HoYin Cheung

Overall speaking, I quite enjoy the format and atmosphere of this competition. I think the judging mechanism of this competition is good as, 1) Variety of awards/ scoring criteria - It gives recognition to the composers for certain aspects of his music, and allows (specifically growing composers) much specific target/ direction to enhance. Moreover, appreciation to "good" music in some cases where the music is not fitting to the given theme, but is still pleasant to listen to. 2) Qualitative - Please keep the scoring template optional. IMO the scoring template is a benchmark to distinguish the relative performance of each entrants - while the scoring scale may be inconsistent between different judges (i.e. non-linear and subjective), at least that serves as a tool to establish consensus between different judges the rank of each entrants.

Hi all, As some of you may know, I am actively engaging in my composition project for differential festivals. For that reason, I want to adapt into different types of music and add more variety in my project. I chose arranging solo piece to orchestal music to 1) appreciate the style of the composer, and 2) hopefully benefit orchestral work listeners/ writers. Work orchestrated in this post: Piano Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI/50, L.60 Written c. 1794 by Joseph Haydn. This first movement - Allegro, was arranged by me. When I have time, I will share other movement. A side note, I only listened to the piano recording once before I decided to arrange it - perhaps it is a good thing in the sense that I got my interpretation different from pre-existing pianists Thank you for listening! Note: Attached original score for reference. HoYin

Nostalgic vibe there. Do you think of the harmony first or melody?

Hello @Omicronrg9 @MK_Piano @UncleRed99 Thank you, my friend, for your generous comment. It must have taken your time to type all of these - which shows your pursue and love for music, as we all do on this community. But what are we pursuing in compositions? I really want to talk deeper in this matter, and please feel free to continue in this post.

Dear all, I am seeing other composers to arrange pop music recently, so I give it a try. (So bored this weekend for some reason) It is Like JENNIE by Jennie (Blackpink). It is my first time transcribing a pop song. There are no official scores available online for my reference, so I have to do it by ears. (Tried transcribe it with Youtube-to-mp3/midi converter but that was a mess too) If I have to say, the most difficult part is to mimic the half-singing-half-speaking voice of Jennie. Complicated rhythm and very chromatic (and nearly atonal) "melodies" that I have to do it in 0.25x. Took me almost 3 hours to complete the transcription for the 3-minute piece and did some orchestration for the another 1-2 hours. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment on it. Thank you! HoYin Disclaimer: I do NOT own the music. All rights reserved by Jennie et al. Original MV: My arrangement:

@MK_Piano Thank you for your kind reply. I hope my music is still pleasant to "post-tonal" ears. I treat it as a compliment when audience tell me they are willing to revisit - that means there are some places of work that is worth memorizing. While in the post-tonal context, while there are lots of idea I want to express in my work, I agree that there should only be "necessary" details in the writing - audience should be able to enjoy the work with their ears - instead of intelligently enjoying the tuplets or excessive dynamic markings by compulsively referring to the score.🫠 Gosh, I apologize for the double stops. I hope all violinists and pianist will forgive me for the effect.😆 While this work will be a part of my larger set of project "Festive", I do want to make it distinctive from other few works. So yes, I am writing this Halloween music with a storyline and realistically refering to the tradition - glad to hear from you I might have succeeded to convey the idea. Thank you!

I enjoy this piece! The choice of the woodwinds is good - balanced timbre - especially with oboe adding some sense of mystery to the work. The melody is pleasant to listen to, and the development is natural and colourful. But in terms of the competition, I think it might not be the best fit in the "Halloween" theme (perhaps too joyful? 😅) However, I think section N and O lost some "energy" there - I know you may want to depict the gradual diffusion (dying out) of the smoke - I believe there are potential to be more harmonic before the recapitulation. Regarding the playability, I think it is completely fine, in terms of the clear indication and suitable difficulty to the players. Irregular time signature is a feature here. I think it is a light-hearted work that is worth a concert performance! Good work!

Yes, I agree with the superb transition from the col legno section as @Omicronrg9 mentioned. Great idea. I feel like this work is always intriguing to me, and has lots of pontential to develop - can't wait there are more with this piece. To the very end, I might have modulated it to some distant keys to add more "mystery" to it, if you find it appropriate.

Thank you! Hope you all enjoy it!

Dear all, After the "Halloween" music, I decided to start a larger set of works - the Festive series, which is a collection of music for festivals in my home place. I started with Double Ninth festival, which is quite close to this year's Halloween (29 Oct). Regarding the work, Double Ninth Festival - Hiking on Mount Qi writen for Ensemble and Voice This is a work under the Double Ninth festival, also known as Chung Yeung Festival, is a festival that reminisce our ancesters and dead. This work is writen based on the work 九日齊山登高 by 杜牧 (Du Mu, 803-852), a Chinese calligrapher, poet, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty. The lyrics are as follows, Double Ninth Festival - Hiking on Mount Qi - Du Mu Translation by the composer Autumnal scenery spotted on water with wild geese heading south, With wine pots, I climb up the lush contryside with friends. Hey, just laugh in all the difficulties, With chrysanthemums in the hair on the way home. Guzzle in the name of the festival, instead of climbing up and sigh for the sunset. Living short as people always were, Why should we weep at the mountain like Duke Jing of Qi? HoYin

Here is my submission for the competition:-

Dear all, Wow - that's an interesting topic for me - Halloween - never wrote a piece for an festival. To make this work more relavent to the work, I did some research to understand more about Halloween. Anyways, here is my thoughts writing this work: I have always known very little for the Halloween festival. To many, Halloween is a festival that focuses on pranking, customing and candies - but there is a long history with mysteries around Aos Sí, the Irish name for a supernatural race in Gaelic folklore, similar to elves. Here are some information from different sources: - Every year, Samhain is celebrated on 31 October – 1 November. During this liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned, Aos Sí could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. From 16th century, there is a tradition in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales, where people going house-to-house in costume reciting verses or songs for food. Some impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. Often, a man dressed as láir bhán, a white horse, and led the younf people for the activity. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. "...In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin"." These history and myths formed the basis for the plot of this work. HoYin

I do hereby proclaim mine intent to partake in this noble contest.

My proposals

@PeterthePapercomPoser Thank you for the comment! At first thought I would like a gradual build up from the piano part, so I made the texture thinner and let the piano play first. Perhaps a short introduction will work. An example I can think of is Rachmaninoff's version of Liebesleid. Let me try and share again:)