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im really fond of how experimental this is. the variety is wilddd and the inclusion of handmade instruments?? very creative. i quite like how blended the different percussion timbres are and they definitely provide unique textures. it's fun listening to the rambunctiousness of the different percussions as they come and go. unfortunately, as @UncleRed99 has pointed out in the rules, there should've been only 3-5 monophonic or polyphonic instruments present. HOWEVER, i am not even going to try to discourage you cus this piece is funnn to listen to. i notice that the themes have distinct characters. they clearly portray a set of vibes and imagery. i can imagine a landscape according to the story. the score couldve been presented better. its very small and reminds me of my score entry for the "bits and bangers" yc competition years ago lol although the middle section feels directionless, the return of the beginning theme and texture ties it up!! its also appropriate for the context of the piece. the story that youve provided is very whimsical and i thoroughly enjoyed reading it!!! its honestly nostalgic for me cus i used to play and wander with my childhood friends too when i was a child. not to the extent of forests and a colonial place per se, but it was definitely an adventure. goood job!!! Melodies Themes Motives 6 Harmony Chords Textures 8 Form Development Structure Time 7 Originality Creativity 10 Score Presentation 3 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 10 Execution of Given Challenge 5 Taste 7 Average Score: 7 (how rounded) end note: handmade instruments:

Title Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste AVG The Voyage of a Lone Ship 9 9.5 9 9.7 8.5 9 9.5 9.5 9.21 Hi @ferrum.wav! This is a very creative piece. The harmonic development and texture is really rich here. Really appreciate your exploration of different playing techniques to create different textures. Good work! The motives is passed on throughout the piece and makes the piece coherent. I particularly like the part between 4:33 and 6:33 and I truely believe I am on a cruise! And it is like a parade. The build up and resolution around 8:30 is also very satisfying. Looking forward to a film that can fit your music! 🤣

Title Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste AVG Lamentare Ciobanului - "The Shepherd's Lament" 9 8.5 9 8.5 8.5 9 9 9 8.81 Hello @ComposaBoi. I really like your work. I would say among the entries of this Soundscape competition, I find your piece the most "storytelling"! And that is acheived through minimal orchestration. I admire your gift in this aspect and I really wish I could write melody as you did. By the way, your choice of English Horn is quite tasty as it is mellow and antique and blend well with the sustained strings. Like other said, this work has distinctive sections like "chapters" of a novel. While they have different textures, the overflow is quite natural and the build-up is nice.

Title Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste AVG City Rail and Nightingale 8 8 8 8.5 9.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.44 When I close my eyes, I can totally picture a moving train in a not-so-hurry journey! And I treat it as a success in addressing what you titled. Good work! The block chord did depict well the shutting door and contrast with the ever-climbing line (as the train de/accelerate) as clearly different character. I find your rendition enjoyable, or fitting to this specific piece as the pianos sounds "metallic", or should I say less resonant, that reminds me of heavy machineries or the steel rails. Not sure if such sound can be acheived on a piano, but I am sure a prepared piano may be more ideal. The score is definitely professional and I love you added description for the motives with which I find it easier to interpret your music as a Soundscape. Fianlly, not really a part of the comment, but I would like to share you the a steam version of your work which I am luckily enough to hear it live many years ago, haha. "Pacific 231" by Arthur Honegger - https://youtu.be/wS6XAjd-9h8?si=kg9g1FoLiwjhjcME

Melodies ThemesMotives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8.5 7.5 9.5 10 9 8.6 6.3 I have again listen to this in the car before, but not actively scoring it so I must’ve forgotten a bunch of aspects of the peace. It’s not my cup of tea, but I listen to parts of it again and give the scores for the reason. Anyways, it’s a good piece and I love the cover art of this and also is this possibly an educational piece I do see finger markings

Hello @Josephine_Maccrimmon ! Welcome to the forum! Sorry for a late reply. I think the beginning of this sketch set up the mood well. You have many things you can do to move the composition forward. First is harmony. You are just staying in tonic D flat major in the passages presented. How about a half cadence and then modulates to a different key? Like, you can have a phrase ends on Ab major which is the dominant chord, and then start in a close key and then gets back to tonic Db major. You will already get some progress with this formula. Next is the instrumentation. You are using the flute as the melody carrier. What about the other instruments? You could easily switch roles with each of those instruments, for example having piano/oboe/quena playing the melody. Another thing is texture. What about changing the texture to a more polyphonic setting and invites more counterpoint? Also what about a contrasting section with different mood, tempo and key? These are all what you can consider for developing a piece! Henry

Hello @PikapikaHei ! Welcome to the forum! To me actually the piano writing is idiomatic! The melodies are also good. For me it would be the structure of the piece. You are going for an ABABA structure which the A and B sections provide good contrast with each other with different mood, tempo and texture. I would suggest you adding more developments in each of the A and B sections after their initial presentation, rather than just changing keys. For example the recurring A sections you could have developed the melodies with variations rhythmically and texturally. Also, it would be great if there is an assimilation of the two sections at the end. However, this is a very good attempt especially from someone who has never attended a composition class, so props to it and keep writing! Henry

Hey Jonathon @ComposaBoi ! I like the part writing here and the Cor anglais is definitely better than oboe for presenting the Romanian mood, I think. The melodies are really memorable to me as well. I would say in terms of structure you could have introduced more contrast between in the middle sections, rather than just modulating and changing the modality to major. To me there's an imbalance of structure as you put the contrast solely at the end, which somewhat sounds less move forward. I would also say the tragic ending in b.81 is a bit abrupt to me. I like the passage itself but the preparation to it is not enough for me with only an accelerating bassline and suddenly modulates from a different key. I am nitpicky here probably because I listen to @ferrum.wav 's piece before yours, so sorry for that! I like your piece though even if my words are nitpicky! Thx for sharing! Henry No less you are a German. Very precise value 😗.

Hey @ferrum.wav ! To me this is the best entry in this competition. You show complete understanding on the idiomatic writing and as you said, "to squeeze and extract as much as possible out of them". All those techniques and tessitura are served for the narrative of your pieces here, rather than a mere meaningless show off of what you know. In the intro where you present theme 1, the tremolos of strings in their lowest register definitely presents the unsettledness of a lone (not sunken lol) ship, plus the syncopated triplets which adds to it. Like you and @chopin mention the whole tone scale which represents water much like Debussy would do, but the whole tone scale itself is a trouble maker to make the atmosphere even more terrifying with no resolution available for the scale. The timpani to me acts like heartbeat here just like what Mahler did in his 9th. As the tension grows the wonderfully virtuosic passage in b.21 doesn't only mean to show off, but to enhance the tension as quick as possible. The pizz./arco alternation and the open strings are really well used here, as well as the bouncing of bows for the violin. The high register accompaniment of piano really reminds me of water as well. I will also have to say, Theme 1 sounds very much like your anime music themes too, as I've just relistened your arrangement on the Your Reality song. The glissandos in b.69 really intensifies the tension with the fiery notes in piano, plus the double stoppings and fortissimo, which prepares well for the storm section, For the whole tone storm you definitely depict the scene very idiomatically with timpani and piano marcato, plus tremolos and bouncing bowings which develops what you've done in theme 1. Most importantly you have spacing here between beats and with polyrhythm, so each instruments can bombard in different times, that's why even though the music is very strong here it doesn't sound messy at all. Next in theme 2 you provide a really good contrast in all aspects. Harmonically and melodically it sounds like a folk dance with all those open fifths and quartal chords and lydian notes, rhythmically the syncopations and dancing rhythm. I like the high register horn melody in b.113. Again here sounds like anime music, tho with adventure theme. I like the quasi fugal transition after the climax too. Next I really love the abrupt end to the fugato. It sounds like the celebrating mood for minutes is just imagination and is futile and the protagonist is still hanging their lives on an almost sunken ship. I really love this ending section. The pizzicato just sounds so sarcastic, and then the artificial harmonics even more so. It almost reminds me the ending music in the Usual Suspect: Like what you've said writing a great piece is much more important than winning any competitions, even if it's a YC competition and I'm sabotaging my own status as a YC staff to reiterate that lol. Writing for a competition is a great way to inspire yourself to write good pieces, but to win it or not I will never care if I know I write a good one, even if it breaks laws or rules or so. Congrats on such an achievement! It's tough but it's all worthy, isn't it? Henry

im not that well versed in renaissance writing style (and instruments), but it does certainly sound like it. however, i do find it difficult to associate with the given landscape. i also think its hard to do originality since you chose a distinct style and has to follow the rules in order to sound like said style. nevertheless, i quite like the harmony and melody. they sound playful, especially on the 3/2 section. Melodies Themes Motives 7 Harmony Chords Textures 8 Form Development Structure Time 10 Originality Creativity 6 Score Presentation 9 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 9 Execution of Given Challenge 6 Taste 6 Average Score: 7.62 end note: renaissance good

ALL Perfectionists think that way................so its not a Bad Thing I recognized your style with my eyes shut...................so consequently, your compositions have there own unique Identity. i wish you luck in the competition.

A Perfect Fit, to an "Orient Express" style film Also...interesting article about Cinematic-Panavision Lenses used to create these films FLAG TEST.avif

Hi Kyle @UncleRed99 ! This one is a completely contrast with @HoYin Cheung "s piece I have just heard, as this one is sparse in spacing for the whole piece and in a more homophonic style. Maybe you think this isn't your best work, but indeed this one falls into your general style, with sparseness, homophonic texture and sentimental melody just like Jonathon @ComposaBoi said. I like the simplicity of the piece like Mike @chopin does, but I would want some excitement in the middle climax of the piece. This piece has a clear structure and direction when both the beginning and the ending are serene, and between the climax is placed in the middle in b.40 and b.64 with a slight dip between, thus having the climax graph looking like a Bactrian Camel. I think in the climax you could have added more counterpoint to make the texture sounds more full to provide an even notable contrast with the general mood of the piece. Although, I would say for a 4 minute piece it would be perfectly fine to just stay calm and serene with a little bit excitement between which is the piece you present now. One scoring concern is the tremolo with a staccatissimo, e.g. in b.32, what does that mean? I think it would be clearer to just write out the two repeated notes with staccatissimo on both of them. I enjoy this piece, thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @HoYin Cheung ! It's a nice piece for sure, the quartal/pentatonic harmony in the piece representing the Alishan landscape is well noted. The motives are clearly well organized and noticeable, Many nice use of polyrhythms to depict the vividness of the landscape too. Although I will have to agree with @ComposaBoi on the structure of the piece , as I too find the direction of the piece less compelling and moving forward. I think probably it's the less contrasting timbre and spacing of each passages makes the pieces less contrasting, The whole pieces sound contrapuntal to me which I think in some places you could have the flute act as the sole melodic carrier with a more homophonic texture, and minimize the amount of instruments staying as it's mostly 4 or 5 instruments playing, when you can have some passages having just 2 or 3 instruments, or even solo passages to create contrast in the "less is more" side. Or some passages there can be octave doubling instead of having all 5 instruments playing different lines all the time. Although those above are only my subjective opinion and I still enjoy your piece. Thx for sharing! Henry

I’ll look into it. Thanks.

You can request Vimeo to take it down, as we are not Vimeo staff 🤪

That is outside of the purview of Young Composer's Forum. So, @MK_Piano will have to take that up with @interlect on their own.

Although YC post has been taken down, the vemo post is still up: " A FIRE WITHIN " - Main title | Composer : Mason Kistler© *Tribute | Videos & Movies on Vimeo This needs to be taken down, too.

I added the following rule to the list: 4) Do not plagiarize other composers works or modify or use elements of another composer's compositions in your own works without permission and giving proper credit to the original composer.

Oh, I am sure!

Haha Hong Kong is now getting "from chaos to order" and "from order to prosperity" so it will be very different from the books you read then 😗

Could this be address: 🎬 ★𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒓 TRIBUTE | A Fire Within© - Orchestral and Large Ensemble - Young Composers Music Forum

After reviewing eight of eleven contributions to the contest, there are now three ones remaining which challenge me the most. That are the ones of @InstrumentalistElle , @BipolarComposer and @HoYin Cheung . The reason for this is that they have so much in common, both in terms of their qualities and their style and mood. Since my comments would hardly differ, I have decided to copy and paste passages verbatim, which I will therefore highlight in blue, while my individual thoughts are written in the standard color as usual. With your submission(s), you have presented compositions that best meet the expectations one might have given the “Landscapes-Soundscapes” challenge: Pieces that depict a landscape as a “still life”, utilizing every conceivable timbre of the instrumentation, blending, etc., to create true “program music”. When listening, one can easily imagine a scenery from the nature: clouds, trees, a quiet lake or sea, a sunset etc. All this has been executed very well. On the other hand, the piece(s) are sometimes hard to memorize because there is few or even no thematic material in the sense of a recurring melody that is developed throughout the piece, giving it its own unique and memorable character. In fact, to be honest, as I listened to them in a loop —which is exactly what I did during a walk to familiarize myself with all the submissions—I sometimes thought the next section was coming up in the first piece, when indeed the next one had already begun. So I could imagine that this kind of music would work well as “ambient music”, for example, a CD someone might listen to at night if they have trouble falling asleep. Melodies Themes Motives: The motivic or thematic material of the piece(s) is used primarily to create a „soundscape“ depicting the certain scenes or images, such as the clouds, trees, mountains etc. Beside that, I would consider the motif presented by the violins in mm. 13 as the central, recurring „tonal“ motif which does not contribute to the „soundscape“ but provides a subtle melodic background. Harmony Chords Textures: The harmonic language could be described as „atonal“ due to its rich dissonances. However, with the above mentioned melodic theme, it is also interspersed with passages of „tonality“. Form Development Structure Time: The composition is not in a specific traditional form, the different sections or passages could be considered as „episodes“ or different „pictures“ of the entire imagery, which is fine for a piece intended to portrait a certain scenary from the nature. Originality Creativity: The creativity and originality clearly arises from the way how the different motifs create „sound snippets“ which finally draw the „soundscape“. Unfortunately, that creativity and originality does not produce enough memorable impressions to ultimately create a sense of „uniqueness“, so the piece is less recognizable than it should be. Score Presentation: The score is easy to read with no engraving issues. For aesthetic reasons, I do not like the last page with only 2 bars which could have been avoided by a better distribution of the bars around all pages. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: Possible playability problems concerning the multiple stops have already been discussed. Execution of Given Challenge: You have clearly mastered the challenge of the contest with excellence, creating an inner imagery for the listener with your „soundscape“ that depicts the „landscape“ as described by the posted picture. And the term “soundscape” perfectly captures the nature of the piece. Taste: It's very nice for relaxing, though I prefer music that focuses more on thematic material and form (perhaps that's why I'm more of a fan of the Baroque or Classical periods than the Romantic one). Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 8.5 8.5 7.5 9 8 10 6 Average Score: 8.125

After reviewing eight of eleven contributions to the contest, there are now three ones remaining which challenge me the most. That are the ones of @InstrumentalistElle , @BipolarComposer and @HoYin Cheung . The reason for this is that they have so much in common, both in terms of their qualities and their style and mood. Since my comments would hardly differ, I have decided to copy and paste passages verbatim, which I will therefore highlight in blue, while my individual thoughts are written in the standard color as usual. With your submission(s), you have presented compositions that best meet the expectations one might have given the “Landscapes-Soundscapes” challenge: Pieces that depict a landscape as a “still life”, utilizing every conceivable timbre of the instrumentation, blending, etc., to create true “program music”. When listening, one can easily imagine a scenery from the nature: clouds, trees, a quiet lake or sea, a sunset etc. All this has been executed very well. On the other hand, the piece(s) are sometimes hard to memorize because there is few or even no thematic material in the sense of a recurring melody that is developed throughout the piece, giving it its own unique and memorable character. In fact, to be honest, as I listened to them in a loop —which is exactly what I did during a walk to familiarize myself with all the submissions—I sometimes thought the next section was coming up in the first piece, when indeed the next one had already begun. So I could imagine that this kind of music would work well as “ambient music”, for example, a CD someone might listen to at night if they have trouble falling asleep. Melodies Themes Motives: The motivic or thematic material of the piece(s) is used primarily to create a „soundscape“ depicting the certain scenes or images, such as the clouds, trees, mountains etc. However, the motifs are pleasant and simple, thus producing an impression of a never ending melody. Harmony Chords Textures: The harmonies emphasize the tranquil character of the piece. There are no surprising modulations or tonality changes. Form Development Structure Time: The composition is not in a specific traditional form, the different sections or passages could be considered as „episodes“ or different „pictures“ of the entire imagery, which is fine for a piece intended to portrait a certain scenary from the nature. Originality Creativity: The creativity and originality clearly arises from the way how the different motifs create „sound snippets“ which finally draw the „soundscape“. While the somewhat repetitive character of the piece does not produce enough memorable impressions to ultimately create a sense of „uniqueness“, it is easy recognizable for its unique instrumentation. Score Presentation: The score is easy to read with no engraving issues. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: The choice of instruments—the oboe and bassoon combined with the harp—gives the piece a mysterious and ethereal atmosphere that perfectly captures the image of a morning when a light mist hangs over a still lake. Execution of Given Challenge: You have clearly mastered the challenge of the contest with excellence, creating an inner imagery for the listener with your „soundscape“ that depicts the „landscape“ as described by the posted picture. And the term “soundscape” perfectly captures the nature of the piece. Taste: It's very nice for relaxing, though I prefer music that focuses more on thematic material and form (perhaps that's why I'm more of a fan of the Baroque or Classical periods than the Romantic one). Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.5 7.5 8 7 9 9 10 6 Average Score: 8.125

After reviewing eight of eleven contributions to the contest, there are now three ones remaining which challenge me the most. That are the ones of @InstrumentalistElle , @BipolarComposer and @HoYin Cheung . The reason for this is that they have so much in common, both in terms of their qualities and their style and mood. Since my comments would hardly differ, I have decided to copy and paste passages verbatim, which I will therefore highlight in blue, while my individual thoughts are written in the standard color as usual. With your submission(s), you have presented compositions that best meet the expectations one might have given the “Landscapes-Soundscapes” challenge: Pieces that depict a landscape as a “still life”, utilizing every conceivable timbre of the instrumentation, blending, etc., to create true “program music”. When listening, one can easily imagine a scenery from the nature: clouds, trees, a quiet lake or sea, a sunset etc. All this has been executed very well. On the other hand, the piece(s) are sometimes hard to memorize because there is few or even no thematic material in the sense of a recurring melody that is developed throughout the piece, giving it its own unique and memorable character. In fact, to be honest, as I listened to them in a loop —which is exactly what I did during a walk to familiarize myself with all the submissions—I sometimes thought the next section was coming up in the first piece, when indeed the next one had already begun. So I could imagine that this kind of music would work well as “ambient music”, for example, a CD someone might listen to at night if they have trouble falling asleep. Melodies Themes Motives: The motivic or thematic material of the piece(s) is used primarily to create a „soundscape“ depicting the certain scenes or images, such as the clouds, trees, mountains etc. The development of the motifs does not create any melodies but ongoing sound structures which themselves produce an interesting progression. Harmony Chords Textures: The texture is amazing. Together with the dissonances, the piece – while being slow in pulse – creates scenes with constantly growing tension or, vice versa, release, thus having a very cinematic character. Form Development Structure Time: The composition is not in a specific traditional form, the different sections or passages could be considered as „episodes“ or different „pictures“ of the entire imagery, which is fine for a piece intended to portrait a certain scenary from the nature. Originality Creativity: The creativity and originality clearly arises from the way how the different motifs create „sound snippets“ which finally draw the „soundscape“. Even if there is no „melody“ – which usually makes it more difficult to memorize a piece – the entire impression based on its mysterious mood and timbre makes it unique. Score Presentation: The score is easy to read with no engraving issues. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: You’ve mastered to evoke an astonishing colorfulness from the string quartet, particularly by applying natural and artificial harmonics and flageolets, whereas that might be challenging to perform. Execution of Given Challenge: You have clearly mastered the challenge of the contest with excellence, creating an inner imagery for the listener with your „soundscape“ that depicts the „landscape“ as described by the posted picture. And the term “soundscape” perfectly captures the nature of the piece. Taste: It's very nice for relaxing, though I prefer music that focuses more on thematic material and form (perhaps that's why I'm more of a fan of the Baroque or Classical periods than the Romantic one). Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 10 8 8 9 10 10 7 Average Score: 8.75