Dima's National Dance - 2025 Halloween Submission

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

@Dima I can't access your links - it says access is denied.

57 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

@Dima I can't access your links - it says access is denied

me too! Maybe @Dima you have to change the access right for your link in Google drive!

Henry

9 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

me too! Maybe @Dima you have to change the access right for your link in Google drive!

Henry

 

Exactly, my apologies! Already fixed

1 hour ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

@Dima I can't access your links - it says access is denied.

 

My fault, already fixed it

Entry:National Dance

Average Score:9.6 Very Good

Hi @Dima!

I quite enjoy this furious dance full of tone cluster. The energy here is very apparent to be sensed. Although I would say, this piece doesn't fit very much as a Halloween competition piece with the folk quality in it.

I think this piece is for solo instruments? So, the div. in b.5 1st Violin and b.22 2nd violin and Viola, tutti sign in b.78 1st violin would not be applicable. Also, the division of voice within an instrument would not be applicable, and this will for sure deduct points for scoring/engraving. 

I would hope there will be more varieties in harmony, as this piece more or less grows on the tone cluster of the dissonant minor 2nds. I would hope to have more passage stepping away from that dissonance, so it will provide contrast! I love the contrast you bring in b.119 meno mosso section, and I hope that you will extend that section longer before returning to the furious dance!

Also, how would the tone cluster in b.30 and 199 played for the pianist? I am eager to know!

Thx for joining the competition!

Henry

15 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @Dima!

I quite enjoy this furious dance full of tone cluster. The energy here is very apparent to be sensed. Although I would say, this piece doesn't fit very much as a Halloween competition piece with the folk quality in it.

I think this piece is for solo instruments? So, the div. in b.5 1st Violin and b.22 2nd violin and Viola, tutti sign in b.78 1st violin would not be applicable. Also, the division of voice within an instrument would not be applicable, and this will for sure deduct points for scoring/engraving. 

I would hope there will be more varieties in harmony, as this piece more or less grows on the tone cluster of the dissonant minor 2nds. I would hope to have more passage stepping away from that dissonance, so it will provide contrast! I love the contrast you bring in b.119 meno mosso section, and I hope that you will extend that section longer before returning to the furious dance!

Also, how would the tone cluster in b.30 and 199 played for the pianist? I am eager to know!

Thx for joining the competition!

Henry

 

Thank you, Henry! Thank you so much for your comments. It seems like the criticism could have really improved this music—it's really missing other harmonies. How should these clusters be played? Spread your hand wide, so that your first and fifth fingers line up, and press with your palm, not your fingers. Yes, the folkloric opening theme may not be the most appropriate, but nevertheless, the music itself, to me, reflects the frightening beginning, and I thought it appropriate to include it here. The music itself was originally written for a larger ensemble, you're right, but the recording was made with soloists and without the double bass—a kind of chamber version. I think the deduction is fair.

20 hours ago, Kvothe said:

Entry:National Dance

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
10	9	10	10	10	9.5	10	8.5

 

Average Score:9.6 Very Good

 

 

Kvothe, thanks for your mark!

10 minutes ago, Dima said:

Kvothe, thanks for your mark!

 

You are truly welcome. This is first time doing this. 

15 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @Dima!

I quite enjoy this furious dance full of tone cluster. The energy here is very apparent to be sensed. Although I would say, this piece doesn't fit very much as a Halloween competition piece with the folk quality in it.

I think this piece is for solo instruments? So, the div. in b.5 1st Violin and b.22 2nd violin and Viola, tutti sign in b.78 1st violin would not be applicable. Also, the division of voice within an instrument would not be applicable, and this will for sure deduct points for scoring/engraving. 

I would hope there will be more varieties in harmony, as this piece more or less grows on the tone cluster of the dissonant minor 2nds. I would hope to have more passage stepping away from that dissonance, so it will provide contrast! I love the contrast you bring in b.119 meno mosso section, and I hope that you will extend that section longer before returning to the furious dance!

Also, how would the tone cluster in b.30 and 199 played for the pianist? I am eager to know!

Thx for joining the competition!

Henry

 

That's exactly what I noticed: the tonal clusters. It is so refreshing to hear modern harmony. Do not get wrong...I traditional harmony is great, but modern harmony is like diving into the deep end of pool when it is 90 degrees out side. you feel so much better. 

Review:

10 hours ago, therealAJGS said:

Review:

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
7	7	7	8	9	9.5	9	7

 

score: 7.9

 

Thanks!

Entry:  Dima’s National Dance - 2025 Halloween Submission by @Dima

Average Score:  7.38

Review:

First off - congratulations on getting a decent performance/recording of such a demanding piece!  For that, your Playability category is automatically 10 despite its difficulty.  As far as this piece being appropriate for the Halloween theme, I don’t think it met the mark.  It definitely sounds like folk music, perhaps inspired by the style of Bartok.  But, it doesn’t sound creepy, scary, strange, nor thrilling.  The most salient feature of the composition is the cluster chords and the almost (if not completely) atonal approach to harmony (and perhaps a modal approach to melody).  I don’t think you really wrote this piece for the Halloween theme considering the amount of time to write the piece and get it rehearsed and performed wasn’t long enough to get a performance of this quality.  Because of this I will not be voting for you for any of the Halloween specific badges that we will be handing out.  But the composition is definitely skillfully conceived, although musically, it’s not my cup of tea.  I won’t go so far as to call it pure noise, since there’s definitely melody to it, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it, and there’s definitely folk dances that I do enjoy that are conceived in a much more palatable style despite being modal and also using clusters and dissonance.  I guess the degree of dissonance was just too much for me in this particular case.  But there is craft to this piece, despite that.  So good job and thanks for your participation!

Yes, that’s a folk dance, but a brutal one! With this choice you’ve really matched the objective for a scary, spooky piece in the Halloween contest.

The score presentation is clear and very precise, sometimes giving me questions concerning the playability: Where to take up to 10 fingers in one hand by the piano player? (I know, that are „clusters“ to be played with the entire hand or whatever, but some seem to be difficult to achieve with mixed white/black keys as, for example, in bar 190).

In spite of the atonality, the texture of the folk dance is perceivable and so the structure of the peace can be followed and remembered by the listener – what is not always the case in „post-tonal“ pieces. Well done.

Average Score: 7.188

Hi Dima, welcome to the forums! Instead of google drive links, you can also simply drop the mp3 and pdf here and they will be inserted automatically in the post, just in case). 

It's indeed brutal as @Wieland Handke remarked. However, I disagree with him in the feelings it produced in me. At the very first minute it did feel like I was attending a human massacre in a slaughterhouse or something like that. Nor spookiness, neither scariness, no: pure +18 gore.
But since you don't abandon that mood and just limit to test how much the piano can resist being hit with sledgehammers, it gets kind of boring after the 1:30 mark to me. 

Then, you finally destroy the piano and the fretted strings come to save the day until the Luthier finishes repairing it. I think it makes up to a Halloween story, a very musical one!
Well, maybe I am making up this story along the listen but if I am truly making up this story shouldn't there be a disclaimer somewhere that read: "NO PIANOS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED WITHIN THE DURATION OF THIS PERFORMANCE" or "WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED TO THE PERFORMER'S INSTRUMENT AFTER OR DURING THE PERFORMANCE OF  THIS PIECE" 

Jokes aside, good engraving, but I don't quite get what's your norm with system dividers. They sometimes appear, sometimes not.

All in all, a bit too repetitive, but I am not sure if that's bad or if you're even to blame provided that your base was a folk song, and at least where I am from, they are kind of repetitive by default.
In any case, thank you for your submission! Hope you stay around 🙂. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ø.

This is intense! Very nice melody, which is represented throughout the piece in various methods. The up/down beats, for example on bar 22, very cool technique. Very complex work, and looks like you've gotten a performance of this, which is impressive. So playability will automatically have to be a 10, but had I not known this, I might give it a 6 or 7, because you'd need professional performers here.

Melodies and harmony: Melody is pronounced, and very good. I'm not sure how to rate harmony here, this is not that type of piece.

Form: I definitely had to listen a few times but the form seems pretty well defined. Following your melody and musical ideas are not hard at all once you learn the format.

Originality and Score Presentation: Highly original work and your score clearly outlines your ideas. 

Playability: If you got a performance, this has to be a 10, right? But this is a very difficult piece of music to perform, I may have given this a 6 or 7 otherwise.

Execution of Challenge and taste: Excellent piece, but this just does not remind me of Halloween. It's definitely intense, but for Halloween I expect either horror, or whimsical march-like music (for both adults and kids). This is clearly an art piece.

14 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Entry:  Dima’s National Dance - 2025 Halloween Submission by @Dima

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
7	5	9	9	7	10	5	7

 

Average Score:  7.38

Review:

 

First off - congratulations on getting a decent performance/recording of such a demanding piece!  For that, your Playability category is automatically 10 despite its difficulty.  As far as this piece being appropriate for the Halloween theme, I don’t think it met the mark.  It definitely sounds like folk music, perhaps inspired by the style of Bartok.  But, it doesn’t sound creepy, scary, strange, nor thrilling.  The most salient feature of the composition is the cluster chords and the almost (if not completely) atonal approach to harmony (and perhaps a modal approach to melody).  I don’t think you really wrote this piece for the Halloween theme considering the amount of time to write the piece and get it rehearsed and performed wasn’t long enough to get a performance of this quality.  Because of this I will not be voting for you for any of the Halloween specific badges that we will be handing out.  But the composition is definitely skillfully conceived, although musically, it’s not my cup of tea.  I won’t go so far as to call it pure noise, since there’s definitely melody to it, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it, and there’s definitely folk dances that I do enjoy that are conceived in a much more palatable style despite being modal and also using clusters and dissonance.  I guess the degree of dissonance was just too much for me in this particular case.  But there is craft to this piece, despite that.  So good job and thanks for your participation!

 

Thanks for your comments! Yes, it wasn't written for this considering, my English is very bad and didn't understand requirements, I think the finished composition should be suitable

12 hours ago, Wieland Handke said:

Yes, that’s a folk dance, but a brutal one! With this choice you’ve really matched the objective for a scary, spooky piece in the Halloween contest.

The score presentation is clear and very precise, sometimes giving me questions concerning the playability: Where to take up to 10 fingers in one hand by the piano player? (I know, that are „clusters“ to be played with the entire hand or whatever, but some seem to be difficult to achieve with mixed white/black keys as, for example, in bar 190).

In spite of the atonality, the texture of the folk dance is perceivable and so the structure of the peace can be followed and remembered by the listener – what is not always the case in „post-tonal“ pieces. Well done.

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
6.5	6.5	7	9	8	5	9	6.5

 

Average Score: 7.188

 

Thanks for your comments. Yes, some chords with black and white clusters can't be played 100 percent accurately, and that's not necessary. It would just be much more difficult to write out what would work out exactly given the tempo. I wanted the widest possible range of clusters.

9 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Hi Dima, welcome to the forums! Instead of google drive links, you can also simply drop the mp3 and pdf here and they will be inserted automatically in the post, just in case). 

It's indeed brutal as @Wieland Handke remarked. However, I disagree with him in the feelings it produced in me. At the very first minute it did feel like I was attending a human massacre in a slaughterhouse or something like that. Nor spookiness, neither scariness, no: pure +18 gore.
But since you don't abandon that mood and just limit to test how much the piano can resist being hit with sledgehammers, it gets kind of boring after the 1:30 mark to me. 

Then, you finally destroy the piano and the fretted strings come to save the day until the Luthier finishes repairing it. I think it makes up to a Halloween story, a very musical one!
Well, maybe I am making up this story along the listen but if I am truly making up this story shouldn't there be a disclaimer somewhere that read: "NO PIANOS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED WITHIN THE DURATION OF THIS PERFORMANCE" or "WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED TO THE PERFORMER'S INSTRUMENT AFTER OR DURING THE PERFORMANCE OF  THIS PIECE" 

Jokes aside, good engraving, but I don't quite get what's your norm with system dividers. They sometimes appear, sometimes not.

All in all, a bit too repetitive, but I am not sure if that's bad or if you're even to blame provided that your base was a folk song, and at least where I am from, they are kind of repetitive by default.
In any case, thank you for your submission! Hope you stay around 🙂. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ø.

 

Thanks for your comments, the piano was damaged, but I was not held responsible, so don't worry)

36 minutes ago, chopin said:

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
8.5	??? maybe 7?	8	10	9	10	4.5	7

This is intense! Very nice melody, which is represented throughout the piece in various methods. The up/down beats, for example on bar 22, very cool technique. Very complex work, and looks like you've gotten a performance of this, which is impressive. So playability will automatically have to be a 10, but had I not known this, I might give it a 6 or 7, because you'd need professional performers here.

Melodies and harmony: Melody is pronounced, and very good. I'm not sure how to rate harmony here, this is not that type of piece.

Form: I definitely had to listen a few times but the form seems pretty well defined. Following your melody and musical ideas are not hard at all once you learn the format.

Originality and Score Presentation: Highly original work and your score clearly outlines your ideas. 

Playability: If you got a performance, this has to be a 10, right? But this is a very difficult piece of music to perform, I may have given this a 6 or 7 otherwise.

Execution of Challenge and taste: Excellent piece, but this just does not remind me of Halloween. It's definitely intense, but for Halloween I expect either horror, or whimsical march-like music (for both adults and kids). This is clearly an art piece.

 

Thanks for your feedback. It's probably true that this isn't really in the spirit of the holiday since everyone's writing about it. In our country, it's not celebrated at all, so I have a hard time with it.

pretty cool, you should comment on others' music!