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Hi Kvothe! This is nice material. Solid at the beginning, but I kind of lost trace towards the final moments of the piece. Sound-wise it does its job very well. The very end felt uncalled for. It was everything but conclusive to me, which can be good at some places but I'm not sure if this is one of them. There are also some unexpected transitions and effects that struck me like "let's experiment with this". Nothing wrong with that either, this is a relaxed and informal competition afer all but... Dunno, I'm quite sure that if you let this material mature it would become way more interesting than what we already have here. Like, from 1:05 to the col legno sections, damn, epic transition. I also like how the col legno blends with the upper string voices, but to put a contrasting example I don't like how the first very strong phrase that sounds again on ~0:30 gets dissolved and transitions to some sort of uncanny fanfare that if extended it could prove to be a worthy piece on its own. Another thing I would like to point out at least superficially: dynamics. There is always room for them, and while abusing them can be a pain for performers, underusing them is not very good either. I think this piece suffers a bit from the latter, but not so much anyway! I notice marcatos, accents, and other articulations, but say, for example: do you want the same strength/volume in the stacatto-pizz. hits in the intro and just after the beginning of the A section? And yeah, let me be honest: I get that sheets are not usually overlooked much but since I myself try to take care I cannot avoid commenting you there are a lot of details that this score needs improvement on. Some examples right here: overlapping rubato, tempo marking —intentionally?— microscopic, and a very minor one that could legitimately be brought up by some nit-picky performer: where does the rubato at the first bar begin? First note? Third? Second? You also have 2 rehearsal marks with "B" at M40 & M45, plus a "C" elsewhere near the end. Finally, let me be that guy and tell you: your piece has not reached 3 minutes, and according to the rules: Not that in this case anybody's gonna take that very seriously, but since it's still 23/10... Maybe this is enough of an excuse to revisit this piece and give it another go? And if it doesn't work, you already got a solid submission posted! Just as a suggestion 🙂 At the end of the day, if what you got is completely of your liking, to the sky with it! May any of my points prove useful to you 🗿 Kind regards, Daniel. P.S: I subscribed to your channel, maybe you could post the video here too!

Hello everyone. Here is my official entry of this contest. It is for string quartet (2 violions, viola, a cello, and double bass). The idea behind it was: how can i use the following atonality, bitonality, and sprinkle of halloween fun.

.animated-text { font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: linear-gradient( to right, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet ); background-size: 400% 100%; -webkit-background-clip: text; color: transparent; animation: colorMove 5s linear infinite, bounce 1.5s ease-in-out infinite; } @keyframes colorMove { 0% { background-position: 0% 50%; } 100% { background-position: 100% 50%; } } @keyframes bounce { 0%, 100% { transform: translateY(0); } 50% { transform: translateY(-20px); } } Hi again! Here, as promised, I submit this small piece for the Halloween... Competition! Is it Halloween-ish? Dunno, probably not so much... But this is for you to judge. Do NOT expect anything bombastic though. It's a trio for flute, piano and violin so it's 3 instruments. ✔️ It's more than 3 mins, lesss than seven! ✔️ It's somewhat submitted before the deadline! ✔️ And it should definitely be entirely playable. Since here everyone has its own preferences, I am submitting the complete pdf (attached in this very post)+ the mp3 + a YouTube video with the typical (or not that typical maybe) way of showing sheet music. Now, back to more composing. I heard that the competition is strong between the contestants. MP3 Right here (or at the end of the post, one never knows). Bagatela Nº6.mp3 YouTube video HERE. And if you haven't done it yet, what are you waiting for? The deadline for this competition is still a week or two ahead! Look at the rules and drop your piece!!! Kind regards! Ø Thanks to @Kvothe & @MK_Piano for his reviews in the engraving, layout, and instrument-specific feedback. I have attached here the second edition of this piece, released today 28th of October 2025 (first edition was released on 25th of October 2025) . It comes with a Piano+ score that has reduced parts & system separators. Now all parts have rehearsal marks on top the usual measure numbering I commonly use in all pieces. Maybe a bit redundant, but better to be safe than sorry. 101 - Bagatela Nº6 [Completo, 2Ed].pdf Thank y'all for your kind reviews. We'll read each other in the forums!

(3/28/2026) Decided, over time, in the months after this competition, to take some time to even further polish it, just for the heck of it. The score and audio have been updated to reflect the most current version of this score. :) I had NO Idea what to name this piece. The score's name has been updated to "Ghost Town Requiem" 😉 But I've worked diligently on it, and I feel that it's as good as I'm able to make it. Really just shot for the Halloween/Spooky vibe with both the Instrumentation, key, and rhythmic inflections. Hope y'all enjoy my fun lil' sextet quintet (sorry my brain wasn't all there when I posted this) piece 😉 Score has been updated; @MK_Piano so kindly took it upon himself to download my score and edit the engraving to make it look purdy 😉 ... I also took some advice from @Omicronrg9 regarding the visibility of the Dal Segno mark early on in the score. YCF Halloween Composition .pdf 28802407.mp3

Dear all, Wow - that's an interesting topic for me - Halloween - never wrote a piece for an festival. To make this work more relavent to the work, I did some research to understand more about Halloween. Anyways, here is my thoughts writing this work: I have always known very little for the Halloween festival. To many, Halloween is a festival that focuses on pranking, customing and candies - but there is a long history with mysteries around Aos Sí, the Irish name for a supernatural race in Gaelic folklore, similar to elves. Here are some information from different sources: - Every year, Samhain is celebrated on 31 October – 1 November. During this liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned, Aos Sí could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. From 16th century, there is a tradition in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales, where people going house-to-house in costume reciting verses or songs for food. Some impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. Often, a man dressed as láir bhán, a white horse, and led the younf people for the activity. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. "...In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin"." These history and myths formed the basis for the plot of this work. HoYin

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I don’t feel there’s any need for my input… Lol Though I will add a bit of my own $0.02 to build upon this reply; pivoting off of his use of the word “Uncanny” I think I would also use the same word to describe how my experience with this piece felt. And I very much so agree; If this piece were allowed to mature for some more time, the ideas presented on your score could be spot-lit easily. The potential is there, in black and white! i think you might also benefit from reviewing your understanding of chords, leading tones, harmony, and form. Some of the score feels as if you were unsure of what to do, and just played the “fake it til’ you make it” game until you made it to a stopping point where you could then introduce the next idea that you had in mind. that being said, my advice would be to revisit areas in the score where you felt a sort of “writers block” at, and instead of allowing yourself to “wing it” through, slow down and really analyze what it is that you could effectively achieve. Lastly, yeah… This score wouldn’t be considered “complete” being under the 3 minute minimum, and if this were a true competition, would be immediately disqualified for judgement 😕

Let's go @PeterthePapercomPoser

I have learned a very important lesson. Although it is important to push our creativity, some times it we try too hard we might fail. I need to learn by doing string quartet that pushes my creativity to hard. I need to take small steps. There was no cohesiveness to it. It was compelete mess. 🙂

Toccatina, work from 2022. https://youtu.be/9FmOnrMAC4w

Why hello there. I notice you have upload a lot works. However, we can not provide feed back until you give a score. Cheers.

Hello, everyone! How are you? I haven't posted anything here in a long time, so I'll make up for it now. Unfortunately, with school starting, I don't have as much time for composing, but I try to set aside some time for my hobby between my studies. My latest composition is my first piano sonata. The composition is again interwoven with my specific style and I find it quite demanding to listen to. If you have a moment, I'd be happy if you listened to it. Thank you very much, I'm glad to be here with you! https://youtu.be/druaasJ6ebs?si=2BloE5frY6pu4EI9

Hi @Petr Kopuletý! The 1st mov sounds very funny with the offbeat rhythms as well as fleeting harmonies. I would hope to the music invite some moments when the rhythm and harmony become more static. In the 2nd movement the interesting rhythm remains though the mood is somewhat a bit less fleeting and volatile. It sounds like a dance to me. I don't think the tempo fits "Lento" marking; it's more Andante to me given how the "con moto" feeling appears here. The 3rd movement reminds me of some Japanese Anime music and somewhat the style of @ferrum.wav's music, with a somewhat more light-hearted style comparing the prior two movements. It even gives me some improvisatory feeling, sometimes with abrupt shifts of mood and rhythm between different sections. The ending sounds inconclusive to me though. Is the music in any musical form? I personally don't find it too demanding to listen to but will welcome your self analysis of your own music haha. I think of your style a less dissonant Prokofiev. Will be great if you can provide a score as well! Great job as an 18-year old! For sure you write better than when I was 18 haha. Thx for sharing your music! Henry

Welp, we have a clear front-runner here. Man, this piece is almost flawless. The only thing that comes to mind I could point out would be that the Segno could be better marked. It's not that the way most software and people usually do it is bad, but I myself found it's quite good (performer-wise, reader-wise and lastly it's a matter of tastes) to mark it with segno bars &/or a rectangle surrounding the segno symbol. Example here: . Just a suggestion. The piece itself as I was sayin' was very enjoyable to me. It's fluid, its structure works, you know how to connect the dots very neatly. The instrument choice is very good as well. I like how you don't need to deviate from tonality to get the spooky feeling you. It reminds me of PvZ OST at times, and at other times, you remind me of another composer whose work I have listened to a lot, Paul F. Page. The instrument entries are very balanced, you're stepping into solid ground! What I liked the most though, the return to the segno al fine. It's seamless. The score is alright, perfectly readable... Little I have found to be worth mentioning (I'm very sleepy though so my writing capabilities are diminished). Some overlaps here and there, misplaced dynamics due to software being stupid by default, but nothing else. Congratulations, UncleRed. My kudos. A long day awaits, may you sleep as well as this piece was enjoyed by my brain. Kind regards!

Thanks Peter! I actually don't have a decent solo violin for MuseScore, but am hoping to pick one up in the Black Friday sales. Those included with MuseStrings sound hideous, so I refuse to use them! I do have a reasonably good patch from Cinesamples; but it has an annoying bug, where the dynamic is different on each pitch. It takes a lot of work to counteract this, by inserting a new dynamic mark on practically every note! That demisemiquaver (effectively a grace-note) on the flute in Bar 64 is audible on solo; but in the mix it's being somewhat drowned out. If I accent it, the note becomes too loud and squeaky: so there's not much I can do. I think it'll be ok with a real musician; though it's right at the top of the range: so could be challenging to reach. As for fermatas, my composition tutor doesn't like them: so he's instructed me to change time signatures instead. I often find myself drifting away from the opening time signature whilst I'm writing. It seems to be a natural trait of mine. It's just the way I hear/feel the music.

Here is my submission for the competition! I look forward to the feedback, and thank all others for their submissions as well. I haven't finished going through the other submissions that I have not commented on, yet. But will do so ASAP! Enjoy 🙂

I've been writting a string quintet inspired by different cryptids. I'd love to submit it - not sure if it has to be written specifically for this challenge.

Here is my submission for the competition:-

I declare my intent to participate in the competition.

@Maxthemusicenthusiast has also submitted music!

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