback sound. So I believe it has its uses. I've even from time to time, as a sort of "test" to AI like GPT for example, submitted a PDF and .mp3 copy of something insignificant that I wrote to the AI to see if it is truly able to determine the tonality, mood, and atmosphere of the music, while also experimenting with how well it was able to provide fast and productive feedback on the score itself. I can't say it did as good a job as people here who share my level of expertise and well beyond it, but in a pinch, It was able to identify the mistakes that I made, intentionally, on the score, as a test for what it was truly capable of and what level of knowledge in Music theory was available to it. It was dead wrong about a couple of things, as I tend to notice regularly when you ask an AI a direct question without any leading context. So the advice received should be taken with a grain of salt. Also why I believe that Bot generated music can N E V E R be a genuine form of music simply due to the fact that it's incapable of understanding the true purpose of music, it's intended affect on the human mind and emotional center, and will never be able to live up to the true original's standards of creativity. All it will do is utilize what it can find online and on streaming platforms to mimic impactful sounding music. Which to some may be enough, but to me that undermines the entire community of people who spend hours, days, weeks, months or even years to compose something intricate of the same length / duration of music that could be created with AI in seconds, and is created without any true "thought" or "feeling" put into it. Regarding my Other answer of the last Question; Potentially, we could add a form to fill out with required fields in the sub-forums for music submission posts... Such as; Work Title (untitled if not yet established): _________________________________________ Composer/Username: _____________________________ Key Signature (Maj./Min.): _______________________________________ Starting time signature: ______________ Instrumentation or Ensemble Type: ___________________________ Additional Details: ___________________________ Description of Piece: _______________________________________... *required Please attach a plain (or) watermarked PDF copy of your score (for Notation Software Users), including either a YouTube Link or attached .MP3 file for playback. If using DAW software, please attach both a MIDI file, .MP3/YT Link, as well as a description of MIDI, VST2/3 Instruments used and a few of the FX Editor plugins that were used, in order help maintain the orchestral compositional authenticity of our community 🙂- Sorry, must've had a brain fart right here. fixed it. Obviously this is simply a suggested set of questions that would be up for consideration, editing/alteration, omission etc... but I feel that this would curb most if not all low-effort "hey guys look, I just wrote this today" **(Attaches a fully mastered, 5 minute long EDM track, fresh out of the shower wearing Day clothes after trying to pass it off like they created a fully completed track with full mastering and editing by working on it tirelessly all day long just for it to have been an AI the whole time after they simply asked it like 3 prompts to alter results...)**

I do not like MuseScore's playback at all, so the fact that I really enjoyed this work despite the questionable playback of MuseScore, tells you everything. This is an impressive work. Is the beginning/ending loosely, Twelve Days of Christmas? After this though, I got so absorbed into your music, I forgot it was a Christmas piece! I don't even care though. You easily captivated my attention for the full 20 minutes, I even went back to listen to the first 5 minutes again because I could swear I heard 12 days of Christmas somewhere! But every part of your work is captivating and you often change it up. I have to say the 2nd half of your piece is even more captivating. This is where we start getting really deep. By this point, Christmas is gone, and we are now in some other dimension. You do manage to bring back 12 days of Christmas about 15 minutes in though, and end on that note. This will of course be an exhausting piece to play. The rigid playback of MuseScore doesn't do this piece justice in my opinion, because I know that if we could get past the rigid playback, this has the potential to sound much more pianistic.

Here is a list of Manually-Awardable Badges that aren't directly related to a competition or event: Musical Debator Melophile Holding Strong Opinions History Buff Philosopher of Music Theory Buff Orchestration Buff Keen Ear Keen Eye Musicologist Ivory Tickler Symphonist Chamber Guru Troubadour Concertophile Outstanding Orchestrator Maestro Soloist Master of Improvisation Skilled Arranger Film Buff Video Game Buff You've Got Rhythm Got Published Got Performed Tune Smith Prolific Composer Counterpoint Wizard Sick Beats Period Composer Ardent Producer Hepcat Aleatoric Composer Bando Drum Major Pop Song Aficionado Brass Aficionado Woodwind Aficionado String Aficionado Film Composer Recording Artist Musical Dramatist Challenger Avid Listener Musical Socialite Ingenious Harmonizer Dance Music Impresario Headbanging Rocker Musical Storyteller Musical Explorer VGM Enthusiast Film Music Enthusiast Sculptor of Sound Audiophile Idea Peddler Star Performer Choir Master Musical Architect Immaculate Engraver Impeccable Taste Local Lurker Abstract Composer Guitar Guru Collaborator Accomplished Virtuoso Musical Advisor Elegant Classicist Amorous Romanticist Programmatic Composer Master of Subtlety Dedicatee Lo-Fi Audiophile Better Than Thatguy Lavender Hands Effect Ardent Reviewer Feel free to suggest badges as well! - PeterthePapercomPoser

I think that Ai music is just pure laziness and Is probably one of Three things. 1: I want to win a competition and have a good reputation. 2: I'm just Trying to make a non - Ai song but I want to have some sort of sound effect/thing that I can't get normally, or Three: I'm just pure laziness or not an actual composer. I think that All AI generated/refined Music should be completely banned, with one exception: if the AI did a very small thing like making a sound effect used once or It tells you which note sounds better after a certain one or something. If the actual MUSIC part is generated by AI or almost all of your lyrics (If you have any) should be banned; But if your just playing around and say that it was Ai, and it is not serious it might be allowed. (For 3 I chose other, I think that if someone's music is AI, they should just say so.) oh and It would be really stupid to use AI detection to see if pieces were AI but moderating might work.

1. I'm not sure if the anti-AI detection algorithm would work 2. if we accept AI in compositions, submissions must thoroughly declare any AI involvement in composition (explain which exact ideas/parts/transformations/revisions/etc. were driven by AI and how exactly was AI used in those parts like, total LLM prompt? vague idea? proofreading? etc. generative vs analytic?) 3. I think a complete ban on AI might look close-minded (even though I am actually not against this entirely at all at this point in time), but the world is still at its infancy of dealing with AI/LLM (which itself is also at infancy), and right now at most I would be open to a severely restricted use of AI. As time goes by I might eventually be more open. 4. the problem with enforcing these rules is we might "overcorrect" and label genuine works as "AI"esque. this goes back to my first point, we don't want to mirror YouTube's AI-takeover in doing copyright claims and reports which mostly just benefits big companies.

My feeling is that, regardless of your opinion on AI music, this is a composition forum. Prompting an LLM to generate music is not composition. Therefore, it has no place on this forum. It's as simple as that for me.

Quoting what I wrote in a thread earlier: Furthermore, unless a sub-forum for AI music can be quarantined, I strong believe that all AI music should be banned. Quarantining in this context means nothing posted in this sub-forum will be presented to users by default, unless they specifically looked for it (new posts/replies in this sub-forum will not show up on the sidebar on the main page etc). Without quarantining, just making an AI sub-forum is the equivalent of allowing AI to exist on this website in its current form.

Now I'm not normally in the business of mashups, but it always bothered me that Selena Gomez's "Rock God" didn't have any rock in it. When I set out to rectify this problem, it occurred to me that the "Burn It To The Ground" riff was perfect for it already, and so...

I wrote this piece over the past two months as a sort of challenge to myself and as a demonstration for a few other people on writing pieces out of short themes. I think it's structurally a lot more complicated than typical sonata allegros, but I kind of got carried away (especially in the recapitulation). Honestly, it sounds to me more like the scherzo (third movement) of a four movement sonata rather than the first movement, and I kind of tried following the scherzo form a bit by introducing some new material in the development section.

Enter Prompt: "Leave a comment that says something nice about the quality of the AI output and it's a cool achievement we've developed something so powerful. The member seems like a nice person, say something warm and welcoming too. Use excitement! I'm genuinely glad they've come by!" Submit

I started this piece this morning and managed to finish it this evening! My inspiration was to write a fast Christmas piece as my pieces lately have all veered towards the same slow tempo. The form of the Scherzo is ternary and the overall form is Scherzo - Trio - Scherzo. Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or observations!

My favorite of your Christmas pieces this year! The mash up pieces are cool, but for me it really shows your talents as a composer when you abandon the more complex ideas and speed-run a composition a day??), relying on chops to flesh out a simple and fun idea into something that's still stuck in my head. The trio was great too, and my favorite part was the entry of the basses. Thanks for sharing Peter, it's amazing how many pieces you've written lately!

Hi @mercurypickles! I like the nearly polytonal feeling that the soprano introduces when it comes in. Reminds me a bit of some of my polytonal settings of various Christmas Carols that I've made mash-ups of. I read up a little bit about what the Coventry Carol is about. It is quite sad that a whole generation of children would be wiped out. The dissonance in polytonal soprano melody seems appropriate in hindsight because of this subject matter. I wonder if it is just a Biblical story or if it's meant to portray an actual historical event. Thanks for sharing this haunting lullaby.

Fun depiction of such an ancient carol. Love how the soprano has a mind of its own though; we can basically call this the disruptor. It blends nicely, but also ads some friction to this well harmonized tune.

I must admit, that I didn’t know the „Coventry Carol“ before, so I had to find out more about it first. Even though it is not a new or own composition, the performance as a „Posaunenchor“ is quite unique and exciting. The picardy thirds at the end of many phrases sound so heartwarmingly clear with the trumpets or trombones! I really enjoyed the meno/crescendo part at bar 41 after nearly falling asleep from the lullaby! And even though the trumpet was obviously obliged to hold back to piano soon, there's still a very jazzy feel to it right up to the end. All in all a very enjoying piece which perfectly captures the calm mood of Christmas, paired with humor and joy!

This time I have mixed "O, Christmas Tree" with "Hark! The Herald Angel's Sing!" I included three stanzas of each Carol and each occurrence of each stanza is set differently with the final one being a bit polytonal. Also, this time the mash-up is accompanied by a brass octet instead of strings. And the choir is a SMAATTBB 8-part choir. Thanks for listening and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and that your New Year will be a happy one! I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or observations!

seems like i am the last to get my submission in; it's not too late right? since it's 7:14pm,the 31st on my clock. I unfortunately left my score at home(it was handwritten)

nutcracker inspired final.pdfmy submission :3 I'd like to get reviews ofc nutcracker inspired final.mp3

Considering this was above your usually level, then you did a really good job here. Fun motif, excellent dynamics and an overall wintery sounding mood! The piece is also very well structured and easy to follow. The only minor criticism I have is that you stayed strictly in key, but I'm pretty sure this was a conscious decision. If this piece hit the 2+ minute mark, I may then press you a little harder to break out of the scale a tad.

This is EXCELLENT. Points for playing this on the piano. And I love the jazzy style, I absolutely love jazz harmony!

What a charming, if somewhat sad song! Maybe its a fortune that you posted your submission „so late“, since its melancholic mood perfectly fits the imagination of the last piece performed on a party or the piano player is playing his ultimate song while the last guests are leaving the restaurant. I suspect that it is a live-recording. If so, congratulations to that beautiful performance and a happy New Year.

Hello @Fugax Contrapunctus, I discovered your YouTube videos a few years ago when I was looking for new/original compositions concerning fugues and counterpoint. In your channel information I found the link to the Young Composers Forum and so I have to thank you, consequently, that I am here today! Since my own compositional style or approach is counterpuntual, too, I’m very interested in your work and have been following—albeit quietly—your transition from piano/harpsichord fugues to the increasingly vocal-oriented works in the last years. I’m still „stuck“ with my piano project composing 24 preludes and fugues in the form of the WTC, and so I usually write 3- or 4-part fugues (and for now, one with 6 parts). With this experience in mind, writing an 8-part counterpoint cannot be overstated, since you’re literally running out of notes if the voice leading is not organized cleverly. I don’t want to repeat the comments and what you stated yourself about a capella choirs, but there is no instrumentation comparable with the clarity and expressiveness of the human voice. There have been lots of inventions and improvements in instrument building during the centuries, but in my opinion, the achievement was more and more a better blending of that instruments and the introduction of different „noises“ and effects (as one can do with a full symphonic orchestra), but the focus on the „voice“ itself has been lost by that development. So I appreciate the revival of the skills of the Baroque and even the Renaissance era, to transfer them to the present day, possibly in combination with contemporary elements. For me, the most valuable submission to this 2025 Christmas event.

When I listen to your piece, I imagine a frosty afternoon when the ride in the “open sleigh” has not yet begun, as the family is still sitting around the coffee table and the horses are shivering in the cold. So the melodies of the song appear fragmented and delayed, similar to the sounds carried by the wind from a distant village. Thank you for that very impressive fantasia, and again, as the others already commented, congratulations for your marvelous live recording.

Another piece reminiscent of a music box or carousel at a Christmas market! However, instead of pins on a rotating disc plucking the tuned teeth of a steel comb, it features a well-crafted score so that a visually trained person can follow the musical progression—provided they are not distracted by Santa Claus whirling around.

Haha, the guy with its elaborate atonal string orchestra pieces (to be honestly, I only mean and know your „Aos Si“ submission to the Halloween competition) uses AI! But that’s exactly the point, you used AI assistance only for the vocals (and I must admit that the result of the „Suno“ use in the other pieces is more polished), the composition is your own and you perfectly contrast the tendency of the AI to produce an „average pop song“ with your sometimes dissonant modulation in the strings part. A good example how AI could be used seriously without losing the fun and creativeness of own compositions!

Even if you call it an orchestral miniature (and it is short, indeed), it is a wonderful, well structured and perfectly orchestrated piece that I could listen multiple times in a loop! It brings up a number of imaginations in my mind, closely related with the Christmas time: • It could be serve perfectly as a soundtrack of a fairy tale movie that the entire family could watch together, • I imagine it being played at a Christmas market with an ice rink in the middle (the trio section, mm. 17-32), • it also cites the imagination of the „one-horse open sleigh dashing thru the snow“ (mm. 33-48), • and, of course, the snowflakes (main theme, mm. 1-7). One of my absolute favorites in this 2025 Christmas event!

It’s just a fun fact that I grew up in a little German town called Pulsnitz being famous (at least in parts of Germany) of its centuries-old tradition of gingerbread making. But honestly, I just know how they taste like, I never cared about what they might „sound“ like. Now listening to it, it reminds me of a musical box which is a typical handcrafted Christmas accessory. So it really puts me in the Christmas spirit by combining its cheerful sound, despite its repetitions, with the smell of mulled wine, grilled sausages, and even gingerbread at a Christmas market.

I would have so much fun with this tool. But you wrote a fun song with bold key changing and fun harmony. I like how the violin creates friction, but only through your modulations. You then normalize the harmony once SATB comes in. You are right, the lyrics are sometimes a bit garbled, but I would say it's about 90% accurate. It doesn't matter though, most people will get the idea. The lyrics may be less accurate than Suno in terms of vocals, but the trade-off is that you get 100% compositional freedom.

Beautiful, sad, very Tchaikovsky. Music like this makes you feel which is not easy to do. Cool technique too.

Hey, very cool intro at the beginning, foreshadowing the syncopated / swing-like main melody. Love the change-up at around 30 seconds in. A very elegant / diplomatic sounding tune!

I love that short carol with its memorable subject being repeated in different variations throughout the piece in a counterpuntual style as a five part choral. The usage of a „Posaunenchor“ perfectly matches the mood of Christmas; I can literally imagine the brass instrumentalists standing nearby the entry of the church where people are gathering on Christmas eve. For one who is not familar with what a „Posaunenchor“ is, I quote the - oh, what a hot iron – AI generated answer of „what is a posaunenchor“ which, in my opinion, exactly explains it: A Posaunenchor (German for "trombone choir" or "brass band") is a community-based, multi-generational amateur brass ensemble, strongly rooted in the German Protestant church, that plays sacred music (hymns, chorales) but also secular pieces (classical, jazz, pop) for church services, concerts, and community events, emphasizing fellowship and faith across ages and backgrounds. For my taste, it is played a bit faster than real „Posaunenchöre“ would do, perhaps it is very cold outside and the players want to get inside the church as soon as possible ...

Yeah, that one would surely be awarded the „Shortest Christmas Piece“ badge (haha), thus it isn’t easy to come up with a long review on that. Even though it's certainly just for fun, such a mashup shows the potential of „simple melodies“ and how much one can do with an easy piece using counterpoint, harmonization, instrumentation, etc. Thanks for making this fun Christmas event possible, and a happy and successful New Year 2026.

@Wieland Handke I truly love the baroque instruments you have chosen for this trio. The counterpoint between them creates rich harmonies and melodies! I can see how this would be played with in a church.

Ohhh, what a wonderful piece! It has such a Christmas feel when the crotales—or whatever sounds like them—burst in. The orchestration is precise and well-balanced. Thank you.

It's a fascinating piece. Composing with these resources is very special. Thank you.

It’s a really lovely piece and it gives me Christmas vibes for some reason. Even if it’s not perfectly written, that percussion set sounds amazing.

Definitely reminds me of Tchaikovsky, and ballet style music. I can picture this piece being played in a Broadway musical.

What a great ear training challenge. Great playing btw. You HAVE to listen to this a few times to pick up on things though. For example, 1:10 to 1:45 I think represents the "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh" part of the song, and the same goes for around 2:25, which I think is a bit more obvious. This was awesome!

This is incredibly coherent for 8 voices. Normally I would say something about the strict key, but in this case, it doesn't matter. This makes the few times you do change much more noticeable. Plus the musicality is in the voices! When I listened to this again without the score, the music became even clearer to me, because my mind was not overwhelmed by all those voices visually. This was absolutely beautiful.

This reminds me of town theme in some of those old school rpg games. Great melody, great pacing and cheery. Very nice!

This song is amazing!

Congrats for turning such a cheesy holiday tune into something very enjoyable!

Lovely little piece. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a chain of secondary dominants works so well as a fugue subject, but I think you bring out its fullest potential. It makes little moments like mm. 32–33 so lovely because it's so diatonic but keeps the spirit of the sequence. Really cool to see what parts of the theme you kept and selected in certain parts. I think m. 37 is the only bar that I'm not as big a fan of: the P5 (vaguely on ii?) into A4 (vii˚) feels a just the tiniest bit awkward because (I think? I've been having a hard time trying to think of a reason...) the third is neglected twice.

Hi @Crescent Roulade Thank you sharing this charming piece around the holiday season. I can hear how it would fit with the mood of being Christmas piece. You have nailed that, for sure. However, there are some areas you probably need to adjust for later works. First, when you need to label you parts. That way, we can tell what the instruments are. This is easy fix. 🙂 Second, for the drum part, I am rather baffled why there are notes in octaves on a single line staff? Third, I am rather confused about the general form...all i hear is one motive throughout the piece. Again, these things to keep in mind. All of us here to learn from each other. I am sure in time you will too. 🙂 Kvothe.

And we are off, again. This time @J. Lee Graham brought us a fugue in 3 parts! Exposition: The subject ("we wish you a merry Christmas) is the tenor voice and does us. bring good cheer. He wrote this 3/8 instead the meter that song is written. You may ask why. That is to link to subject with the counter subject. We then hear the CS once the full theme is stated this signal the next voice to bring more good cheer. After each voice does this, we move onto the next part of the fugue where stretto could occur. Devolvement: Yes, there are stretto to be found. and fragments of the subject exchanging between each voice is to be discovered. Recap: Then we return to subject to fully round off the composition. Great job.

I'd say it's probably more of a "consistently used device for purely historical reasons", certainly a small detail not worth glossing over. Overall I like the fugue, and as you said, it's indeed fun. I'm a big fan of how you chose to retain the original harmonisation through your countersubject(s). The piece just wouldn't be the same without it! The counterpoint and motivic development are both very good. What I find lacking is the choice to include the extraneous 9th bar in the subject. At the risk of the fugue becoming a bit foursquare, I find its inclusion to be a little inelegant. In addition, the appearance of a rising chromatic scale in the subject harmonisation is something which I feel like should be explored more: the harmony in the episodes is too tame in comparison.

This piece is just what I needed tonight, thank you