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Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 8 10 7.5 8.5 9 7 8.5 Avg: 8.56 Nice romantic harmony paired with a gorgeous theme makes this a very clear and easy to follow piece. Variations of your themes are also very cool, and your key changing keeps this piece from feeling too repetitive. I definitely hear your Tchaikovsky influence, but around 3:30 I actually think I hear some Mendelssohn influence as well, maybe you didn't even realize it. Be careful though with balancing the piano parts of your melody, they were definitely too weak in velocity especially compared to your strings. But that's just an audio issue. As far as the execution of the challenge, this one is tough for me because it does remind me of romance between a man and a woman (or some type of heartbreak), but the story you are portraying here is so romantic-heavy, I forget about the summer part. But that might just me! Despite that, this is a beautiful and heartfelt piece.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 6 6.5 7 9.5 7 8 8.5 7 Avg: 7.4 I think you chose very difficult instrumentation. Your harmony is simple, but yet, tricky. I say this because your instrumentation makes it a bit hard to decipher sometimes (for me), but I do hear your key changing as I listen through. Your piece also appears to get more dense and complex as it moves on. I think your melody and instrumentation are doing a pretty good job in portraying a serene summer afternoon, especially towards the beginning. It almost reminds me of being on an island. I marked you high on creativity because this is an interesting piece in terms of instrumentation, and your overall theme and structure. I also feel like a lot of moods and emotions are going on here which may confuse the listener as to what the goal of the piece may be. If I had to summarize the piece, it goes from serene summer afternoon, and ends with a high energy midnight dance on an island perhaps. With regards to your audio, be careful with tearing. Be sure you normalize your audio output so that your loudest parts do not red-line.

I need a review and guidance on how to continue, because I think it's too short. Sonata Re gama.mp3 Sonata Re gama.pdf

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.5 4 9 7 7.5 9 10 7.5 Avg: 7.8 You have a very distinct serene melody which reminds me of the poem. Given that this was the challenge, I think you obviously succeeded on that front! The simple harmony however puts more pressure on you as the composer, because then your on the hook for a good, clear theme. In this case, the harmony definitely can get a little repetitive after awhile. However, the piece is short enough where you are almost pushing the limits, but your theme luckily is strong enough to balance this out! If the piece were any longer though, I would have to sit down with you and have a discussion about changing key :-) Even if it meant throwing in a flat here and there. But the melody is fun and your structure is another strong point. In conclusion, this is a very easy to follow piece with a clear structure and a fun theme!

Rameau discusses how to make a simple four part canon at unison (that is, each voice entry follows unison). The easiest method involves a short melodic idea that follows a simple harmonic progression (e.g. I-V7-I). For my first try, I used this simple melodic idea: We can then add each of the 4 entries at their exact points, and realize the range of possibilities while avoiding parallel octaves 5ths. One limitation is that the final entry (where all voices are at once most likely taken by the bass part) may not correspond with established cadential voice leading conventions, unless the motif resolves from the leading tone or the 5th (as the case here). The second exercise I did was slightly more ambitious, utilizing secondary chords and greater diminution. I also embedded the leading tone in the second half of the motif in the interest of the above. Finally, as the second line approaches the V7-I cadence from the 4th (F natural) I depart from the stricter option of rising to the G (as the first part did earlier) in the interest of the conventional resolution of the V7 chord. In practice, Neidhofer & Schubert state that most imitative contrapuntal textures are neither strict canon nor free imitation but somewhere in-between. So it is quite justified to loosen the framework in such places. Play around with your own ideas... it doesn't need to be a masterpiece but at least adhere to the basic voice leading rules. I have composed canon's before but not as targeted exercises. Canon Practice.mp3 Canon Practice.pdf

Hi Henry! As @chopin says, the intro is catchy yet solemn and wonderful. In the progression building up even further from 1:58, it feels as though something is surging forward—it is sad that this isn't a live recording. The structure itself is well-composed, and the transitions are smooth. Around 5:00, a vivid scene of live musicians performing came to mind—starting with a solo performer and then adding instruments one after another. The entire piece maintains a consistent structure, drawing the listener deep into its worldview. The clarinet solo around 14:31 is also a personal favorite. After the busy dialogue between the instruments up to that point, it shifts into a quiet solo, and then from 15:13, it connects to the final development, returning to the origin of the piece—a great finale. How many movements do you plan to create? I thought it would be great if a file where we can listen to everything all at once were uploaded someday. Well done, I enjoyed listening! Best, Lithl.

18th Century theoriest, Johann Mattheson, discusses the importance of imitation in counterpoint. He contrasts this with "melody and accompaniment", in which the melody is simply supported with corresponding harmony. He states that without imitation, music sounds "wooden". It is imitation that brings music to life through dialogue, the reason being that: we relate to musical dialogue like our own social world. Obviously, our social experiences are not singular but at least bi-directional. The usefulness of imitation extends beyond its aesthetic appeal; it is also a critical tool for developing a musical idea. From personal experience, producing a convincing dialogue/conversation in my own writing helps me consider where it might go next. Mattheson goes on to state that, for experienced composers, imitation becomes instinctive which is particularly useful in improvisation: against a given melody, thinking how it can be imitated becomes central to its corresponding solution. I conceived a melody of my own to practice this. Try to do the same: produce a short melody and consider how it might be imitated. Figure 1: a melody with basic accompaniment: Figure 2: the melody with imitation In my attempt, the imitation follows the rhythmic pattern of the melody a like a canon but without faithfulness to its script. Note that the bass is still primarily supportive of its harmony, following the voice leading outline shown in figure 1. Importantly, I used the do-re-mi schema (1-2-3) as the basis for this simple idea for it facilitates stepwise contrary motion in the bass (here this was useful in bar 3 where the bass rises to the Bb against the melody that descends to D. Making use of such schemas (see Robert Gjerdigen's 'Music in the Galant Style') can be useful for this sort of thing.

Morning all, I am going to produce some learning material on here as part of my own studies to share & promote knowledge relating to baroque counterpoint. I have acquired the not inexpensive book, Baroque Counterpoint by Chistoph Neidhofer & Peter Schubert that I am thinking of translating into a workable guide on here. Disseminating this is as much for my learning as for the potential benefit of others, in addition to generating constructive conversation around these concepts. I am thinking of uploading one class per week - or more - depending on the time I have. Stay tuned for these.

Hello @Fruit hunter, another of your percussion pieces, now for a „more traditional“ percussion ensemble and not for „bottles“, „leaves“ and „wooden sticks“! Melodies Themes Motives and Harmony Chords Textures: The use of various pitched and unpitched percussion instruments allows you to introduce, on the one hand, a range of melodic motifs and even chords, and, on the other hand, rhythmic patterns that enrich the piece with a vast array of motivic material. Form Development Structure Time: Even though I’ve listened to the piece a few times now, I have to admit that the impression of a “kaleidoscope” of sounds and motifs prevents me from recognizing a specific traditional form development, so that the length of the piece increases the risk of a certain “randomness” or monotony. Originality Creativity: Given its instrumentation, the piece is undoubtedly one of the most original and unique entries in this competition. Score Presentation: There have been pointed out a number of engraving issues already by @MK_Piano, which I don’t want to repeat here. Beside that, I generally like your score since it has a good readable font size, spacing etc. However, I can see that you’ve struggled with the arrangement of the staves and systems on the pages. I know this, and it’s not always easy to find a satisfactory balance between readability (i.e., the font shouldn’t be too small and the staves shouldn’t be too close together) and the effective use of space on the pages. This always seems to be the case with pieces that require seven staves, so that sometimes there is room for two systems on a single page, while in other cases only one system can fit on a single page. For aesthetic reasons, I would prefer a more even distribution across the pages, but that is not always possible. In some cases (for example, in measure 40 and measure 137), the tempo markings or other annotations extend beyond the page margin or the page size. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: I think, you have thoroughly worked on the instrumentation, the choice of the mallets, the situation when to change to another percussion instrument etc., which shows that you are familiar with that family of instruments. The only question – the playability of the fast changes between mallets or even instruments, as already stated by other reviewers – still remains for me, and I can’t answer it. Perhaps, you had have been a bit more „conservative“, introducing rests before that changes, which would be possible, especially if only one player changes the instrument/mallet while playing unison with another one (for example in mm. 108 or 116). Execution of Given Challenge: As for the question of to what extent this piece sounds “French” or conveys the atmosphere of a summer day, I have to admit that my first impression was, that the piece could be performed on the street at the „Fête de la Musique“ - which is a massive, nationwide free music celebration held annually on June 21, the day of the summer solstice, in France. And for that reason, I can see a real connection between your piece and the challenge of the contest. Taste: It's a piece that is interesting, surprising, and fascinating. On the other hand, it gets a little “monotonous” after a few minutes, so at the “Fête de la Musique”, I might have already moved on to the next musicians. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 8 6.5 10 6.5 8.5 9 8 Average Score: 8.0

I would find a more serious competition a little more interesting but at least give a little more freedom with some of the ensemble stuff and I don’t care about monetary rewards

This is casual competition without any prize money and hence we are not requiring any particular format for the reviews. Even the official reviewing template is purely optional and one is free to review without it or use your own template. Therefore, I don't think it's reasonable to expect everyone to rank the entries also given that if you are using the official template you'd have to create a sheet/excel document to keep everything consistent. (Of course the official judges of previous more formal competitions did do this and it was definitely fun for some and a headache for others)

Hello @Ninja Nolan ! When I first came around to read your explanation of the submission and took quick look at the score, I asked myself, “How is this supposed to work?” and “How is this supposed to sound?” when you put four soprano saxophones together in an ensemble. Isn’t it a mistake to combine instruments of the same register—and even the same timbre? Wouldn’t they get in each other’s way? But after listening to (just the first few minutes of) your piece, I was proven wrong: I have to admit that the four saxophones blend together so beautifully, without any clashes or overlapping! I also get the impression that I sometimes hear the timbre of other woodwind instruments, such as a flute or an oboe (that’s a bit like a sommelier tasting a wine and raving about how it has notes of wild berries, melon, or even pepper…). I - La soie (The silk) The first movement has for me a very calming atmosphere, somewhat like a lullaby. Another impression was that it reminds me somewhat of pieces which are played at Christmas time, but than with a brass ensemble (i.e. „Posaunenchor“) and in a different seasonal mood. II - Le ciel (The sky) The second movement reminds me of a dance at Thanksgiving – I mean a Baroque-style dance (while I can’t – since I’m not familiar with the characteristics of those dances – say whether it’s a Gavotte, a Sarabande or a Galliard …). I very like the sometimes humorous passages, as for example, in mm. 36 or at the beginning of the Trio in mm. 56. Le soir (The evening) A more melancholic movement, that arises a picture of sitting around a campfire, thus really capturing the mood of a late summer evening. Melodies Themes Motives and Harmony Chords Textures: The piece uses beautiful, simple melodies and harmonies, which are sometimes „spiced up“ with some dissonances (such as in the first movement, mm. 18-20) - which I very liked. The textures are – while being relatively simple – well balanced. For that reason, I most liked the texture of the opening section of movement three, mm. 1-16 for their slightly couterpuntual approach. Form Development Structure Time: Since consisting of multiple movements and featuring a „dance“ in the second movement, the form could perhaps described as a suite. The movements are well developed and the entire piece perfectly meets the time requirements. Originality Creativity: The piece is original and unique among the submissions for its instrumentation and the use of the „suite“ form in three movements. Score Presentation: The score is clear and professional with no issues. I very like your descriptive program notes at the beginning. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: As always said, the instrumentation seems at the first glance somewhat „adventurous“, but has been brilliantly mastered. I think, there are no playability issues, since it doesn’t seem to be „difficult“. Execution of Given Challenge: You have chosen the three stanzas of the poem and created three movements, each with a clear, distinct mood, trying to depict „The silk“, „The sky“ and „The evening“ as they are the topic of those stanzas. If listening to the music evokes images whose seasonal mood sometimes differs from that of a summer day, this should be considered merely my personal opinion. Taste: It's a piece that's pleasant to listen to and has a calming effect. However, it might not be the kind of piece I would listen to every day. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 8.5 10 9.5 10 10 9.5 8.5 Average Score: 9.375

I think it would work best if each person were to rank the pieces (not their own if participating), giving their reasoning, and submit it in private. I think its easier to judge when you know all the pieces. Just a suggestion!

Yes, thank you for asking and sorry about this being unclear/unmentioned. You will have till October 1st (a week after the contest closes) to review all the entries and vote for the winners.

Entry: Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 7 10 8 9.5 10 10 10 Average Score:9.3 Review: Overall, I did not notice any engraving issues on the score presentation. The only thing I would recommend would be to use expression sim. when there is the same type of articulation. That way, you do not have to write out the articulation for each note. The execution of the piece of this piece has meets the challenge. Each part is easy to read and playability. The creative and originality reflect the German lieder in tone and character. Hence while it unique to this contest, it original in the sense that melody and harmony and creative in the instrumentation and such. Homophony is the primary texture throughout this piece and sounds like chorale.

Since the submission deadline will be soon, and I expect that there will arrive some pieces today or even tomorrow, I would like to ask whether we have some more days time for our reviews (perhaps at least over the weekend). I would appreciate it, if the deadline for the reviews could be clarified (not just for me, but also for the benefit of other reviewers, since we haven’t received that many reviews yet).

Thank you for the wonderful feedback! I believe I forgot to add dynamics at the end by mistake... :( Dynamics and bowings are up to interpretation I guess

Thanks for listening and commenting, @Seni-G ! I am glad you found that it slowly built up. It was one of the main things I put effort on since it was such a short piece, and the addition of the Coda was mostly for that same reason, as I felt the piece needed a little extra build-up/release with the main quarter note motive. I really liked your idea of the accompaniment, specially I might experiment with it during the coda since that is where the rhythm is freer and most of the notes of all chords are static, so it is a good place for testing it out. Thanks for the idea! Thank you!

Thank you so much listening and the feedback, @Grant Weep ! I have been listening to the sections you said attentively and I think I know what you mean. Regarding the Bnat, I personally like it there, and I like that harmonic/melodic movement, but thanks to your comment I realized that I did too much crescendo there. I should be played only a little louder, but I play that crescendo to the Cmajor chord even louder than the Half Cadence. I think that might affect negatively the first section of the piece. I will try practicing that crescendo softer to see if, for the next time, I manage to make that part sound smoother and less out of place. Regarding the power chords, I used those there for inner melodic reasons. You are right that they sound a little hollow, but I think I like the one in m.11, but in m.15 I might add the third to the right hand for next version. Thanks for pointing those out! Yeah, that was an accident, but since it did not sound too bad I let it stay. I also think it sounds kind of nice the more I hear it. I will consider whether leaving it and maybe reusing the same idea somewhere else or getting rid of it! Thanks for the comment!

Hello everyone, Thought I'd share my appreciation for this gorgeous work for double choir by Zelenka, performed by Ensemble Inegal under Adam Viktora's direction (released 2025). Zelenka worked for the court of Augustus the Strong of Dresden and was a contemporary of JS Bach (they allegedly knew of each other and maintained mutual respect but never met). Unlike Bach's sacred works, Zelenka wrote for the Catholic church. This was written specifically to be sung at one of various altars during a Corpus Christi procession at Prague's St. Salvator Church. This movement was written to be sung at the third altar. Until recently all but the first movement was believed to have been lost in the Dresden Bombing of WW2. Thankfully, researchers in 2023 found a complete 19th century copy for our pleasure. Prague's St. Salvator Church. For me, it doesn't get much better than this. Enjoy!

Thanks for the reminder. Everyone who hasn't already submitted music has been messaged about the encroaching deadline. We're still expecting at least 2 more submissions for a potential total of 9.

remember guys that the submission deadline ends in three days so make sure you finish your work and send it in through the channel shown above

Some of the most devastating music i’ve heard still yet contain a mixture of the minor/major mode but commence and return to the minor. There are some outliers though in your spirit, such as Bach’s crucifixus (from mass in b minor). I believe that is entirely in the minor, but with an important caveat: The movement is approximately 3 minutes long, and is immediately followed by the jubilant ‘Et Resurrexit’. This is of course highly effective, and I can only imagine how the mood in a concert hall, reduced to the depths of despair at the depiction of Jesus dying on the cross, to then be elevated by the sudden and ecstatic news of the great revelation. The other example that comes to mind is Dido’s Lament by Purcell. Both share a the same structural basis: a repeated ground bass and as such the music remains within its harmonic frame. And both represent something both devastating and apparently defeating. So it’s not unprecedented in that measure, but what sets your work apart is in its length, and the indication that the other movements are also predominately in the minor. I would argue that the most effective narratives through music embody some form of cyclic structure that involves both the major and minor (not in equal measure but 70/30, depending on which mode the work commences) and if not within a single movement, then between movements. Bach’s crucifixus is an excellent example in this respect. That is my personal preference, of course, and wish not to detract from the technical and aesthetic feat you have achieved here. All the best Markus

@JorgeDavid Well done, that was excellent! The second half is particularly moving. I felt like it really built up the drama and peaked in a very satisfying way. You’ve got a really nice touch, both in the composition and performance. Here’s my only recommendation: break up the accompaniment rhythm here and there. It will give the piece more character if the accompaniment is just a touch more rhythmically interesting. I’m only talking about rhythm, not the notes themselves. Even a small rhythmic change can have a big impact. For example: Instead of boom chuck chuck, boom chuck chuck, boom chuck chuck, boom chuck chuck… You might try boom chuck chuck, chuck boom chuck, chuck chuck chuck, boom chuck boom (rhythm repeats). The boom is the bass note and the chuck is the chord. You could keep all your same luxurious bass notes, but just alternate slightly where those bass notes hit. You may even find a configuration that sounds so delightful, you can use it throughout the piece as a motif. Anyways that’s just a thought. Even if you keep it as is, it’s already lovely! Nice job.