@AngelCityOutlaw

@Layne

@JohnElive1

@Jan-Frederik Carl

@sned

If you want to see more of these types of challenge videos in the future, help spread the word by subscribing, liking, commenting on the pieces, and sharing the video!

The rules for this challenge are VERY simple:

• This is not a "Music Jotter" challenge. Use your usual software.
• Any instrumentation.
• Length of piece doesn't matter. Just keep in mind for those who write long pieces, I can't audition the entire 20 minute piece 😅
• Create something that reminds us of Halloween.
• This goes up on YouTube!

I might rank the pieces from least scary to most scary, or least Halloween-like to most Halloween-like. Or, I might just talk about what elements make up this type of atmosphere. It depends on the types of submissions I get!

Due Date: October 1, 2024

You can Self Grant Access to the software.

Criteria

1. Since I will record all the pieces with Organ or Piano and audition your works on YouTube, keep it one instrument. Also, because Music Jotter is still in development, keep the piece short (at most, one minute). Use Chrome or Firefox as well. Safari has been lightly tested.
2. No more than 5 tracks, but you may use fewer tracks and multiple voices. I've composed works with up to 1000 notes and it runs OK.
3. Don't compose too many notes without making sure your piece has been saved. You can download your midi file as often as you wish.
4. You can follow the rules of the fugue loosely. But be sure you compose with at least 2 voices (either within a track, or by using multiple tracks). But you can compose up to 4 or 5 voices if you wish!
5. I will record your piece, and rank them...this is a challenge! I will try to get a judge to help me rank these.
6. To join, I encourage you to be a supporter, see below.

If you want to join my Fugue Challenge, you can help support my organization of this event + development of this software by becoming a supporter. We already have 26 supporters, why not join us? I am offering 2 tiers:

• $3 / month (basic support, and eligible to join our challenges)
• $5 / month (a voice in development of Music Jotter + eligible to join our challenges)

Join here

If there is enough interest, I will release a short video on exactly what elements to use in Music Jotter to compose the fugue.

*Update: Short video, lol.

Keep in mind that I need progressive examples. So it is OK to write simplistic harmony! However if you are feeling adventurous, I need those examples too. I will be taking all of your submissions, and rating them from least to most complex. There's no need to be offended by these ratings. I'm asking for these levels, and I may bring in the judges to help me. Then I will make a fun YouTube video to demonstrate that even the most basic melody, can be transformed by the usage of simple to complex harmony in music!

Everyone who participates, is opt in to being on YouTube. Not a big deal, you still own all copyrights to your music.

Either submit an existing work (or compose a short example) to help demonstrate an aspect of the musical slur. Keep in mind, the slur has different meanings depending on instrumentation. For example, in strings vs piano, there are slightly different meanings due to how the instruments are played. But as you know with music, music is an art, and I'm sure there are other use cases for the slur. What are they?

Upon your submission, point out which phrase you want me to demonstrate by giving me a bar number. Then give me a sentence or two as to "why" you used the musical slur in that section of your music. I will compile these results, and put them into a YouTube video.

This challenge is a little harder, but if you dig into your works, you may find they have motifs. A motif is a short musical idea. Not necessarily a melody, but it can be used to create melody. The point of this challenge would be for me to pick out your motifs on camera, and talk about what makes them motifs (I will have to vet submissions closely for this to work).

Motifs can be:

1. Rhythmic
2. Melodic (at least 2 notes or more)
3. Dynamic (dynamics can be used to portray a motif)

Examples of motifs

• Beethoven's famous 5th (da da da dun)
• Theme to Darth Vader (leitmotif, character based)
• If you ever watched LOST, each character has their own leitmotif
• Indiana Jones is victorious (dun, da dun dunnnn)
• MacGuyver is victorious or beat the bad guy (dun dun, dunnnnn)

Thus, leitmotifs are OK too in case any of you develop themes for video games or cinema. You can use submissions from The Tortoise and the Hare, and challengers of that competition are encouraged to do so since we may have some leitmotifs in those submissions. But it is not necessary and you can of course submit other works for this challenge.

Works that qualify will be at my discretion, and I may request help from the reviewers. So feel free to submit any work you feel most likely will qualify as a "motif" type of work.

If we don't have enough challengers, I will adapt this challenge. Let's see!

This challenge will be another YouTube premiere since the "What REALLY makes good melody" challenge was well received both on Young Composers, and on the broader spectrum of YouTube.

What makes a good melody? This is something that is not easy to answer. There doesn't seem to be a good formula, despite people trying to do so on YouTube.

So what is this challenge?

Submit an existing piece you feel is melodic (You can compose one too, but this isn't meant to be a competition, and I don't want to sit on this for months...a week or two at most). You can link your piece you wish to submit in this thread. And what I will attempt to do is point out your melody or melodies on camera. I'll try to explain what makes them good melodies. And the challenge is...can I point out the melody correctly?

What this challenge will do is a few things

1. Put me on the spot, but put the composer on the spot as well. Did your music convey the melody so that a listener (me in this case) could point it out correctly?
2. Did you captivate an audience? Think of me as a smaller sample set of a larger sample.
3. Real world examples of melodic writing from "today's composers" (either amateur, non established or established, it doesn't matter) can help other people see how to accomplish writing melodies. No formulas, no tricks, just real world examples and what makes them melodies.
4. I feel that this challenge will be more effective with "today" composers. Composers of the past can work, but people may be like "yeah yeah, it's Bach, or Beethoven, what else is new".

This will be the first interactive video I would create. Who knows how it will do but who wants to give it a shot? I'll close this thread after I feel there are enough submissions. If I get no submissions, I will attempt to do this with passed on composers. But I also risk copyright strikes. It's tough running a music channel!

Participants

@expert21

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

@Camfrtt

@AehrasYT

@Zeldz

Hello everyone! So long since I did this, I bet some of you were looking forward to it. This time we will be using a theme by a friend of mine and show him some support through his cancer.  

I will offer a 50$ 1st prize to the best composition that isn't by a close friend of mine and another 25$ 2nd prize. But to receive it you will have to prove you shared this video with at least 2-3 people (if possible composers) before the deadline (21/04/2023) (even if the piece is incredible this requirement can't be ignored, if so you won't be elegible to get the prize). I really want to get as many people as possible to participate in the project. This is similar to an art raffle on Twitter where you have to retweet a post. Once you share the video send me a screenshot of that to my email: ivanmusic1886@gmail.com

Even if you didn't get any prize you can get an honourable mention if you show quality craft.  

There are two options:  

1.- To compose a small set of piano variations using the main theme.

2.- To compose a free piece for any instrumentation using the material I show.

(Both are equally good, but perhaphs the second one is more interesting.)  

Pieces will have to be longer than 1 minute and 10 minutes long at most. Shorter and more dense pieces around 2-5 minutes are encouraged.  

Musicality, emotion and imagination regarding the transformation of the material will be what will be valued the most. The style is free as long as it is understandable and enjoyable for most people (the experimental pieces will be included but will not receive any prizes).  

As said the last day you can submit your piece is on the 21st of April of 2023. Send me your piece to me email.  

Here you have the original piece:

Good luck to everyone and let's hope to get some awesome pieces! See you soon. 🙂

Earlier this week, on monday, i came up with a very simple, short waltz (while studying math, of course). Its 1'12'' long, and written for piano (although not exactly playable by one alone).

Since its short and harmonicaly simple, i thought it could be a nice exercice for those who are still learning the ways of orchestration (also a good one for those who already know the craft).

The ZIP file contains 3 other files: The PDF, the XML (for those who want to use their notation program) and the MIDI (for those who want to orchestrate with their daws). Feel free to add your own little details, ending, octaves, parts, etc. Be creative, be thoughtful and have fun. This is what orchestration is mostly about.

Also feel free to post your finished work here.

LINK: http://rghost.net/6ZGVFTKYH

Keep in mind that RGhost is a file hosting site that deletes its files 90 days after ther last download. If its not available anymore give me a shout here in the topic and i will update it accordingly.

The original purpose is to compose a little set of variations obviously, but you can do literally anything with it as long as the original material is recognizable and it isn't too short (like 10 measures/15 seconds) or too long (like 30 minutes of music).

You can take both a harmonic approach or use the melodic shapes of the harmonization as your material.  I will set the deadline around the 28th of November of 2021. As always you can send me your rendition to my email ivanmusic1886@gmail.com in a Musescore format or MP3+PDF.  

Have fun! And if you can't compose anything for now or you aren't interested in participating, sharing the challenge with other people is highly encouraged and we will be thankful

My friend also decided to join the forum very recently: @Ferran Carrasquer

Here you have the link to the counterpoint you will have to use your submission: 

The idea was to create a piece using one or both of the melodies my friend @Leonardo C. Núñez and me offer you. The description of the video explains the challenge a bit more, but if you have doubts please leave a comment. 

Once you have your music send it to my email ivanmusic1886@gmail.com

Send a Musescore3 file, a score plus the audio or the video with the score. Thank you. ^^

Anyways, I hope you will have fun and sorry for not posting this before. The deadline will be the 18th of February but I can add a couple of days if I think it is necessary. 

XML files

https://app.box.com/s/9qymkuqz1ganjwitz9s1qijuotbi59xy

https://app.box.com/s/95svcbkrsl48l8238qm93lr110pcr4o8

Composing a piece that follows these rules:

• no longer than 60 seconds
• using only 4 notes (in every octave, I think)
• written in less than a day
• having something to say 

Have a nice time! :D

Here's the challenge:

• Compose a piece without relying on any sort of external playback. That means you can't sing it, play it on an instrument, or use any computer program to play it back.

Here are the rules:

• You must follow common-practice period style conventions.
• You may use any instrumentation you wish (try to keep it within common-practice norms, though; no steelpans, now!).
• The composition should be under 10 minutes.

[EDIT] Deadline: ongoing (although I will provide comments on any submissions received before May 1, 2013). All forum members are welcome to submit comments on any of the submissions.

OK?

Ready? Set? Go!

Translate the numbers into letters of the musical scale, this can either translate into the steps like twelve-tone or just the notes of a scale. Create a melody out at least some of the notes and you MUST use those notes TWICE in your peice (the melody does not count). No time limit.

You get to choose the specific instrument or instruments but the MONTH you were born will determine your section (you have to stay in that section, see exceptions in bold).

          Percussion (Piano NOT included) : December and November 

          Piano: February and April

          Strings (Harp included) : March and May

          Woodwind (clarinet, bassoon, Piccolo, flutes, oboe, saxophone, English horn) : June and July

          Brass (trumpet, trombone, French horn, et cetera) : August and September

          Electronic (synths , et cetera) : October and January

A special rule for people born on February 29th: You can choose TWO instruments from another section or sections

IF YOU WERE BORN ON ANY HOLIDAYS (widely celebrated |=| CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, Arbor Day, Boxing Day, CINCO DE MAYO, ET CETRA) : You can choose ONE instrument from another section

(Post when done!)

Its been a while since i've been here. Good to be back and also surprised they changed the look of the site. I thought i'd throw a little challenge for those who are currently unnocupied.

Write a short (1 minute?) piece based on the following duo: The instruments must correspond to your birthdate.

January: Timpani

February: Oboe

March: Glockenspiel

April: Flute

May: Violin

June: Horn

July: Bassoon

August: Celesta

September: Bass Clarinet

October: Tenor Sax

November: Contrabass

December: Cor Anglais

1:Marimba; 2:Horn; 3:Bass Clarinet; 4:Piccolo; 5:Viola; 6:Bass Trombone; 7:Clarinet; 8:Vibraphone; 9:Euphonium; 10:Glockenspiel; 11:Timpani; 12:Tuba; 13:Violin; 14:Oboe; 15:Cello; 16:Tubular Bells; 17:Melodica; 18:Cor Anglais 19:Tenor Sax; 20:Bass Clarinet 21:Bassoon; 22:Trumpet; 23:Eletric Bass; 24:Piano; 25:Harpsichord; 26:Flute; 27:Organ; 28:Trombone; 29:Guitar; 30:Soprano Sax; 31:Celesta

As a prize, I will record the piece and post it here (the quality of the recording is similar to my Autumn Competition Entry "Variações sobre o Siriá"). I may also pick the piece to perform live in some performances I MAY have during my master's degree here (please, notice, I MAY have, it's not a promise).

I don't have many guidelines for the entries. If you feel like you could do something, try. It'll be very welcome. I may even chose more than one piece.

I've also attached some advice on writting for solo alto recorder. If you have any other doubt, feel free to ask here, and I'll answer.

I'll set a deadline for January 9th.

Participants:

- bkho
- luderart
- Emiliano Manna
- Monarcheon
- Nikola Canada
- fishyfry

Let's pick each other themes and go crazy!!!!! o/