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Hello all! I am classical pianist based in the United States and have been composing in my spare time since 2023, mainly hand writing and using MuseScore as my notation engine of choice. This post marks my first ever post and submission here on the Young Composer's Forum. If you would like to know more about me, both my website and short biography can be found on my profile! __________ YCF HALLOWEEN SUBMISSION: For this year's halloween competition, I created a ~5-minute long work for a Piano Quartet (Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano). This was my chamber of choice as currently, I am learning, and will be performing, Beethoven's Opus 11 Piano Trio in Bb with two other peers, and felt inspired to write something more traditional. Composed in C-minor, this work is set into Ternary Form (A-B-A') and aims to cast music for the time of Halloween. If you would like to know more about the piece, you can find more information on Page 3 in the "About" section. Thank you for taking the time to view my score and consider this work for this event! __________ (DISCLAIMER: The Midi playback from Musescore Studio sounds a little skewed in the solo violin part, however, this setback does not object to the playability of the part.)

Uh. Yes 🤣🤣 thank you for your feedback! And I’d have to disagree on the first section, respectfully. I noticed a theme with my compositions, and this one isn’t particularly different from my approach to the rest, when I step back and look at it; I tend to start out with a slow, melodic introduction, that then graduates to a more robust/intense motif, concluding to the originally introduced feel. I was aiming for a suspenseful, and drawn out start to the short story that I was writing here. also thank you for adding in the corrections. I must have missed those on that last pass I made over it to correct accidentals for voice leading accuracy. Thanks Henry!

Hey Kyle @UncleRed99! I am going to agree what @Omicronrg9 said wholeheartedly, as I enjoy this one very much. This one sounds very seamless in creating the spooky dancing mood of a Halloween in the fast sections. And this one has some sadness in it too. If an accordion (the main instrument of @Omicronrg9) is added in the score it can be a totally beautiful Spanish dance. I really like the opening Andante section for its emotions. However, for a Halloween piece I think it's a bit too beautiful and tragic to be here! I may just cut the entire section out and have it developed as an individual piece, and start this piece right at rehearsal mark B! Or I will at least make the A section a bit more spooky to fit into the festival! The B section is a wonderful mix of sadness, spookiness and a bit of fun with the dance rhythm. B.36 with the polyrhythm even weirdly reminds me of the first movement of Mahler's 2nd!! I absolutely love your usage of Bassoon and bass clarinet. They really enhance the grotesque mood of the piece. Beware of the Cb in b.40, they should be B natural. The C# in b.66 should be Db. Thx very much for sharing this wonderful piece to us Kyle! P.S. I am sure you brain flows into my own Sextet right? Say Yes!!!!! 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!

.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!

And here is @MK_Piano's first submission both to the contest and to the forum!

Yes, I agree with the superb transition from the col legno section as @Omicronrg9 mentioned. Great idea. I feel like this work is always intriguing to me, and has lots of pontential to develop - can't wait there are more with this piece. To the very end, I might have modulated it to some distant keys to add more "mystery" to it, if you find it appropriate.

Thank you! Hope you all enjoy it!

My favorite Scherzi would have to be this: Chopin: Scherzo Op.20 No.1 in B minor I love the thematic materials that chopin uses in this one. How those themes transform throughout the entire composition. It just amazing.

Very good advice here. Thank you for your feedback. I’m overjoyed and very thankful that you enjoyed many aspects of the piece, AND pointed them out to me. It helps to know what I’ve done right and what I can subsequently improve upon later. I hope you get a great restful night of sleep! Thanks, Omicron!

Hello there, unfortunately untill today I only have the ability to make from mobile, when it comes to the piano I find the sound very good enough for a mobile app so at this point there is no much problem for me, the thing I want to change is to study the instrument and music theory and master them one day, my time and my wealth at this point are not enough to do, so I'm doing what I'm doing with my own way and thank you a lot for your appreciation for my music!

@UncleRed99 I think what happened i tried too hard to use modern harmony methods and...oi...I am no Stanisnky. I need to start with tonal harmony, first. Thus I agree with @Omicronrg9 I probably either 1) how can savage this sinking sink 2) or write a new piece.

Hello, Thank you for listening and for your time! I will try to respond to your comments in order: You're right that the second part doesn't have the classic Lento character, but almost none of the slow parts of my compositions adhere to the conventions of Lento 😅 The conclusion was intentionally ambiguous to a certain extent. I wanted a more open ending 🙂 The form is not fixed. Although you may find the composition quite accessible, many people struggle with my compositions. This is mainly due to the irregular rhythms and polyrhythms. I don't usually attach sheet music to the recordings in the interest of preserving the mental health of the listeners, as they are quite chaotic 😂 Anyway, thanks again for your review, I really, really appreciate it!

Hi @HoYin Cheung! The use of extended technique is flawless and well fitting to the Halloween mood, and the style is very much Bartokian with some very percussive passages (the col legno). I really like the F section. The strings sound very much like an organ itself which fits to be "In a church"! Very professional scoring and engraving as well. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hey Damniel my boy @Omicronrg9! This one is goddamn grotesque my man. The beginning is a bit frightening as fitting to a Halloween themed music, nice repeated pizzicato motive used on the violin. But to me what stands out is after the first section in b.31 when an innocent Mozart k.331 like theme appears. Even it starts normal, I still don't believe its apparent naivety, and you mix that apparently naive theme so well with the Halloween grotesque mood with those dissonant but not overly dissonant harmonies, making the music somewhat dragging between naivety and evil like a darkened version of Alice in the Wonderland. This feeling is amazing to portrayed to be honest. I like starting from b.92 all these elements are put tighter together for an even more exciting and wonderful contest of moods. Maybe adding some glissandos in the violin and flutter tongue in flute will make the music even more evil. Thx very much for this weirdly wonderful piece! Henry

Hi @Demertzis! I will say this one is more like a Waltz than an Etude, as this will be too easy for an etude haha! But it's a nice and short G sharp minor waltz nonetheless. Henry

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

"Journey to the Island" from Jurassic Park condensed score video: