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This was written for a collaboration project between the masters students at my conservatoire and some postgraduate astronomy students from another uni, each of whom was working on their own project. Each composer chose an astronomer, to write a piece in some sort of response to the astronomer's research. We had a given instrumentation, which was essentially wind quintet + string trio + electric guitar, and we were free to write for any combination. I decided to just write a wind quintet, since I like writing for winds. I think the rest of the composers all wrote for the full ensemble. My partner's project was to do with how stellar clusters form and grow. Specifically, he was trying to modify an existing simulation to add in another factor (some sort of gas) which has not previously been considered in the growth of stars, just to see if it actually does make a difference. The inspiration I took from this was to do with the general growth of stars (rather than his specific project, which was kind of uninspiring musically). I had the idea to create a piece which starts relatively chaotic, and gradually becomes simpler and calmer while still in some way retaining its initial character. The way I tried to do this was to have one single motif represent the star, and have it present throughout, becoming slower every now and then. This is meant to represent the star forming out of a flurry of gases, and becoming larger, slower, and more predictable over time. It's probably the most 'dissonant' of my pieces so far, which made it very difficult to work on, as my usual musical instincts weren't always present. I'm quite proud of myself for pushing through it though - I think allowing myself more dissonance has really allowed me to experiment more, and I'm happy with the resulting piece. The score isn't quite 'final' yet, I've still got to get some feedback from my tutor before I tidy it up and send it off.

Hello everyone, I'm coming back, this is my new piece, hope you like it.

Hello everyone, this is the piece I newly composed, hope you like it

A piece I wrote for a newly formed wind quintet at my university, though they haven't got to trying it yet. My longest single-movement work so far, and it took a lot of work to keep it going and (hopefully) keep it fresh. It was a great opportunity to play around with tonality and harmony though. I kept adding in wholetone scales whenever I could because the world needs more wholetone. (Halloween edit: Here's the recording - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35dE4QPo2H4)

Hello everyone, this is the piece I newly composed, hope you like it

Hello all, this is the first time I'm attempting a challenge, so if I'm doing something wrong or not allowed, just let me know, I rarely go here :( So, I'm giving composition lessons to a friend of mine, who is a fantastic pianist, and in an effort to try to get him off the piano, and to teach him orchestration, I challenged him to write a wind quintet, by hand, and he must start full score. So, I'm gonna give you this same challenge. Rules: -write a short piece for Wind Quintet (under 4 minutes, for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn, no doubling to alto flute or anything like that) -you cannot just write for piano then expand it to wind quintet, you must start with full score Points: Orchestration (40 points): How well did you use each of the instruments? How successful were you in using the instruments to create the voice of the piece? Play-ability (35 points): Is it playable? If this were to be sight-read by an actual quintet, how successful would it be? Basically, the easier the better, you want many people to be able to perform this Presentation (10 points): This is too often overlooked, if they can't read it, they can't play it Musicality (15 points): How successful were you in using Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Form, Dynamics, etc. to create a coherent, interesting, and unique piece? I will give you all the same amount of time I gave my student, around 2 weeks. Remember, it's supposed to be short. If no one can turn it in by the deadline, I'll extend it, but just know that my student, who started composing just this year and is writing his FIRST piece without piano can do it, so don't lose faith! Deadline: June 1 This challenge is aimed towards composers who started off on piano and feels that they are too dependent on their piano skills. This is for those who wish to improve their orchestration skills and to compose from the viewpoint of a composer, rather than a pianist (if that makes sense). I would be fine with judging this piece, but if anyone else wants to, that would be perfect! (Austenite? Sojar Voglar?) Good luck! I hope this challenge will be an excellent opportunity to improve your orchestration skills, as much as it is to improve my teaching skills, I am going to college for music education along with composition so this is a good exercise for me too :) Finally, we get to the most important part, the prize :D I am an All-State level Oboist, and I am now a member of the Oboe studio at Lawrence Conservatory (starting next year, woot!) I will commission the winner to write a piece for solo oboe (and maybe w/ piano accompaniment, although that's kinda against the point of this competition XD) and I will record it to the best quality I can get. I am looking into opportunities to perform over the summer at recitals or competitions, if I find one, I will include your piece in it, basically, I will try my darnest to perform your piece in front of a live audience. ok, I think that's everything, ready, set.... COMPOSE!