IceWind91

Wow; I just read this today! I have no clue what to say; I didn't think I had any chance of placing, let alone winning! Thank you very much! And congratulations to Gamma and Mahler!

I'd love to give this a try.

This some great work! If this gets performed, I'd love to hear a recording! The second movement is my favorite. Sort of relaxing, but with a bit of underlying creepiness. I also love the registrations you used. This would really be something to hear performed.

I think a composer should know how to play at least one instrument. I don't believe that piano has to be that one instrument. Before the computer age, working out things on a piano or other keyboard instrument was the only way a composer could hear how a complex polyphonic work would sound, without actually getting it performed. However, now that we have programs such as Sibelius and Finale, we can hear what a passage sounds like without having to be able to play it ourselves. Now, if you want to write for piano, then you should definitely study a little bit of piano, just so that you get an idea of what's possible to do on the instrument and what's not.

I will actually be recording this soon, probably within a couple days. Thanks for writing this, Simen! It's a fun and challenging piece. If you don't mind, I'd like to try recording this on my bass ocarina, which sounds one octave below an alto ocarina. This means that the pitch will be exactly as written, whereas with an alto, it would sound one octave higher. I've uploaded my recording of this piece:

You might be interested in the works of Shostakovich. The violin and cello concertos are a good place to start. Not quite atonal, but creepy nonetheless.

Here's my entry; Winter Fantasy. It's scored for 6 woodwinds; piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, and bassoon. This is the largest ensemble I've ever written for. It's a light and cheery take on winter, depicting snow falling from the sky and swirling in the wind. It then shifts to a more peaceful scene, perhaps a winter landscape under the moonlight. Then, the music once again becomes bright and cheery, perhaps showing the same scene in the daylight, depicting the joy winter brings. Some parts of this may sound a little rushed (they do to me, at least). I'll admit, it's definitely not as polished as I would have liked, but the end of the month sort of snuck up on me. :P winterfantasy.mp3 winterfantasy.pdf Sorry for the unrealistic MP3 rendering; it was the best I could do.

Sorry, double post, my bad.

I'm entering. I think I can get something in before the deadline.

Very, very impressive! It sounds like some kind of an etude, like something Chopin or Liszt would have done. I am very, very jealous of your composing skills. ;) Seriously, how many people's second compositions are at this level? My only advice would be to increase the space between the staves on the score. Some of the notes intersect each other and make it difficult to read the score. Other than that, I can't think of anything else I'd change.

I really like the stuff you do with the tuplets on page 7. There's lots of good rhythmic stuff going on throughout the piece. It's a very exciting to listen to. I agree, the ending does need a little bit more. I'm not sure if this is helpful advice or not, but you could try building up to something loud and grand, rather than dying away. Maybe try modulating to a major chord or something. Once your satisfied with it, I think this is a piece that would merit a live performance!

Pretty good for an introduction! I'd like to hear the rest of this when it's done. I'm thinking some fast passages after this would create a nice contrast.

I really like what you've got so far. It sounds like you've got some really good ideas here, and, from what I can tell, they seem executed well. I'm looking forward to hearing the finished sonata!

Thanks, both of you! I will definitely consider your advice, Vince. If I get a chance, I'll expand this and try to turn it into something worth listening to. I'll let you know if it gets anywhere. @Enigmus: The alto C (the higher one, recorded twice in the multitrack) is from Focalink, a wonderful maker in Taiwan. It's a 12 hole transverse, and has a range of an octave and a half. The alto G (the low one) is one I made myself. It's pretty lousy. It only has one octave, and requires overblowing to play the G#, due to the lack of subholes. As for vibrato, yes, I can do that, and I have in some of my other videos. Here's one of my best, if you want to see it: YouTube - Im Wundersch

A very simple piece I wrote a few months ago for the sake of doing a multitrack recording with ocarinas, which are little ceramic flutes. I was going for a Baroque sort of feel. Short and simple, but effective enough for what I was trying to accomplish. Uploaded because some other members wanted me to upload something. :P Here is the performance of it on Youtube: YouTube - Ocarina Trio No. 1 (Original) OcTrio1.mid OcTrio1.pdf