From Above, Now Below

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!
 

Very good! Sounds like something straight from a horror movie. I like how the intro keeps a certain harmony and then it sort of freestyles for the rest of the song. but, it feels a bit too little repetitive, because there's no "main" part of the song, but overall I give it an 8/10

@Thatguy v2.0

Entry: From  Above, not below 

Average Score:9.4

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

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 ^^

On 10/25/2025 at 5:55 PM, Kvothe said:

@Thatguy v2.0

 

 

Entry: From  Above, not below 

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
10	9.5	9	9	10	10	10	8

 

Average Score:8.2

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

 

maths... again...

7 hours ago, TristanTheTristan said:

maths... again...

 

Thanks 

Welp man, this is a full horror medley. 

Very cool ending, nothing to complain about, maybe some automatic overlaps in the score here and there but these are tiny details and it's not like I spotted many.

You fully captured the feeling, that's undeniable. And the more I listen to it, the more seamless it feels and the more coherent its parts become together. Nicely used harmonics in the "B part". this ain't just "here you go, some effects" and call it a day. It's a very difficult (or so it seems) but solid scary dissonant quartet.

My favourite part is this somewhat cantabile melancholic melody you manage to do in the middle of this dissonance of a quartet (in the good way) that leads again to a B' (because of the triplets). And let me mention again, the ending is very solid, very cool.

I don't quite get the title, so it's a 4/10, sorry...

🤑 
I'll vote for you

Kind regards!!

9 hours ago, Cosmia said:

Hi, I'm new so not sure if I'm supposed to comment here

Welcome to the forums! You can comment anywhere you want as long as you follow the rules which are basically common sense (welp I didn't read them but they're probably not so strict)!

Regards!

On 10/24/2025 at 11:50 PM, therealAJGS said:

Very good! Sounds like something straight from a horror movie. I like how the intro keeps a certain harmony and then it sort of freestyles for the rest of the song. but, it feels a bit too little repetitive, because there's no "main" part of the song, but overall I give it an 8/10

Hey thanks for checking it out! I'm glad you liked it, I was definitely going for horror movie vibes 😄 

On 10/25/2025 at 10:55 AM, Kvothe said:

@Thatguy v2.0

 

 

Entry: From  Above, not below 

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
10	9.5	9	9	10	10	10	8

 

Average Score:9.4

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

 

Wow, thanks for taking the time to give such an extensive review! It's pretty tough coming up with numbers, especially ranking them amongst others. It's also nice to hear what you think of my work in a structured detailed way... makes it easy to figure out how I can improve by taking advice into consideration. We can thank Peter for that haha. Thanks again!

On 10/27/2025 at 12:16 PM, Cosmia said:

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 ^^

Hey thanks Cosmia, and welcome. You can always share your thoughts, it's encouraged! 😄 

Have you posted any music yet? Be sure to so we can check it out 🙂 

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

maybe some automatic overlaps in the score here and there but these are tiny details and it's not like I spotted many.

wanna see a bad one?

yeah......I forgot to put the accel. to 240...... 

To explain, my version is slightly different than what I posted. I had to do some quick maths to change the tempo on each eighth note for 3 measures to get Sibelius to play it back as correctly as it's allowed to be. 

Whoops

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I don't quite get the title

Ah, guess I could've explained that. It's a play on "as above, so below" and demons being fallen angels. 

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

so it's a 4/10

Thanks for all the kind words, too! 😄