CLOWNS - Fall 2025 Halloween Competition Submission

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!

13 minutes ago, sebastian Pafundo said:

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!

Can you provide an English version of the programme notes? Thx!

Henry 

2 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Can you provide an English version of the programme notes? Thx!

"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, 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!

English/Inglés

Hi there! Welcome to the Forums of Young Composers! 

Anyways, I always like to start with the positives. You have used various amounts of dynamics, and dissonance (I am starting to see a pattern here). I find a clear sequence that is repeated throughout the music. Very good!

Español/Spanish

¡Hola! ¡Bienvenidos a los Foros de Jóvenes Compositores!

En fin, siempre me gusta empezar por lo positivo. Has usado distintos niveles de dinámica y disonancia (estoy empezando a ver un patrón). Encuentro una secuencia clara que se repite a lo largo de la música. ¡Muy bien!

I think that this is great! I really like rondo form. That is an advantage for you. Seems like a scherzo, but not scary or sinister.

Average: 7.875 Standard

On 10/12/2025 at 8:52 PM, sebastian Pafundo said:

 

I share the black cat, a work inspired by the story by Edgar Allan Poe.

In The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe constructs a deeply disturbing tale of moral degradation, crime, and the weight of guilt. The story is narrated in the first person by a man who, from the beginning, warns the reader that he is about to tell a disturbing and unbelievable story. This choice of narrator is key to understanding the story: everything we know is filtered through the protagonist's mind, creating a sense of uncertainty and unease from the outset. The reader is confronted not only by the narrated events but also by the internal struggle of a man who has lost control of himself.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ePnpv39D7JGpKSfpBJl4u_exPrjCPx2D/view?usp=sharing

 

 

how is this related to ones' work?

Cool man, I love the dark style of this. That quarter note bass line at the end sounded like it was building up to something faster, maybe movement 2 eh? 🙂 

For some reason I got metal vibes hearing this, which is good, because metal owns. Love your music, but we gotta update your program... you deserve better sound samples!

Thanks for sharing!

6 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Genial, me encanta el estilo oscuro de esto. Esa línea de bajo de negra al final sonaba como si estuviera construyendo algo más rápido, tal vez el segundo movimiento, ¿eh? 🙂 

Por alguna razón, me dio un aire metalero al escuchar esto, lo cual es bueno, porque el metal es lo máximo. Me encanta tu música, pero tenemos que actualizar tu programa... ¡te mereces mejores muestras de sonido!

¡Gracias por compartir!

 

Thak 😃

Pros: 

Keeps a certain mood throughout 

good instrument layering

Cons:

a bit repetitive

Suggestions:

make some parts more playful or intense.           I'm agreeing with Tristan here,  7.875 standard

On 10/16/2025 at 12:39 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Cool man, I love the dark style of this. That quarter note bass line at the end sounded like it was building up to something faster, maybe movement 2 eh? 🙂 

For some reason I got metal vibes hearing this, which is good, because metal owns. Love your music, but we gotta update your program... you deserve better sound samples!

Thanks for sharing!

 

This is about the overall consensus of what I would've said had I been here earlier. lol 

However, I'd like to add, that this score is quite repetitive, and sort of irks the ear after hearing the same thing so many times over. I also am having a hard time pinpointing any specific key that you intended the music to be in. (Seems Atonal, or keyless. Perfectly OK choice, but I'm not so sure it makes a lot of sense, in my head. That's likely due to my way of seeing music. So that point is on the whole, irrelevant.) 

Overall Score Average: 5.25

Hi @sebastian Pafundo!

Thx for joining the competition!

On 10/17/2025 at 12:39 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Cool man, I love the dark style of this. That quarter note bass line at the end sounded like it was building up to something faster, maybe movement 2 eh? 🙂 

For some reason I got metal vibes hearing this, which is good, because metal owns. Love your music, but we gotta update your program... you deserve better sound samples!

On 10/20/2025 at 11:31 AM, UncleRed99 said:

However, I'd like to add, that this score is quite repetitive, and sort of irks the ear after hearing the same thing so many times over. I also am having a hard time pinpointing any specific key that you intended the music to be in. (Seems Atonal, or keyless. Perfectly OK choice, but I'm not so sure it makes a lot of sense, in my head. That's likely due to my way of seeing music. So that point is on the whole, irrelevant.) 

Gonna agree on both of them. I like the dark mood in it, even though I think the music can move forward a bit more in around 2:00. The motive of the piece is quite noticable with the hiccups of rests. I also agree with @Thatguy v2.0 on the ending, it definitely sounds inconclusive which could possibly be developed more. But, given the length of the piece I think the development of material is quite OK to fit into the mood!

Henry

Average Score: 9.5 Very good 

Th exaction for this competition was to write a piece between 3-7 minutes with a sweet spot of 5 minutes.   If this was formal competition, it would not make pass the first round.  

There was a lack a proper form and devolvement in this piece; However, it was creative and original, and certainly the score looked professional and if this was delivered to players, they could read it. 

The melodic material was design. 

SPANISH VERSION

Hola Sebastián. Te contesto en español y luego lo traduciré al inglés todo para que la gente lo pueda leer. En general aquí hablamos en inglés pero no te preocupes, no es problema dedicar un par de líneas en el idioma de Cervantes a tu pieza. 

Es una pieza que no me ha disgustado para nada. De hecho, teniendo en cuenta que has usado los sonidos del general midi no suena tan mal. La idea se entiende. La ejecución de la idea ya es otro cantar. 

Me he fijado en esto: 
Imagino que a menos que el gliss. termine arco arriba el pizzicato instantáneo está complicado de hacer. Puede comportar una dificultad innecesaria, pero si a ti te gusta como está no hay más que hablar. 
La pieza en sí no abandona la disonancia pero tampoco se va tan lejos como para provocarme aversión o disgusto. Generas una atmósfera de suspense que con instrumentos de verdad o con mejores sonidos (soundfonts mejores o usando librerías) estoy seguro de que funcionaría muy bien. 

El final, sin embargo, no me convence, pero en este caso no sé si atribuirlo a la pieza o al sonido, que no ha permanecido todo el tiempo necesario para dejar la tensión suspensiva que has creado el tiempo suficiente. Viendo la partitura diría que es lo segundo. 

En referencia a la partitura en sí, menudos márgenes! Yo soy muy de ajustarlos mucho, pero creo que incluso para alguien que no esté de acuerdo conmigo y prefiera márgenes más anchos, diría que te has pasado. Puedes aprovechar mucho mejor el espacio y aún manteniendo márgenes grandes, hacer también más grandes los pentagramas y facilitar la lectura. No sé qué programa de composición usas, ¿quizá una versión antigua de Sibelius?.
Si no te importa comentármelo a lo mejor podemos entender qué ha pasado aquí, por ejemplo:  
Estos son solapamientos extraños que no he visto en versiones modernas de este tipo de software, pero vete tú a saber. 
Haces un uso extensivo (que no abusivo) de los matices, cosa que es inteligente siempre y cuando se haga correctamente. Lo tienes todo bastante bien marcado y de no ser por los márgenes tan anchos yo creo que la maquetación te habría quedado bastante bien (que no está mal, es mejorable. Hay cada cosa...).

La pieza, según el midi, dura 2:59, que en interpretación real yo creo que llega a los 3 minutos fácil, ✅.

Lo que te dicen los demás usuarios del foro no va desencaminado en mi opinión. Creo que a tu motivo le quedan kilómetros por recorrer. 

No me extiendo más! Muchas gracias por participar Sebastián, ojalá sigas componiendo (y pasándote por aquí 😀).

Un saludo,
Daniel–Ø.
 

ENGLISH VERSION

Hi Sebastián. I’m replying in Spanish first and then I’ll translate everything into English so everyone can read it. We generally speak English here, but don’t worry—it’s no problem dedicating a couple of lines in the language of Cervantes to your piece.

It’s a piece that I didn’t dislike at all. In fact, considering you’ve used General MIDI sounds, it really doesn’t sound bad. The musical idea comes through clearly. The execution of that idea is another story, though.

I noticed this: (First IMG)

I imagine that unless the glissando ends with the bow moving upwards, an instant pizzicato is quite tricky to execute. It could create unnecessary difficulty, but if you like it as it is, that’s totally valid.

The piece itself doesn’t abandon dissonance, but it doesn’t go so far as to provoke aversion or discomfort. You manage to create an atmosphere of suspense that, with real instruments or better sounds (using improved soundfonts or libraries), I’m sure would work really well!

The ending, however, doesn’t quite convince me. But in this case, I’m not sure if it’s the piece itself or just the sound, which didn’t sustain the tension you created for long enough. Looking at the score, I’d say it’s probably the latter.

As for the score margins… wow, those are wide! Personally, I like to make margins tight, but even for someone who prefers wider margins, I think you may have overdone it a bit. You could make much better use of space, and even with big margins, you could enlarge the staves and make reading easier. I’m curious...What notation software do you use? Maybe an old version of Sibelius?

If you don’t mind sharing, maybe we could figure out what happened (Second image). These are some strange overlaps I haven’t seen in modern versions of this kind of software, but who knows.

You make extensive (but not excessive) use of dynamics, which is smart as long as it’s done properly. You’ve marked everything fairly clearly, and if not for the wide margins, I think your layout would have turned out quite well (and it’s not bad as it is, it just could be improved).

According to the MIDI, the piece lasts 2:59, which I think would easily reach three minutes in real performance.

What the other forum users say is pretty much on point in my opinion. I think your main motif still has a lot of potential for development.

I’ll stop here! Thank you very much for sharing, Sebastián—I hope you keep composing (and dropping by here).

Best regards,
Daniel–Ø.