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Hi, I'm new so not sure if I'm supposed to comment here, but I wanted to say I'm amazed by this work. Really impressed with the natural dramaturgy of music flow as well as usage of contemporary harmony, rhythm, melodies. Glad to hear something new and exciting like this, keep it up ^^

ghost-town-requiem-kyle-hilton-2025-ycf-comp.custom_score.mp3 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 have also had a change of heart on the timbre of the score being in C minor, and have transposed it to B minor, one half step lower for a slightly more rich tonality. I also took some advice from @Omicronrg9 regarding the visibility of the Dal Segno mark early on in the score. YCF Halloween Composition .pdf

I wrote a ballet a few years back! Notes aren't too hard since it would've had to been prepared pretty quickly, but I've always been more about screwing around with rhythm and meter, anyway. Forgive the recording quality: I had to make to scratch tracks and I only play cello, so I had to record all the parts except the bass and piano (except the plucking) 😅 Maybe I'll upload the other movements later, but this one is pretty interesting on its own, I think.

.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!

https://musescore.com/user/96214813/scores/28339009. This is my work. It is a theme of variations piece of music. It has a length of exactly 5 minutes. It consists of an introducion, a theme, and thirteen variations (coda in last variation). It is written for two pianos and a violin, and it also has a cadenza for both types of instruments.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TZJ7a6jue0wpKBrUJ4AWOg8HYsBcfwSd?usp=sharing This is my submission for the 2025 Halloween Composition Competition, Woodwind Quintet No. 1. When I composed the fast section of the piece, it had a bossa nova feel. I liked this feel enough to want to develop it further. I decided to slow it down in sketch form, and the result was something that sounded like a happy-go-lucky, yet sinister, ice cream truck.

Here's my submission to the Halloween competition, written for piano quartet. I thought a lot about demons and possession, abandoned houses, what's down the cellar, all that 😄 It was a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy!

The competition is now closed and all the entrants have posted their compositions for your review! Please go here to vote for your favorite entries: The members have voted and decided upon a Halloween themed competition! This is a just-for-fun competition without monetary awards. But I will be making badges to reward the participants and to give them kudos! I'm thinking I'll make a badge for "Strangest/Weirdest/Most Outlandish piece", "Spookiest/Scariest piece" and "Overall 2025 Halloween winner" which will all be decided by a popular voting poll. The participants will also be able to earn an "Ardent Reviewer" badge if they review all the other participants works! Please reply to this topic to declare your intent to participate in the competition! The competition has the following constraints: Instrumentation - Free choice of any of the following ensembles: Piano Quintet/Quartet/Trio String Quintet/Quartet/Trio Woodwind Quintet/Quartet/Trio Brass Quintet/Quartet/Trio Mixed Quintet/Quartet/Trio Additionally, the participants are allowed to include Harpsichord, Organ or any other instrument which they believe would facilitate a Halloween-themed piece, as long as they keep the total number of instruments used between 3 and 5. Duration: 3 - 7 minutes with a sweet spot of 5 minutes. Deadline: Friday, October 31st, 2025 Entrants thus far: @Thatguy v2.0 @Justin Gruber @Omicronrg9 @TristanTheTristan @Kvothe @UncleRed99 @sebastian Pafundo @Maxthemusicenthusiast @HoYin Cheung @therealAJGS @ferrum.wav @MK_Piano @Wieland Handke @Micah @Dima @Cosmia Here is the submissions thread for the competition where participants are encouraged to post links to their composition (rather than posting their piece directly into the pre-existing topic - make your own dedicated topic so the members at large can review your music there):

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.)

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.

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

Please submit links to your Halloween themed competition pieces here! (Please don't submit your music directly into this thread - rather, create your own dedicated thread where members will be able to review your music there - Upload Your Composition for Analysis and Feedback and then copy and paste the URL of your topic into a reply that you make in this thread). Thank you for your participation! To read the requirements/specifications of the competitions and declare your intent to participate go here: To vote for your favorite entries go here:

I dug through my old musecore files, and found what I think to be my first composition, from four months ago Op. 1, No. 1 – Miniature in D♯ Major.mp3 Op. 1No. 1 – Miniature in D♯ Major.pdf

And that's a wrapped: I have finished my scoring for this contest. Thank you everyone for your entries. 🙂

Entry: Bagatelle Nº6 @MK_Piano has mentioned wider margins around the score would give the score a polish look. Only a half point taken away, in score presentation for that. In the violin part, you want provide the player time from pizz to arco and vice versa. They will thank you for this! In the opening section, where the piano descends, it might sound to muggy with the sustain being held down that long. Also, it is probably wise to pedal down beat in 3/4. (just a thought). Thus, this will be score an 8. The execution of the challenge was meet it was within the time frame. It was scored for the correct ensemble. 10 The piece was original and creative. 10 The textures of the pieces were homophonic but yet there was polyphonic textures: everything came to together. 10 Overall the piece has melodic and motivic material and form that flows naturally and logically: 10 Average score: 9.6 very good Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 10 10 10 9.5 8 10 9.5

@Omicronrg9 That was a long reply, so I may just focus on one aspect versus all of it lol. In all of the accompaniment work and chamber playing I have done, I would say most, if not all, of the scores had smaller staves for non-piano parts. I will attach a collection of links from IMSLP showcasing Piano trios from Mozart and Beethoven. Both Henle-Verlag and Bärenreiter-Verlag use reduced staves. Since smaller works do not need a conductor, the pianist usually gets the full transposed score. Allows us to follow along and coordinate with the musicians more specifically. With the stave spacing, I feel I should clarify that it is fine to read as is. I have no issue following along with it of course. It was more of a taste comment versus a "better or worse" comment. In my personal style, I like to space the staves by three to six measures if able. I think seeing it a little bigger on the paper can be easier for the performers eyes. Myself and other peers read our music off a tablet and use a bluetooth pedal to turn the pages. So for me, page turns are not an issue if there are more pages. Lastly, with system dividers, again, it's a preference. You'll see on these IMSLP scores that even big-publishers will put some kind of measure indicator. On ASCAP and J.W. Pepper, composers will use rehearsal marks. On IMSLP, publishers will put system numbers or sometimes measure numbers every 10-measures. If they are doing it, why can't we? I recommend other composers to put some kind of measure marking as we have to remind ourselves that other people will be playing the music with no previous understanding of it. It's a small cosmetic change that doesn't affect the music, but will add a convenience to anyone who plays our work. If you were to compare to mine, I go so far to ensure that a new rehearsal mark goes at the beginning of a new system when I can. A little visual detail that coincides with any new idea or important spot in the score. At the end of the day, this is some food-for-thought! 🙂 IMSLP: Mozart | Trio in C-major K.548 Beethoven | Trio in Eb-major Op.1 no.1 Beethoven | Trio in Bb-major Op.11

haha you know what, I actually will find all these format ok and I find your score here easy enough for me to read through while playing my part.

That’s nice to know

@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.

Let's go @PeterthePapercomPoser

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 🙂

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

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

I declare my intent to participate in the competition

I'm not actually that interested for it, I have the result of it, if anyone is interested to make an actual arrangement of my pieces they can let me know so I will do it for the piece they want to. What about you, what's your honest,opinion for my music?