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Looking at the score, I was initially somewhat surprised that a lot of notes had lost their stems. Being sure that this was intentionally and reading a bit about „Tintinnabuli“, I now understand that device of minimalization, even in the notation. The piece itself exudes a kind of calmness and melancholy which emphasizes the silence and toughtfulness one would feel around Christmas time. Concerning the „Tintinnabuli“-technique, it is surprising for me how one can create such colorful melodies from mostly stepwise thirds and blend them together with only arpeggiated triads of the main tonic chord, without loss of harmonic functionality and without introducing dissonances (but, haha, I think I’ve discovered a G in bar 18). Thank you for sharing and a happy New Year 2026!

I greatly improved the program by integrating stricter voice leading logic. Here's some output:

I love that short carol with its memorable subject being repeated in different variations throughout the piece in a counterpuntual style as a five part choral. The usage of a „Posaunenchor“ perfectly matches the mood of Christmas; I can literally imagine the brass instrumentalists standing nearby the entry of the church where people are gathering on Christmas eve. For one who is not familar with what a „Posaunenchor“ is, I quote the - oh, what a hot iron – AI generated answer of „what is a posaunenchor“ which, in my opinion, exactly explains it: A Posaunenchor (German for "trombone choir" or "brass band") is a community-based, multi-generational amateur brass ensemble, strongly rooted in the German Protestant church, that plays sacred music (hymns, chorales) but also secular pieces (classical, jazz, pop) for church services, concerts, and community events, emphasizing fellowship and faith across ages and backgrounds. For my taste, it is played a bit faster than real „Posaunenchöre“ would do, perhaps it is very cold outside and the players want to get inside the church as soon as possible ...

I must admit, that I didn’t know the „Coventry Carol“ before, so I had to find out more about it first. Even though it is not a new or own composition, the performance as a „Posaunenchor“ is quite unique and exciting. The picardy thirds at the end of many phrases sound so heartwarmingly clear with the trumpets or trombones! I really enjoyed the meno/crescendo part at bar 41 after nearly falling asleep from the lullaby! And even though the trumpet was obviously obliged to hold back to piano soon, there's still a very jazzy feel to it right up to the end. All in all a very enjoying piece which perfectly captures the calm mood of Christmas, paired with humor and joy!

Yeah, that one would surely be awarded the „Shortest Christmas Piece“ badge (haha), thus it isn’t easy to come up with a long review on that. Even though it's certainly just for fun, such a mashup shows the potential of „simple melodies“ and how much one can do with an easy piece using counterpoint, harmonization, instrumentation, etc. Thanks for making this fun Christmas event possible, and a happy and successful New Year 2026.

Today I was up without end working on a new program I invented. I promise that this one doesn't sound horrific like the others I've done. In fact, it is frankly quite genius. All I do is enter a melody, and the program then generates counterpoint in up to 5 voices in a matter of less than a few seconds:

@raymond doerr has submitted a piece as well!

From 2023. computer with the original music score died from water damage unfortunately so there is no score. This was the most Christmas like song on my channel that I could find.

We still have until Thursday, January 1st, 2026 before the Christmas Event closes! So get your reviews in to receive the "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award! - (you don't have to review AI generated works to receive this badge) And all the participants will be receiving the "2025 Christmas Participant" award! -

Thank you comment! I can see what you by cadence. I will get there: i promise.

I'm still unsure of where to go now, where it's currently left off at. I believe I would like to take it to another mood / scene, and have been toying with ideas based on my memories of the past with him. Thinking maybe to just follow the timeline chronologically, but at the same time, other emotions would like to be expressed as well. This has placed me at a stalemate within myself. 😅 And regarding the story; I am taking it day by day. I know it seems simple, just a little cat, making this grown man with a brawny stature and thick fuzzy beard all down in the dumps and grieving, but despite my tough outward appearance, I still cherish those little things in my life. I cherished his place as my companion for the last 5 years, most definitely. I am, despite this, doing better than I was when I wrote the post above. I've had him cremated, and he is in a personalized container, for now. I feel that he is at peace. And I will make my peace with it as well, soon enough 🙂

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! Thank you for taking the time to listen to and respond to my piece, it always means a lot. Yes, the violinist here is the wonderful @Irene Huang, a classmate of mine at school. There is a second movement to this piece but not a fourth, the whole thing has a runtime of only about ten minutes. It’s funny to me that you mentioned Shostakovich, I wrote the third movement right after attending our school’s Shostakovich festival back in October. I began sketching it after a performance of the 1st, 7th and 8th string quartets and 2nd piano trio. The 7th quartet is one of my favorite pieces of chamber music and I think you can hear bits of it in the third movement here. If I can get a recording of the whole thing I would gladly share it, as the second movement forms an important structural (rhythmic and tonal) hinge between the outer movements.

Hi @Kvothe! This waltz is for sure a lovable little waltz in Classical style. One thing sounds slightly off to me: the modulation to D major in b.9 (b.8 in your score) sounds fine to me, but it sounds like it’s never resolved and it goes straight to G major, without having a perfect cadence itself. And for the dominant G major it is only given 2 bars’ space suddenly the music returns to tonic in the reprise. Maybe for me I would just modulate from D to G in b.10 in your score, and then in b.12 the b.8 melody returns in G major, then complete a PAC on G before going back to C. Henry

Hi @mercurypickles! For the 1st movement the 1st theme’s marching mood is well stood out, while the 2nd subject is more reflective and I like the accompaniment all the time. I love the brief passage to pathos in b.70 (the 2nd subject for recap right?). I do think the octave sign doesn’t need to be written there. I like the 3rd movement, the pathos reminds me of Shostakovich, and the modulation to tritone to F sharp minor is well prepared. The pizzicato passage which follows is very interesting, particularly when Bartok pizz. and normal pizz mix together. B.91 is especially expressive with all those exotic notes. Thx very much for sharing this, in particular with the wonderful performance by the violinist and cellist! Btw, will you also share the 2nd and potentially 4th movements to us? P.S. Is the violinist in your excerpt @Irene Huang? I remember she submitted a piece to one of our competition and played very beautifully! Henry

Hey Kyle @UncleRed99, That’s a very sad background story and I am sorry to hear this, hope you are better now. Speaking of the music, I like the sparseness of it with those chords which sounds reflective and therapeutic to me. I like the sul ponticello at the beginning, maybe at some point you can add some tremolos to it too. The whole first movement displays your sadness. For the 2nd movement to me it begins with a calmer but still sad mood, and then yo start recollecting the happy past. I like the pizzicato passages depicting those happy memories and how lively your pet was (and is in your memory of him). For the end of the movement, will you get back to the sad mood, maintain the lively mood or reach a new mood? Thx for sharing! Henry

Finally not a mash-up or a casting! I like this haha. I like how the Eb major is revealed at the end of the Scherzo, just like a wrapped present. I wish I have your recent productivity lol. Maybe I myself need Suno to create tons of masterpieces lololol. Henry

I check out the new sections and I like the new voice samples more. I like the rhythm you introduce in b.221 throughout and my favourite passage is the celesta passage in b.221. I feel like you just need only a bit more passage to finish the whole piece! Henry

PROGRESS 2 i've changed the voice to a more softer one. hopefully it blends better. this progress will include stuff from the previous progress, skip to 07:23 for new stuff. new voice: Kumi (https://cubialpha.wixsite.com/kumivoice) updated analysis: -------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION. (b. 1-121) > introduces the themes, containing three sections. we'll call the three intro sections 1', 2' and 3'. 1' (b. 1-44) and 3' (b. 97-121) sections are inherently the same. the 2' section (b. 45-96) is a variation/development of a motif from section 1' (the first three notes). i call it the "Look to the sky" motif, very important, appears everywhere. the oboe part of the 3rd section (b. 103) introduces the B section as a counterpoint. b. 88 piano introduces the first part of the real main theme of the piece, and b.103 oboe counter point is the second part, which appears in the B section later. basically, the whole piece is a journey to combining these parts together, just like in the OST. Furthermore, 1' and 3' are just rhythmically augmented versions of the first part (quarter notes instead of eights, added triplets), while 2' is created from the motif and exists as its own theme. TRANSITION (b. 122-136), variation of 1'. ======================================= A. (b. 137-204) > pretty much the combination of the intro's three sections. vocal entrance (b. 151). section 2' are thoroughly woven and augmented between the vocal melodies. sax part at b. 180 is the B section, again, as a counter point. the vocal part sings a lot of the motif's variation. the lyrics are repetitions of Look to the sky Don't contain me I'm not here TRANSITION (b. 205-219), same as the previous one, different instrumentation B. (b. 221-278) > b.221 is a slight variation from section 2' (b.63). pizzicatos from b. 227 onward is the motif. oboe at b.229 restates the the main theme's first part while the left hand piano keeps the same rhythm from b.221 throughout. b.232 is the same counter point as previously, albeit variated. b.237 strings and celesta form an ostinato from the main motif, leading up to the vocal entrance. on b. 238 onwards, the vocal sings the main theme with slight variation (repetition of "sky" and "me." the rest before "sky" was done to make it singable). viola scatters the motif everywhere while woodwinds variate the main theme's second part as counter point. from b. 247, a new rhythm is introduced on piano left hand, sax, and viola, depicting troubling wave-like upward motions. finally, the vocal introduces the second part of the main theme alongside a new stanza. In the dark I am free Out to sea I'm just drifting here floating the instruments try to restate the newly sung part (b.262) but immediately get interrupted on b.266 by the return of 2'. the section builds up into: TRANSITION (b. 280-292), another variation of 1', more epic. A*. (b. 293-???) > instead of the strings, the piano grandly introduces the section. the rest play out just like the previous A with different instrumentation. -------------------------------------------------------- hopefully you guys will still able to follow the piece without looking at the analyses stuff, but yeah, enjoyy

I'm sorry that I'm only just now seeing this. It has been a wild December for me this year... I've just added what little work I've done to it, most recently, above in the post. Duration wise, I hadn't gone much further but I believe you'll notice that it's much more fleshed out than it was previously, in what was already there. The playback has also (mostly) been balanced in regards to gain / volume of each part, based on their significance for each section.

it sounds like the background music of old PS2 games and brings me back to early 2000s. It sounds playful and fresh. I'm looking forward to hear the full finished track

This is by far my most fugal composition. I had today some realizations about the nature of music that really played into the unfolding of its structure:

Very fun to listen to. Something like this would need an explanation, or a scene so we can get the context behind the Christmas spirit. But I love the bass, it helps create that mischievous tone. The A section of your ABA format could be the antagonist. And the B section (the slower part), maybe is a call to the protagonist. There's a lot of information in this short piece, but the ABA structure helps keep things logical.

Here's my 3rd submission to the event!

I started this piece this morning and managed to finish it this evening! My inspiration was to write a fast Christmas piece as my pieces lately have all veered towards the same slow tempo. The form of the Scherzo is ternary and the overall form is Scherzo - Trio - Scherzo. Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or observations!