expert21

It's time for the annual Young Composers Christmas Music Event! The Brief Same as ever year - write anything inspired by a winter celebration (e.g. Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa) or just Winter in general (or Summer for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere). If you want to participate, pop a comment below! You could have a look at last year's competition for inspiration if you like: As usual there are no prizes and everyone's a winner. You will however, be rewarded with a beautiful badge designed by our very own @PeterthePapercomPoser. Submissions are open now (8th December). Submissions will be included in this thread. There is no deadline, though preferably your piece should be done before Christmas or at least before the end of December. What are you waiting for? Get composing!

You can upload a pdf.

Kia Ora @Ferrum I love this! Like Peter I think the main theme of this song is awesome and I love how you treat it in so many different and interesting ways. I also love you're orchestration and how you share the theme around the instruments. Such a great piece! Nga mihi, Arjuna

Thank you very much!

Thanks for the debt lol! Thank you so much Henry!

Thank you so much Peter!

First post in a looooooong time. Some background on the piece is in video description. All constructive feedback is welcome. Nga Mihi, Arjuna P.S. I'd like to thank our very own @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu for the recording.

Beautiful!

Hey Gabriel, Nice work on this short minuet, it sounds quite good. A few suggestions: For that final cadence I think it would've been better to use a V7 chord instead of a regular dominant chord. The dominant seventh chord contains what is known as the tonal tritone between the third and the flattened seventh which has a dissonant sound to it, but has a more satisfying resolution when it resolves to the tonic chord. I think you could've use a few more dynamic contrasts between the phrases to make them stand out. Overall, good work and I hope to see and hear more from you. Nga Mihi, Arjuna

Any key can work on the violin in the hands of a professional, but it is best to use keys that make use of the open strings, or keys based around the open strings (the major/minors of G,D,A,E).

Good day Henry, I hope you are well. Wow, this is a great piece, both tragic and beautiful at the same time. I especially love the second part of the fugue and the C minor section that you say is your favourite. I'm very impressed by the fact that you have written a fugue for 6 voices, something I could only dream of doing. Not only have you managed to write a fugue for six voices, but have filled it with honest, raw and beautiful emotion and clothed it in tragedy. All I can say is, in the words of Robert Schuman: Hats off, gentlemen, a genius! Nga Mihi, Arjuna

In Guitar playing, there are two ways to play slurs; Hammer-ons and pull-offs. You can also play slurred notes using slides, but that would be using glissando which would probably not come Hammer-ons are, as the name suggests, when you sharply bring a fretting-hand finger down on to the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound, you "hammer on" to the fret. Pull-offs are when you pluck or "pull" the finger that is grasping the sounding part of a string off the fretboard. They are the opposite of the hammer-on. Examples: Pull-offs; The opening bars of Francisco Tárrega's mazurka "Adelita": Hammer-ons: (contains both techniques but hammer-ons are more prominent): The opening of the theme in my own "Variations on an Old Kiwi Christmas Song": Both Techniques; The opening of Fernando Sor's Minuet No.1 from 2 Themes and 12 Minuets Op.22: Though most slurs in guitar music imply whether they are to played as a hammer-on or pull-off, in more modern guitar notation ( the way the slur is to be played is usually directly stated:

Hi, Can you post a score please? It's much easier to review a piece with a score thanks.

Wassup Henry, I hope your doing well. Firstly, I just want to say that this recording is much better than the one you sent me earlier, the bass is far less muddy and the treble is somewhat clearer (from what I can hear). Also, good job on playing your own pieces. This seems very difficult, you must be a great pianist. With regards to the music, I think this is near perfection. My favourite is probably the development, it sounds like Autumn leaves falling down to me. Like Mike, I think this sounds like a modern Beethoven with touches of Chopin in the pianistic sections, but overall I'm hearing Henry Ng rather than those two. Henry, I think that you should at least try to get this performed, or at least teach it to your piano students when they reach the level, the way the old master (Chopin, Liszt etc.) taught their students their own compositions. It's up to you in the end, but this piece is definitely something I'd want to learn if I was a pianiast. Anyways, lovely piece, hope to hear the other movements soon! Ciao, Arjuna

I was 11, and had some weird TV Show in my head called Demon Hunters. We were learning to play Pirates of the Caribbean in Orchestra so I decided to try and write a theme song for the show. I don't remember what it sounded like, but I listened to it a couple years ago and even though it was about 2 bars in length, it was rubbish. There were a few improv things I did earlier than that, but I dont consider them compositions.