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Hi Tunndy, I agree you whipped the donkey of the AI! (Edit: The system won't let me use the other word for donkey; but I'm sure you can guess what I meant to write!) Not sure artificial intelligence will ever be able to understand what music really is. (Hope I'm right, otherwise we could all be out of a job soon!)

This is about the overall consensus of what I would've said had I been here earlier. lol However, I'd like to add, that this score is quite repetitive, and sort of irks the ear after hearing the same thing so many times over. I also am having a hard time pinpointing any specific key that you intended the music to be in. (Seems Atonal, or keyless. Perfectly OK choice, but I'm not so sure it makes a lot of sense, in my head. That's likely due to my way of seeing music. So that point is on the whole, irrelevant.) Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 6 3 6 9 4 7 7 6.5 Overall Score Average: 5.25

Hello everyone, I’d like to share my piece Fumage for flute, oboe, and bassoon as my submission for the Fall 2025 Halloween Competition. 🎃 About the Piece Fumage is inspired by the surrealist art technique of the same name, where smoke from a candle or lamp leaves ghostly, shifting impressions on paper. This piece takes that imagery into sound, with wisps of timbre, sudden bursts, and eerie colorations from the woodwinds. It mirrors candlelight, smoke, and the blurred line between reality and apparition—an atmosphere that fits the surreal and haunting spirit of Halloween. Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon Duration: ~7 minutes Score (PDF) Audio (MIDI) Thanks for listening and I welcome any feedback! –– Justin Gruber

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 4 7 4 10 10 5 5 5 Overall Score Average: 6.25 Melodies Themes and Motives: 4 My reasoning for a 4 is because the music, for me at least, seemed difficult to follow. I did lose my place a couple of times, and there really is no melody, not any one line that sticks out at any given moment. Although, I believe that this piece's intent is to be jarring, random, or playful in it's nature, if I'm assuming correctly. (I'm sorry, I couldn't take the time to read the introduction page. 😅 It kept cutting off for me. Possibly something to do with my browser) Harmony, Chords, Textures: 7 Overall, I think the harmonic complexity and textures presented here are very good! I don't have a lot of technical wording to use to describe it, as it's very unique, but nonetheless, well done! Form, Dev., Structure, Time: 4 (I'm assuming it's supposed to be this way) I wasn't really able to differentiate too much between your sections. The textures change, but not in a fluid manner, from what I observed. The Development of the piece is mostly unchanging throughout the piece. There are moments of more pronounced dynamics, then moments of lower dynamics with only 1 or 2 parts playing. Which does show some form of development, but this would be unclear to the average listener. I also have to say, I've never seen or even considered using a time signature with a denominator of 16. 😅 to be frank, I have no idea how I'd even begin to count that. I simply followed the notes on the page, as I heard them passing, to get through those measures. Personally, I feel there may have been a more sensible choice than 3/16. (Simply my opinion) Originality: 10 What else can I say? Never seen anything like this one, honestly. And I'm diggin' the uniqueness of it, despite any of my grievances with it. Score Presentation: 10 Very Professional - Very Demure 😎 Ins. Orch. Playability: 5 Overall, this is technically able to be performed... However, I feel that an excessive amount of time would go into rehearsing something like this, with 3 musicians, just looking at it practically. The syncopation is off the CHARTS my man... 😭 As well as some parts where I notice the pitch jumps over an octave from the previous note/measure, which can be very difficult, especially for wind players, to execute. Execution: 5 It would scare me if I had this music set in front of me as a musician. So I think that qualifies it as "spooky" but it's not very reminiscent of pieces I'd consider to be "Halloween-ey" or however you'd put that 😅 Taste: 5 I only put a 5 here because I'm not quite sure what sort of flavor you were shooting for. I feel that this score is more reminiscent of your own taste, adding to the Originality of the score. So, I'd wager that this is a totally unique score of your own design/genre, mostly. That's about all the input I have on that topic.

Hi @olivercomposer! Honestly I don't think it's plagarism! Using hexatonic keys is very common in film music! Henry

Here is my submission for the competition:-

Calling all student musicians! I wanted to share a music opportunity for anyone interested in performing virtually. A student-run nonprofit I’m involved with (Musical Memories) is organizing an online concert, and we’re currently looking for musicians who’d like to participate. This virtual concert is a partnership with Blowing in the Wind, another nonprofit dedicated to fostering cultural exchanges between students. We're looking for musicians who perform more traditional music, either from their cultural heritage or a unique genre of music they're learning! Accepted participants will submit videos along with a brief explanation about their story in learning that specific type of music. 🎶 🎻 Virtual concert details can be found below: Online event (YouTube livestream) Will take place on Sunday, October 26 ~5-10 performances of ~5 minutes long The sign up form can be found here, which has more logistical guidelines/info. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to blowinginthewind.youth@gmail.com, or musicalmemories2023@gmail.com. Please sign up as this is a wonderful, unique opportunity for musicians of all backgrounds and skill levels!

Hey there Justin Wow, this is fantastic! There's so much color throughout, and I love how you really explore some of the possibilities the instruments are capable of. Long trills, variation in expressions, all wonderful. It was interesting to hear how you developed your melodic cells, since there was a purposeful lack of melody. I love your jaunty changes in rhythm, and your approach to sequence-style movement in your chords (sorry don't know how to properly say that). The A sections were so free and fleeting, kind of reminded me of Debussy or how jazz musicians move chords. Very cool stuff. I don't know how "halloween" sounding this is, but it's an outstanding work nonetheless, one that you should be very proud of. Feel free to offer advice or say hi to others, you sound like you have a lot of knowledge we'd be happy if you shared. Thanks for posting, and be sure to vote for me for your favorite halloween piece 😄

Cool man, I love the dark style of this. That quarter note bass line at the end sounded like it was building up to something faster, maybe movement 2 eh? 🙂 For some reason I got metal vibes hearing this, which is good, because metal owns. Love your music, but we gotta update your program... you deserve better sound samples! Thanks for sharing!

Hello, sorry, I thought the platform translated, here it is in English: Hello, I'm sharing my piece for string quartet, "Clowns," inspired by a group of killer clowns having fun on Halloween. I'd like to clarify that the audio is MIDI, as the piece wasn't recorded. It should be around 3.30 minutes long, this one a little faster. Best regards!

"Hello, I'm sharing my piece for string quartet, "Clowns," inspired by a group of killer clowns having fun on Halloween. I'd like to clarify that the audio is MIDI, as the piece wasn't recorded. It should be around 3.30 minutes long, this one a little faster. Best regards!"

@sebastian Pafundo has already submitted his piece entitled "Clowns":

@Justin Gruber is the first participant to have submitted music! Listen to it here: