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submission time

We would be more than happy if more members can review more frequently!! (So that I can be lazy and eat and sleep lol)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t5TAfYhss_0AJAAgphRT7k-0usiaMLK7/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PFLvXBrd4z0xsdPFV2V7vS0dVS73yJT3/view?usp=drivesdk Hello! There is my work. It uses our national dance song and opens its dark side of angry and mindless dance

Here is my submission. The whole string quintet is 5 movements, but I've just given the first 3 to fit the time slot. It's a link to the Google Drive folder with the WAV files and score. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MD4VU4YyL0m1n5gULbGStdbZU396P_oN?usp=sharing I hope I put this in the right place- I'm quite obtuse when it comes to this website.

Dear readers, This is my submission for the Halloween (Fall 2025) competition. I realize it’s quite a last-minute entry, but after discovering the event a few days ago, I decided to give it a try for fun. I’m genuinely excited that we can all share and experience each other’s music. It’s wonderful to meet you all and hear your work. About this submission: Diptych for piano quartet - I haven’t settled on a title yet, so it will remain Diptych for now - a two-part musical piece, hinged yet paired to form a unified whole. It leans toward the contemporary classical genre, shaped by elements of both expressionism and impressionism. If I had more time (and I hope there will be more competitions like this), I might have written something more whimsical or festival-inspired for the occasion. Still, to me, contemporary harmonies and expressions possess their own kind of "terrifying" beauty that is celebrated on Halloween. My inspirations for this piece include artworks such as Francis Bacon’s Painting 1946 and Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son. Kind regards, Cosmia

this is a submission for the 2025 halloween competition. i was just really going for a spooky halloweeny vibe but not like "terror and dread and killer" vibes. it's definitely lighter than the other submitted pieces. also, contrabassoon! very spooky sounding instrument, and i've tried my best to harness that specific quality of it. enjoy! update: -updated score from @Kvothe's feedback

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E95RnOKWCMVCMPWCWMqY-9PNRoRQzehM/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/164YfVymnJtBmFQ4EevbzOoUsS0IATGuC/view?usp=sharing Hola comparto mi pieza para cuarteto de cuerdas "Clowns", inspirada en un conjunto de payasos asesinos que se divierten en noche de brujas. Aclaro que el audio es midi ya que la obra no fue grabada. Su duración debería rondar los 3.30 aproximadamente este un poco más rápido. ¡Saludos cordiales! 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 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

Piece of the Beast mp3. Hey y'all. This is a piece I wrote to practice writing for piano and could fit the theme of this competition. It's not really sinister or unsettling, just has more of a dark mood. Feedback will be very much appreciated. Thanks for listening. Also, I have an Instagram music page (TayloredScores) where we as composers can keep in touch and inspire each other.

Kvothe, thanks for your mark!

Submission link: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t48430/submission/

Sure, you're welcome to! But the competition closes tomorrow - Friday, October 31st! I am assuming that you mean that you want to submit music?

I'd like to participate, if possible

Entry: Daunting Steps Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 9 9.5 10 9 7 10 10 Average Score:9.3 Very good Review: Execution: 10 The entry met the two requirements for this competition: an ensemble for solo instruments with the time frame of 3-7 minutes (with a sweet spot of 5 minutes). Instrumentation : Triple tonging in the woods usually marked with Flz. (flutter tongue). That way, the flutist knows how to tongue the notes. As for String writing: there are some techincal issues to be addressed. First, Sul G marked only one measure. That seems bit confusing. The measure tremolos with double stops...that might be cause playabity issues. the port. to natural harmonics. Also, i am not sure if Arco with tremolo can be achieved then a port. That is rather demanding. In this area, the entry will be score 7. Score presentation: After a careful readful of the score, there notation and engraving errors. There was hair pin that was not algin with the staff. There are rest that 8ths rest that should be quarter rests. The 16h note triplets in compound meter might be misleading. Ergo, the score will 9 Taste: What I like about this entry is that is experiments with idioms that general audience might not be accustom to. There is high sense of chromatism that leads you wonder if this atonal or not. Ferium knows how push beyond traditional harmony and open the door into modern harmony. For that, I will give a 10 Form Development Structure Time There is a clear sense form and structure in this entry. Although it does not use classical structure, which one may be used, you have to know how modern composers use form and structure in new ways. Unlike the traditional sonata forms, this piece is more like Rapsody or similar to scherzo. Both are free forms. I am going to Scherzo in this case, since the meter matches here. (However, I am not sure...if that composer wrote that way). A Scherzo is built like minuet but in 6 or 3. And in this 6/8 with two meterical stress. And that was achieved well. 9.5. Harmony, Textures: The interplay between parts created moody polyphonic and chordal textures. 9 Melodic material The melodic material through this was well devopled. 10 Overall this orginal and creative: 10

Thank you for the review for minuet. Thank you!

Hi @Kvothe! Yeah it's nice to take a step back to simpler music! Just based on the structure of the piece, I guess you forget to add a D.C. al fine at the end? It's kind of unsatisfying to end on the dominant G major for me. For the counterpoint, it would be better to have C instead of E in the bass in b.3 and 7, since the double E sounds bare and unsure of which chord it's in. A parallel octave occurs in b.5. Also the second quaver for left hand should be G instead of C for the V chord. For b.10, LH would be better to have quaver F#-E instead of just a crotchet F#, to avoid the clash of F# and G. The C# in b.15 is kind of weird as it suggests D major but you never reach D major after it, so it would be better to have just a C natural in it. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Micah! Personally I don't think this piece fits into the Halloween Competition at all with the mood the pieces create, but I have to say each of the three movements you submit has mature writing and effective technique used, and I love all 3 of them! All three features very good use of techniques for strings: Sul Ponticello/Tasto, Harmonics, col legno. You love to use contrast of pizz. vs arco plus p vs f together and it's effective! For the 1st piece Mothman I like the opening texture since it kind of reminds myself of the beginning of my very own String Sextet lol! I like the 5/4 dance as well, though I would love to see more varieties in the texture! The contrast here is well done nonetheless. I love the 2nd piece The Letiche, it's a nice bluesy C# minor dance in my favourite key! The glissando in b.33 for sure adds the sad but mesmerising mood. For the 3rd piece I really love the texture you have in b.35 with a high harmonics, pizz. and a rhythmic arco. It kind of reminds me of Bartok String Quartet texture. You math is wrong again I think lol!! The three pieces adds up with 2:50+2:38+2:31=7:59 lol!! And it's a Quintet, not Quartet! Thx for joining and sharing your music! Henry

Review: I like the melodies and the unsettling feel of them The chords feel very off, but that's probably just me being used to certain ones; but the texture is really good. The structures pretty good, but the time does feel a little bit off... this piece is pretty original but does use share some similarities with the other submissions. the score is presented like any other so I'd say its pretty good. seems very much like it could be played with some practice. you executed it well with an introduction, a video, a MP3 and a score. it does give halloweenish vibes and reminds me of background music for one of those old black and white cartoons where the characters don't talk, but a halloween special. Melodies Themes Motives 8 Harmony Chords Textures 8 Form Development Structure Time 7 Originality Creativity 7 Score Presentation 7 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 8 Execution of Given Challenge 8 Taste 7 overall, 7.5

Here is @Dima's submission to the competition!

I do hereby proclaim mine intent to partake in this noble contest.

Hey Pabio @Fugax Contrapunctus! I really love this one! Your canonic skill is really mature here. The imitation goes fourth below in each entry and thus there's constant modulation within the piece in the circle of fifth. However it doesn't sound strange at all, but on the contrary very fluent. The canon is of course very technical to be written, but this one doesn't sound technical at all , but conversely enhance the flow and drama of the piece, which build up really well to the climactic end! Thx for sharing! Henry

I feel this is great a way to review works in the forum; however, it will need to adjust to other genres: sound tracks and incidental music; electronic music; Pop music... For these will not have score but can be scored in other ways. Can we adjust the template to genre?