YC Halloween Contest entry (The Mist)

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. 

Hi Kvothe!

This is nice material. Solid at the beginning, but I kind of lost trace towards the final moments of the piece. Sound-wise it does its job very well.
The very end felt uncalled for. It was everything but conclusive to me, which can be good at some places but I'm not sure if this is one of them.

There are also some unexpected transitions and effects that struck me like "let's experiment with this". Nothing wrong with that either, this is a relaxed and informal competition afer all but... Dunno, I'm quite sure that if you let this material mature it would become way more interesting than what we already have here. Like, from 1:05 to the col legno sections, damn, epic transition. I also like how the col legno blends with the upper string voices, but to put a contrasting example I don't like how the first very strong phrase that sounds again on ~0:30 gets dissolved and transitions to some sort of uncanny fanfare that if extended it could prove to be a worthy piece on its own. 

Another thing I would like to point out at least superficially: dynamics. There is always room for them, and while abusing them can be a pain for performers, underusing them is not very good either. I think this piece suffers a bit from the latter, but not so much anyway! I notice marcatos, accents, and other articulations, but say, for example: do you want the same strength/volume in the stacatto-pizz. hits in the intro and just after the beginning of the A section?

And yeah, let me be honest: I get that sheets are not usually overlooked much but since I myself try to take care I cannot avoid commenting you there are a lot of details that this score needs improvement on. 

Some examples right here: overlapping rubato, tempo marking —intentionally?— microscopic, and a very minor one that could legitimately be brought up by some nit-picky performer: where does the rubato at the first bar begin? First note? Third? Second?
You also have 2 rehearsal marks with "B" at M40 & M45, plus a "C" elsewhere near the end. 

Finally, let me be that guy and tell you: your piece has not reached 3 minutes, and according to the rules:

On 10/6/2025 at 2:42 AM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Duration:  3 - 7 minutes with a sweet spot of 5 minutes.

Not that in this case anybody's gonna take that very seriously, but since it's still 23/10... Maybe this is enough of an excuse to revisit this piece and give it another go? And if it doesn't work, you already got a solid submission posted! Just as a suggestion 🙂  At the end of the day, if what you got is completely of your liking, to the sky with it! May any of my points prove useful to you 🗿


Kind regards,
Daniel.

P.S: I subscribed to your channel, maybe you could post the video here too!
 

52 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Hi Kvothe!

This is nice material. Solid at the beginning, but I kind of lost trace towards the final moments of the piece. Sound-wise it does its job very well.
The very end felt uncalled for. It was everything but conclusive to me, which can be good at some places but I'm not sure if this is one of them.

There are also some unexpected transitions and effects that struck me like "let's experiment with this". Nothing wrong with that either, this is a relaxed and informal competition afer all but... Dunno, I'm quite sure that if you let this material mature it would become way more interesting than what we already have here. Like, from 1:05 to the col legno sections, damn, epic transition. I also like how the col legno blends with the upper string voices, but to put a contrasting example I don't like how the first very strong phrase that sounds again on ~0:30 gets dissolved and transitions to some sort of uncanny fanfare that if extended it could prove to be a worthy piece on its own. 

Another thing I would like to point out at least superficially: dynamics. There is always room for them, and while abusing them can be a pain for performers, underusing them is not very good either. I think this piece suffers a bit from the latter, but not so much anyway! I notice marcatos, accents, and other articulations, but say, for example: do you want the same strength/volume in the stacatto-pizz. hits in the intro and just after the beginning of the A section?

And yeah, let me be honest: I get that sheets are not usually overlooked much but since I myself try to take care I cannot avoid commenting you there are a lot of details that this score needs improvement on. 

Some examples right here: overlapping rubato, tempo marking —intentionally?— microscopic, and a very minor one that could legitimately be brought up by some nit-picky performer: where does the rubato at the first bar begin? First note? Third? Second?
You also have 2 rehearsal marks with "B" at M40 & M45, plus a "C" elsewhere near the end. 

Finally, let me be that guy and tell you: your piece has not reached 3 minutes, and according to the rules:

Not that in this case anybody's gonna take that very seriously, but since it's still 23/10... Maybe this is enough of an excuse to revisit this piece and give it another go? And if it doesn't work, you already got a solid submission posted! Just as a suggestion 🙂  At the end of the day, if what you got is completely of your liking, to the sky with it! May any of my points prove useful to you 🗿


Kind regards,
Daniel.

P.S: I subscribed to your channel, maybe you could post the video here too!
 

 

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I don’t feel there’s any need for my input… Lol 

Though I will add a bit of my own $0.02 to build upon this reply; 

pivoting off of his use of the word “Uncanny” I think I would also use the same word to describe how my experience with this piece felt. And I very much so agree; If this piece were allowed to mature for some more time, the ideas presented on your score could be spot-lit easily. The potential is there, in black and white! 
 

i think you might also benefit from reviewing your understanding of chords, leading tones, harmony, and form. Some of the score feels as if you were unsure of what to do, and just played the “fake it til’ you make it” game until you made it to a stopping point where you could then introduce the next idea that you had in mind. 
 

that being said, my advice would be to revisit areas in the score where you felt a sort of “writers block” at, and instead of allowing yourself to “wing it” through, slow down and really analyze what it is that you could effectively achieve. 
 

Lastly, yeah… This score wouldn’t be considered “complete” being under the 3 minute minimum, and if this were a true competition, would be immediately disqualified for judgement 😕 

@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. 

10 hours ago, Kvothe said:

@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. 

 

 

 

Whichever path you feel would be best for you, take it! If you need advice or assistance moving forward, DM me. I wouldn’t mind hopping in a Discord call with you and working on it together 🙂 

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.

7/10

Cool music!

Ah, col legno... I should have used it, really nice color touch. That was probably my favorite part, like footsteps of whatever we're running from haha. You did some cool things in the intro too, I like the overall esthetic you went for. Some of the entries used winds which were really cool for color, but we just had different options with strings. I like the shrill atmosphere the strings are capable of, sounds like you too advantage of that too. 

Well done! Vote for your own piece, or your favorite, or mine!

😛 

9 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Cool music!

Ah, col legno... I should have used it, really nice color touch. That was probably my favorite part, like footsteps of whatever we're running from haha. You did some cool things in the intro too, I like the overall esthetic you went for. Some of the entries used winds which were really cool for color, but we just had different options with strings. I like the shrill atmosphere the strings are capable of, sounds like you too advantage of that too. 

Well done! Vote for your own piece, or your favorite, or mine!

😛 

 

I felt using col legno in the bass to introduce dies irae would set the mood. Then in the mid to high strings, I thought, there could be different ways to create variations from that.  The introduction of piece lead to tonal cadences but not in traditional sense.  I think that is why some think. The high sense of Chromaticism threw everyone off. The raising chromatic lines is very 19th century of me: Wanger!   The romantics knew to use chromaticism a lot.  Waltz like section, might seem tonal, but it is bi tonal.

It is a challenge to use to use 19th and 20th century ideas.  🙂   

23 minutes ago, TristanTheTristan said:

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
7.5	6.5	5.5	8	6.5	9	6.5	6.5

 

Average: 7 Standard 

 

A average 7 is not bad for my first competition.  🙂 

2 minutes ago, Kvothe said:

A average 7 is not bad for my first competition.  🙂 

 

Good job!