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Also something else I need to say about this: So I, and others, can put in hours of work writing the music, orchestration, making detailed mockups, etc. but a guy who writes a Suno prompt and has a "piece" in 5 minutes is treated as equally-valid in this event? It isn't actually even his music. Where is the "fun" in that, exactly? Why even bother? You guys say you want more people to do reviews. What your reviews are going to become if this kind of thing is permitted is a bunch of people being like "Nice prompt bro, but I would've said 'romantic soaring strings' instead of 'cinematic'".

Hey there Matthew, Do you have a teacher? Or do you study music on your own with online course guidance? My opinion is do what you want, learn what interests you, but I think it's really advantageous to continue with tonal harmony. When you learn why tonality broke down, it helps with understanding the motives atonal music is trying to achieve. Also, post your music if you haven't already! That'll really help with your growth, as even strangers on the internet can provide a wealth of knowledge. Cheers buddy

For my 2nd submission to this year's Christmas Music Event I come to you with yet another mash-up of two Christmas Carols! "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Jezus Malusieńki" ("Little Jesus" in Polish). I have input 6 stanzas of each Carol here into the score. I once again wish I had Cantamus as listening to both the English and Polish lyrics at the same time would really enhance the listening experience to those who speak both languages. The piece starts off with a 3/4 variation of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and then follows a stanza of "Jezus Malusieńki" before the Carols are combined together at the same time in various different ways, some of which are slightly polytonal. I've been told that the harmony reminds of the English Renaissance in some parts, but let me know what you think! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations! P.S.: Here is my first Christmas Mash-up that I submitted earlier for this years Christmas Music Event:

Hi all, here is a composition I began in 2011. I rediscovered it in my computer files and decided to rework it and give it some new life. Hope you enjoy the work. All comments welcome as usual.

Here's a little Christmas card for y'all I found from a few years ago. It's probably not the best fugue ever written, not by a long shot, but it's fun. Composed: December 22 - 24, 2017 at Austin Scoring: Keyboard solo Style: Baroque Duration: 2:09

I've taken the Christmas Carol's "Angels we have heard on high" and "Gdy się Chrystus rodzi" (a Polish Christmas Carol which translates as "When Christ is being born"). I wrote two variations on this Polish Carol last year and you can find them here to become more familiar (if you want): There was some confusion in that thread about which Carol I was actually working on (LoL) owing to the fact that both of these Carol's prominently feature the Latin lyrics "Gloria in excelsis Deo". But that was basically the inspiration for putting them together in this mash-up. I painstakingly entered multiple stanzas of the Polish, English and Latin lyrics into the pdf score with all the correct accent marks and whatnot so let me know if it's clear! Thanks for listening and comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations are always welcome! Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy listening! ☃️

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser I have made it viewable for anyone!

Reporting them meant nothing. Their Suno prompt is still in the event and the staff didn't even really offer an explanation for why they did a 180 in a matter of minutes. You have to have principles and actually stand by them or else your principles don't mean ѕhіt. I am against AI-generated music and I will not spend precious, authentic composing hours to participate in anything alongside charlatans.

I’m a 16-year-old trying to become a composer, and I’m pretty much new to this forum! I really want to express myself in more modernist idioms, but I’m still developing my technique. Right now I’m working on a traditional harmony course, and I’m at the point of cadences and simple modulations. I’ve composed several tonal pieces, including a mazurka, a sonata movement, and a late-romantic waltz. I guess my question is whether I should compose many more “traditionally tonal” pieces before moving to the idioms that excite me more? If so, when is the point when I can move to non-functional harmony? Or can I just study traditional harmony on the side, but try to compose more modern-sounding music? I have already been doing this to a certain extent (my late-romantic waltz). Thanks for any suggestions! —Matthew

Hello everyone! I know it has been a while since I have upload a piece of music. That's because I went to balance uploads with reviewing, and sometimes I might be busy with my own compositions. This piece I am sharing with you is a solo piece for piano. Here is my goals this piece: 1. A short piece no more than 1-2 minutes. 2. I want to a write a piece a minor; however, you do not hear tonic. 3. It uses dissonance to establish dark, foreboding mood 4. You may think...Mussorgsky? Maybe? 5. Uses a short motive through out the piece to create variations. I can not think anything. Let me know what you think. I used to Audacity to render the wav to a mp3.

This is quite a nice short piece! Too short... Maybe add the lick in there...

Here's my submission:

@PeterthePapercomPoser Below you will find my review for your chorale Taste: This piece seemingly uses two traditional Christmas chorales. We can hear how one lead into the other with no hiccups. The general audience might not notice the subtle transition, but those who perform it and the carols will. This will be great piece for concert. Instrumentation: The string accompaniment provides harmonic support for the vocal. We do not hear strings often. It is often an organ. But organs cliche. To answer if this playable? Playable is not correct word. Singable is. Yes a choir can and should. The score can easy to read and follow. No issues here. Others have mentioned: it reminds them of ET 3 or Mozart or Haydn. Those great choices, but homophonic texture with harmonic language reminds of Tchaikovsky; and maybe beethoven?

Right, so we can safely write off the idea that you "composed" this piece.

I may write a short piece for Xmas too Please count me in too!

since this part is rigid, very busy with the eighth notes, and has fragmented melody, maybe the next section could be in higher register, dominated by sustained chords, with a longer legato melody for contrast? or it could go the other direction and be very heavy, lower register-y stuff. and thenn maybe for the repetition, you could combine the two characteristics of both sections into one: having the driving force of the eighth notes while simultaneously have the underlying sustained harmony. this is just my interpretation however, just options that i've thrown spontaneously. but i hope they could help!

I'm withdrawing my participation. Competition or not, if you're putting on essentially a display of music created by members and also giving out site badges for them, then I feel that music should actually be created and produced by the members of the forum. I want my music alongside other human-created works.

Hi long time for no posting! I decided to post an old work of mine.This Nocturne in C-sharp minor is a juvenile work of me as a 16 year old. I didn't think much at the time of composing, but I did write in the style of Chopin Nocturne then. And then a sudden thought caused me to have a 1st try in fugue in 2:35! I revised the work recently to improve on some voice leadings and transitions except passages after the fugato, but retained as much the original intention as I can as a 16 year old then. The work, even though as immature as it is, does reflect some of my feelings then. Here is the Youtube video and the score of the piece: (Final Draft) Nocturne in C sharp minor.pdf This work can be regarded as in a rondo structure: 0:00 1st part(A), typical Chopin Nocturne texture. Don't know why I modulated the music to F major but the music did so himself... 0:58 2nd part(B) Main melody in F major, but with a new b motive in b.31-32 1:35 3rd part (A') The main melody in the original key can't wait to enter... Gets more agitated and cools down. 2:35 4th part (B'). A fugato using motive b as subject and main melody as episode, modulates once more to F major 3:57 Last part and coda (A''): The A section returns with some registeral change, then gets more agitated. 4:29 is the climax of the piece which is my favourite too, I like the agitation in it. 4:47 starts the coda and finally the mood cools down and ends in tonic major. I played the recording myself. I do make one major slip in 3:22 but the recording is otherwise good enough for me. Feel free to leave comment below! Henry

Seems not to be anymore! I may reupload if I get a chance 🙂

Hi! Yes the piano switch in the final number was due to rendering issues. For whatever reason the MIDI began cutting random bits of the music out despite all voices in the mixture showing activity - for this reason, I changed the instrument being used for that moment so the music remained intelligible. Thank you for taking a look at this piece despite it being posted so long ago!

Really cool music!, I really enjoyed the more sporadic textures. Your slower section is always carrying interestingly forward, with two distinctive voices at any given times. Some very wonderful counter point here. I will say the "Alla Jazz" Section felt like you lost the complexity and interest you had been building up, rather than redirecting it. I'm not sure what more you could do, it is very interesting by itself, but I felt a little surprised. The transition back to craziness was very smooth and satisfying.

i love how the dissonances compliment the rising motion of the polish chorale leading up to the "gloria," and how you variate the "in excelsis" in sequence going to a third and then to a PAC of "deo" the mashup between the two songs really works together and i loooove the ending: the high violins repeating the "gloria" section (actually, they just switch up place with the violas and cellos from bar. 10 onwards), the highest register of the piece being used only at the very end, the harmony stays still and doesn't show any harsh dissonance except the one on bar 18 cellos, going chromatically from B-flat, B, and C for the final cadence, and finally, the end chord, I over IV, is just a nice tie over the whole thing i let out a sigh great piece dude !!!

I didn't say I'm never coming back to the forums or something (yet) but I'm not participating in this event anymore and I've now explained myself to a number of people who've quoted me.

I have finally finished! https://www.youngcomposers.com/t48750/2025-christmas-event-submission-march-of-the-gingerbread/#comment-1186762789

Okay then, thank you!

I've only recently started this, but I would love to hear suggetions 😄 nutcracker inspired.pdf nutcracker inspired.mp3

Here is my submission: https://musescore.com/user/89049631/scores/29505320/s/jl-md7 And here is the pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oi66fwxpfjm4bvBB6mYQ9d5GGz-afdB2/view?usp=drivesdk I hope you enjoy it! (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

Ooh, I just dropped a short Christmas-y piece in with Piano/Keyboard works. I'll mark it as my submission if that's okay, or do I need to post it here?

@Kvothe Thanks very much for listening, and your analysis! I'm glad you liked how things progressed. And thanks for your compliments on the development. I always sweat blood on developments, they never come to me easily.

Nice piece! Some nice use of a 'rare' dissonance. It is definitely inspiring, your effort, that you took to make a 'beethoven symphony 9' sized orchestral work. Choir, Orchestra...

This piece is really a masterpiece in my opinion, which achieves both structural rigor and sensuous timbral imagination. It's a marvelous creation of the late, mature Boulez, an antidote to those who view him as an avatar of avant-garde academicism (sorry for the alliteration, I couldn't help it). This is the Boulez who was formed by the thinking of Mallarme and Paul Klee: a real theorist of musical color, whose best music effortlessly fluctuates between delicate restraint and violent explosion. Sur Incises also has a kind of intimacy and sensitivity to resonance: his chosen instrumentation functions as a "deconstruction" of the piano timbre, not in order to invalidate it, but in order to more fully reveal what lies beneath its surface. So there's almost a connection to spectralism. Any other Pierre Boulez fans out there?

Hey @therealAJGS, This one is surely festive and light hearted as we all can hear in the grocery shops and supermarkets this month lol. The ending is quite funny haha. Thx for sharing! Henry

Well I guess you have to be clear with what you wanna achieve, like harmonic, timberal, thematic, rhythmic fullness or whatever fullness haha. I guess if you work this way, you have tp achieve harmonic fullness in the SATB first, which is to allow all the tones of a chord whenever possible. Then when you arrange it to band, the orchestration matters for the timberal fullness. Henry

While don’t like to use too many labels, I would say I personally gravitate towards music that has a rich use of rather coloristic harmony, with a strong feel for natural resonance, strong formal logic and internal coherence, as well as a sense of direction. I think of music often in terms of space: my ideal music opens up spaces and dimensions that the listener may not have foreseen, while remaining colorful and somewhat transparent. My biggest inspirations musically are probably Messiaen, Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, and Scriabin (not to mention Grisey, Saariaho, and late Boulez). Because of my interest in tonal space and acoustics, I like to utilize geometrical lattices of tonal space, and much of my musical understanding is shaped by them. I think that’s good advice: keep building technique, but also attempt to compose the music you want to compose on the side. I’m excited to undertake this journey of developing my personal voice, thanks for the encouragement! And I do tend to be quite critical of my own compositional attempts: but the great thing about posting for others to evaluate is they’ll provide constructive criticism, and real feedback for improvement. That’s something I can’t do on my own!

I'm withdrawing my participation. Competition or not, if you're putting on essentially a display of music created by members and also giving out site badges for them, then I feel that music should actually be created and produced by the members of the forum. I want my music alongside other human-created works. I'm sorry Mike, but you guys folded like a cheap suit in a matter of minutes. You give these AI bros an inch and they'll take 3 miles. What is to say you won't fold the same when it's not "just for fun?" Aren't all of these "just for fun" in some way? And people will bring up that "Well you accepted AI that time!" Is this a place for composers, or a place for grifters passing off AI music? I'm sorry Mike, but you guys folded like a cheap suit in a matter of minutes. You give these AI bros an inch and they'll take 3 miles. What is to say you won't fold the same when it's not "just for fun?" Aren't all of these "just for fun" in some way? And people will bring up that "Well you accepted AI that time!" Is this a place for composers, or a place for grifters passing off AI music? Also something else I need to say about this: So I, and others, can put in hours of work writing the music, orchestration, making detailed mockups, etc. but a guy who writes a Suno prompt and has a "piece" in 5 minutes is treated as equally-valid in this event? It isn't actually even his music. Where is the "fun" in that, exactly? Why even bother? You guys say you want more people to do reviews. What your reviews are going to become if this kind of thing is permitted is a bunch of people being like "Nice prompt bro, but I would've said 'romantic soaring strings' instead of 'cinematic'". Also something else I need to say about this: So I, and others, can put in hours of work writing the music, orchestration, making detailed mockups, etc. but a guy who writes a Suno prompt and has a "piece" in 5 minutes is treated as equally-valid in this event? It isn't actually even his music. Where is the "fun" in that, exactly? Why even bother? You guys say you want more people to do reviews. What your reviews are going to become if this kind of thing is permitted is a bunch of people being like "Nice prompt bro, but I would've said 'romantic soaring strings' instead of 'cinematic'". Yeah no; sorry if I'm a bit late, but if someone makes their song out of AI I agree that they should be disqualified, but I feel like withdrawing your participation is a bit too far. for me one of my my favorite parts about writing a piece is that you get to pick out the order that the notes go and to choose what notes go where. I feel like if you give an AI the key, mood, and length of the song but you don't make it your self, there's just not enough creativity. I too, have made an AI song and posted it on here, but that was just for fun, and it certainly wasn't for a competition. I also told the AI to give me the notes and I put them myself and that was just to see if AI could really make a song. I think it's fine, just this once but I do not think AI-made/assisted pieces should be allowed in competitions anymore.

Welcome to the forums, Mahler2009! I agree with my colleagues here dude. Get more into tonal harmony + whatever piques your interest. Keep composing, this is a discipline that's best learnt by practice, trial an error. Getting your own voice may be difficult but if you are resilient, disciplined and constant, you'll achieve it. Your first works may or may not hint you where you want to go. Be curious, experiment, come back, go forward. Feel free to share them with us, we won't go hard (not much, I hope 🥶) ! Best regards, Daniel–Ø.

Hello @mahler2009, Welcome to the forum! I couldn't agree more with @Thatguy v2.0. What is the idioms you want to express with? Henry

My general advice for those who want to learn the craft--and this will sound cliche--is to start at the beginning. This is known as theory. Most harmony books cover basics first(meter, intervals, etc). But I think, it is best to jump start on those topics by either learning an instrument or self-study. Each of their benefits. When I learned theory, it was through my piano lessons. Teachers either use Alfred or Faber or Faber. Both have theory work book. The theory workbook expands on lessons and provides exercise to train you. So let us say you were learning about 3/4 in a lesson. The theory book would go more in depth and other books that cover aspect of the lesson. The second option is self taught. Alfred has music theory book: Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs): Surmani, Andrew, Surmani, Karen Farnum, Manus, Morton: 0038081232973: Amazon.com: Books Getting ahead of start on this place you ahead of the class. You can probably skip the chapters on theory and go to next part...counterpoint.

Can you elaborate and define what you mean by "fullness"?

Hi Matthew. Here's my answer: It is easier to start with tonal harmony vs modern harmony. It is probably better start with tonal, traditional harmony so you can understand modern harmony change that.

HI @BlackkBeethoven My advice is using the given melody with harmony is: 1. Create bass line 2. Fill in the middle parts 3. add figurations.

Hello @Musicman_3254! Thank you for your submission! Would you please grant us permissions to view the PDF score? Thanks again!

I wrote this piece for Policromo ensemble, is inspired in baião rithm, a typical brazilian music.

Hello @mercurypickles! Great job! It's a shame this set of Carol's got so little attention on account of being submitted so late in the event. I was also puzzled about why you chose to use the piano in the part of the piece where you did. Did Musescore have a hard time rendering that many voices at once? I've been making some Christmas Mash-up's lately for choir and string orchestra and I didn't run into any problems with rendering too many voices at once. I'm really curious about the particular problems you encountered. Thanks for sharing!

Dear all, After the "Halloween" music, I decided to start a larger set of works - the Festive series, which is a collection of music for festivals in my home place. I started with Double Ninth festival, which is quite close to this year's Halloween (29 Oct). Regarding the work, Double Ninth Festival - Hiking on Mount Qi writen for Ensemble and Voice This is a work under the Double Ninth festival, also known as Chung Yeung Festival, is a festival that reminisce our ancesters and dead. This work is writen based on the work 九日齊山登高 by 杜牧 (Du Mu, 803-852), a Chinese calligrapher, poet, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty. The lyrics are as follows, Double Ninth Festival - Hiking on Mount Qi - Du Mu Translation by the composer Autumnal scenery spotted on water with wild geese heading south, With wine pots, I climb up the lush contryside with friends. Hey, just laugh in all the difficulties, With chrysanthemums in the hair on the way home. Guzzle in the name of the festival, instead of climbing up and sigh for the sunset. Living short as people always were, Why should we weep at the mountain like Duke Jing of Qi? HoYin

Yo Peter, I find this mashup musically sound, despite they are in different keys! They don't sound in clash to me, even in passages like b.54. Except I don't like the cheap device of raising a semitone for repetition like many pop songs do, I think you can just stop in b.73! Thx for sharing! Henry

Unfortunately, I was not able to join this round. The holiday season is busy for me: traveling to see family. However, what I can do, is review member compositions that are not related to the competition. That way, my reviewing activity help in other means. I want to 1:1 ratio for me. I hope others will follow my example. 🙂

Dear friends, hello everyone! I'm Zhang Wenhao, a singer-songwriter from China. Today, I'm here to share with you a pop folk song with Russian elements. Its name is "A Dream Boat On The Night Sea". This song tells the story of meeting a deceased loved one in a dream and re-establishing a connection with them. 亲爱的朋友们，大家好！我是来自中国的创作歌手张文灏。这次来跟大家分享的是一首带有俄罗斯元素的流行民谣，名字叫《夜海的梦舟》。 这首歌曲讲的是在梦里见到已经去世的亲人，和亲人再度产生联系的故事。 歌词如下/The lyrics are as follows： 作曲/Composed by：张文灏 Zhang Wenhao 作词/Lyrics by：张文灏 Zhang Wenhao 还是偶尔悄悄见到你 在有那座院子的梦里 你牵着我的掌心 粗糙中有暖意 仿佛从来都不曾离我而去 还是偶尔会作痛隐隐 在每一个清晨的梦醒 你呼唤我的声音 和慈祥的身影 仿佛从来都不多片刻留停 啊～夜空是回忆停泊的湾 啊～月光是思念扬起的帆 啊～梦舟满载着相思万般 温柔地驶进我的梦来 啊～梦中你牵着我的手 啊～梦中的你音容依旧 梦中的院子 藏着小时候 梦中往事 藏进夜海的小舟

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu lol, you can adapt a part of your 6 voice fugue in Music Jotter, if you wish to use it, and participate!

My 6 voice masterrrrrrrrrrrpiece rrrrrrrrrrrejectedddddddddd!!!!!!! 🥶