PeterthePapercomPoser

From "Flow - The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: And, perhaps our community here on Young Composer's can also be evaluated based on how much it is able to facilitate optimal experiences for its members, how much it is able to help them achieve their own goals and have optimal listening experiences both of others' music as well as their own. Thanks for reading!

Hi @Martynas123 ! I think the melody in this recording gets buried underneath the less important voices. It's important to balance the parts properly in the mixer or by using dynamics in order to bring out the most important aspects of the composition and relegate the less important parts to the background. With piano, in Musescore, the way I usually do this is by using multiple pianos and giving each individual piano its own dynamics/levels in the mixer. That gives me more control over parts I want to bring out in high relief above the background figurations and parts of the chord which shouldn't be as emphasized. Then of course you have to edit the playback file to make it look right for the PDF export, but for me at lease, it's worth the effort. Thanks for sharing!

From "The Occult" by Colin Wilson: And if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!

Thanks @Grant Weep for your review of @Martynas123 's piece! I would argue that the spelling of the chord in measure 12 is correct with an A# instead of a Bb because the function of the chord in question is a German Augmented 6th chord. The augmented 6th in question is between C and A#. In this type of chord, the C is expected to resolve down to B while the A# resolves up to B. One could argue that its function is similar to a tritone substitution dominant 7th chord which would in fact be spelled C, E, G, Bb. However this type of spelling is used in jazz music. In the classical period, the proper spelling and function was quite different from its conception in jazz.

Hello @Martynas123 and welcome to the forum! I think symphonies are usually written for a string section with winds rather than a string quartet like you have here. Make sure you choose "Violins (section)" instead of "Violin" or "Violas (section)" instead of "Viola" in your instrument choices to get the full ensemble sound. Also, symphonies often also have Timpani and some brass (at least French Horns). A mistake I noticed in your score: You have a B natural in the Contrabass while the Violin 1 plays a Bb which creates a wrong-sounding cross-relation. I would change the Bb in the Violin to B natural and I think that issue would be fixed. But there's multiple times throughout the score where that happens so I'd make sure to peruse the score for those instances. Another thing is that you use this rhythmic motif very frequently: In order for the listener to not get bored of too much seeming repetition, it is advisable to repeat or sequence such rhythmic motifs at most 4 times in a row but not more. Those are just some things that stuck out to me upon hearing your work. Overall though I think you did a good job! It doesn't quite sound dirge-like enough to me though. The beginning is very funeral march-like but later on it starts to sound even perhaps a bit happy. Thanks for sharing!

@interlect is "Contemporary Composers Sector" supposed to be a competition theme proposal? How would it work?

I wonder if you even read the quote @interlect because what you wrote doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I wrote.

Here's a musical quote from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow - The Psychology of Optimal Experience: And if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!

Unfortunately the poll has already been voted upon by a large number of people and can't be changed at this time. But we can certainly include concert band as a possible choice of ensemble in future competitions! Edit: I have included "Concert Band or Wind Band" in the choices - although it's not likely to win because a large number of people have already voted (unless they go back and vote again).

Yes, in previous competitions, when people already had a piece pre-composed WAAAY ahead of time (like years) that fit the instrumentation and other requirements for the competition, they were able to submit it. However, such entries were obvious to the judges and it didn't predispose those entries to being judged favorably as they didn't fit the theme of the competition as nicely. But that doesn't and shouldn't keep the contestants from trying if they wish to do so. To concur with what @MK_Piano mentioned above, I do think we will from now on count the ensemble size by the number of performers/players not instruments. That can include just about any sound that a human being and their available tools at hand is capable of producing (although this can get pretty involved if you care to do so). Also there's a very easy way to get Musescore to only display staves that have events in them (if multiple instruments are played at once like in the case of an involved percussion rack or something).

Hi @stewartIM and welcome to the forum! I think writing a set of variations on two themes is a really great idea! And writing them so that their order can be reversed is especially ingenious! I listened to both versions and was amazed that there weren't any awkward transitions between variations - perhaps this is because you wrote each variation as a standalone piece of music? If you were tasked with writing them as one smooth and continuous piece of music it would be harder methinks! Also - amazing performance of your own music! Great job playing and recording this piece! My favorite variation was perhaps the Chiasmus: Bleak. Although the Lamentoso variation was especially affecting as well. Now for some critique! I write a lot of variations and I consider it my life's calling to find themes that nobody has written variations on and write variations on them! In my own composition adventures I usually expect there to be an intensification of the awareness of the theme throughout the variations. When I listen to some of my favorite variations pieces my mind is stimulated by how different they get while still being audibly related to the original theme. In other words, the pieces stimulate the listener to recognize the theme in all it's various new and different forms. But, in your variations, I don't perceive that to happen. Perhaps it's because you're using two themes? Or perhaps your variations don't have as tight of a motivic development as I've come to expect from other favorite variations pieces I've heard? But don't take this the wrong way - I've still enjoyed your music immensely and it is very good! The other critique is that the music in both versions seems to just stop and there's no audible drive to a strong conclusion - this is obviously because the piece can be played backwards and forwards and it would be impossible to accomplish because of that - unless you had two conclusions - one at the beginning and one at the end. In any case - I enjoyed your music very much and thank you for sharing!

Hey @MK_Piano ! This is a nice piece for chamber orchestra! I listened on headphones. I personally would have called it a Suite for Strings with the first movement being perhaps a Serenade, the middle movement a Bagatelle and the last movement a Scherzo or something. But those are just my personal suggestions and by no means do I intend to impose my interpretation upon your vision. One thing I did notice is that you don't seem to balance the melody above the rest of the voices (or perhaps you do in the mixer? But that wouldn't make sense since you don't always have the melody in the same voice.) I see all the string parts at the same dynamic at the same time. I think it would bring more clarity and balance to the music if you brought the melody out more by setting it at one dynamic level higher then the rest of the voices. One way that you do use to bring the melody out is by sometimes doubling it with multiple instruments together so good job there! I enjoy the sections where the melody is in the bass - I think that's a cool creative decision that brings variety to the music! Overall I really enjoyed it! Great job and thanks for sharing!

Spongebob Squarepants: Supersponge - Precipice Canyon (Extended):

Multiple users have inquired about the next competition, so that warrants a new Summer 2026 Competition Poll! The poll will close on Wednesday, July 22nd at 11:59 pm PST. Here are the givens that each competition will maintain: The duration of each piece should once again be between 3 - 7 minutes. Reviewing the entries will once again be spearheaded by the members/competitors at large. You are free to use the Official Competition Reviewing Template or you can review the entries in any way you see fit or create a template of your own making! There will be tiered "Ardent Reviewer" badges given out for this event: Featherweight Reviewer - for reviewing 33% of the entries Welterweight Reviewer - for reviewing 66% of the entries Heavyweight Reviewer - for reviewing 100% of the entries We are instituting a policy of not allowing any AI generated works in the competition. Because of this you will be required to detail how you created your piece and submit a PDF score or midi file for the perusal of the staff and members at large. The musical entries to the competition are final once submitted. This is for the sake of consistency of reviewing (so that each reviewer reviews the same piece of music without any changes). However, there are a few things we'd like the members to help us determine (in the poll): 1) What should the competition be about? To write background music for one of @chopin 's Retry Bro's YouTube videos. Explanation: @chopin has a new YouTube channel! It's called Retry Bros. and consists of him playing Super Mario Maker levels and coming up with entertaining narration from Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, and other assorted characters. There's also a musical element. So far, Mike has come up with some clever lyrics and used AI to make realistic sounding songs that go along with the video. Now, where you would come in is that you'd be writing background music for one of @chopin 's new videos! To write some kind of autobiographical piece with a paragraph describing how the music portrays the autobiographical material. This one is @UncleRed99 's suggestion. The idea is to "write a piece that simply tells a story about your life, and something meaningful within it. Utilize complex elements to express emotion, tension, or any other desired emotional or mentally relatable expression. Provide a brief summary describing the root of the story being told." @Thatguy v2.0 has bestowed his theme proposal to me. I had another idea for an "Excerpt Exchange". Basically composers entering the competition would send the staff an unfinished excerpt of their music for the ensemble that we'll be writing for in this competition (we'll find out what ensemble from the member voting to question no.2 below). By sending your unfinished excerpt you bestow upon others the right to work on and finish your composition. The composers will be given a random excerpt from a random composer without being told who composed it. Each composer will be tasked with making the best piece they can and finishing it to the best of their ability. The minimum length of the excerpt should be 8 measures. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu has also bestowed his theme proposal to me so I decided to include another theme in the options: "Sound Mimesis - Acoustic Anatomy". The idea is to use the instruments at your disposal to mimic sounds in your natural environment (although the sounds don't technically have to be created by nature - they could definitely be artificial sounds, but should be mimicked by acoustic instruments). As an example watch this Talking Piano YT Video. Or watch this flute mimicking bird calls. @Omicronrg9 has also bestowed his theme proposal to me. This theme would be called "A Plenty of Persichetti Prompts". The composers would be given a choice to compose music based on prompt(s) inspired by exercises from Vincent Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony". There would be 5 prompts inspired by Persichetti's exercises (but not directly taken from the book) that the composers could use to inspire their music. These prompts would be based around various music theory ideas. I've amassed a document listing various such ideas that could be used in this competition: Musical Composition Prompts. @MK_Piano has proposed the theme - "From Nothing, to Something." What greater challenge of a composer than to take nothing and turn it into something! Your goal is to take the text from Paul Verlaine’s summer poem “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été,” (So, on a bright summer day it shall be) and turn it into a piece! This poem is short, but filled with evoking images of what summer can feel like. Attached is the poem in English: So, on a bright summer day it shall be: The great sun, my partner in joy, Shall make, amid the satin and the silk, Your dear beauty lovelier still; The sky, all blue, like a tall canopy, Shall quiver sumptuously in the long folds Above our two happy brows, grown pale With pleasure and expectancy; And when evening comes, the breeze shall be soft And play caressingly about your veils, And the peaceful stars looking down Shall smile benevolently on man and wife. The poem in French and English @Tónskáld has also bestowed his theme proposal to me. Another idea I had would be called "An Invitation to Dance". The composers would be tasked with writing music in the style of a dance in a modern style, that could actually be danced to and exhibited all the proper characteristics of said dance. The composers could choose from a list of dances including but not limited to the following: Pavane, Galliarde, Tarantella, Saltarello, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, Minuet, Bourree, Polonaise, Chaconne, Gavotte, Waltz, Mazurka, Tango, Samba, Mambo, Merengue, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha-Cha. Note that the composer would be tasked with composing only one of these dances rather than a whole set (such as a Baroque Dance Suite). It would also be expected that the music be "dance-like" meaning that it's not just an instrumental derivation of one of these dances that aren't meant to be danced to. My own idea is for the members to write M&M&M's - Mock-ups, Mash-ups and Medleys. The idea is for the members to take 2 or more preexisting themes from different genres of music and to make mash-ups and medleys with them. The staff and/or members would vote about what pieces/songs to include in the following list of genres and the composers would then choose 2 or more pieces from the list to combine in a medley or mash-up (or both!): A single piece of Film Music A single piece of Video-Game Music A single piece of Early or Ancient Music A single piece of Classical Music (Baroque, Classical or Romantic) A single piece of Pop, Rock or Jazz Music A single piece of Rap or Hip-Hop Music A single piece of Anime Music A single piece of Modern/Avant-Garde Music A single piece of World Music 2) What kind of ensemble should the competitors be free to choose to write for? Solo piano/keyboard or solo polyphonic instrument (such as guitar, harp or accordeon) One monophonic instrument accompanied by one polyphonic instrument Choice of mixed trio/quartet/quintet of individual instruments Other mixed ensemble of more than 5 individual instruments not exceeding 10 Chamber orchestra (string orchestra) Full orchestra 3) How many months should the competition span? (1 month, 2 months or 3 months) Happy voting and let us know what you're happy about or what could be changed about the upcoming competition!

I've dug up another decades old composition. I was once again experimenting with polytonality at the tritone (C and F# major). The first 9 bars of this piece were all I had to start out with so I extended it and finished it using some variation technique and slapped on a repeat and called it done. I referred back to Musescore quite a bit in the process instead of writing everything on just paper and only using my imagination. I made many "corrections" from things that didn't quite sound the way I thought they would on the page, so I feel like a hack LoL 🤣. I'd appreciate any of your comments, critiques, suggestions or just observations. I hope you enjoy and thanks for listening! A Waltz in F#.mp3 A Waltz in F# Print.pdf