"Winter Reflections" - Winter 2011 Composition Contest - Voting

[Nyu001]

Hello everyone!


The voting process has been extended and now voting ends

Saturday, March 24, 2012.


The poll got closed days before its deadline and no one would have been able to vote in the past days.


We oops and apologize for that!

[Ander]

We oops and apologize for that!

Hahaha. You said "we oops".

[DunNotCome]

Lols the final day

[Bey-Heart]

Well, the voting period is over, so I guess this meansa Gotank won. Congratulations Gotank, I really liked your piece! ^^

And thanks to those who criticised my piece, criticism can be a big help sometimes as it showsa you how to improve. Although at least 1 user got what I was aiming towards.

[Gotank]

Hmm, any news on what's happening with this?

[Victor Seven]

I didn't get votes. However, I think you critics are very good for me to improve my songs. And some of them have been positive, so I'm very happy. Congratulations, Gotank! It'a very nice piece.

What about the prompts...? I think we also have to vote them.

[Ander]

Very well done Gotank! It's a great victory for there was a lot of good songs along with yours. I am curious as to what each of the contestants' prompts were consist of.

[Nyu001]

CONGRATULATIONS GOTANK!

And good job everyone! It is nice to see a variety of style here. I hope in someway this contest was helpful to all the contestants.

To our winner, Gotank, we offer you to promote your piece through our youtube's channel. If you are interested, please inbox us with any detail you wish to add.

And here are the Prompt! The missing promtps in this post are the ones I never received in my inbox.


Contestants' Prompt


Victor Seven

I pass a bad year. I'm not so very happy, but I hope the next year all will be better. But sad don't mean nervous... I often feel so calm. I tried to reflect the calm when I am sad and the wish of happy for the next year. I tried to express calm with a happy composition and a calm rhytm. I love strings, it sound is perfect to reflect that. That's why I choose the string quartet. The sound is calm and warm, but sometimes has a little strange changes. That's reflect my uncertain future and my doubts.

I think the best is the sound: is compact, and it sometimes looks like a classic piece. The theme of the song is beautiful, and the chords are good-written, so sounds good. The weak point is my intention to experiment. I always try to do it. Time signature changes or a "strange" measure, trying to express what I think but, changing completly the sound and making the listener get lost. I can't avoid it, I want to know how does sound this or that.

However, in this case, that changes are minimum, so I think the final result is good and people will like the song, changes incluided xD

Bey-Heart

My composition represents the "me" in 2011 because it shows a feeling of joy, or happiness. I was very happy this year, and my friends said that I was just the kinda nice guy they wanted to be friends with. The fast part in the beginning was to show how I was kinda hyper this year. The repeated parts in my composition are to show that I'm hoping 2012 turns out just as good for me as 2011 did. I think the mood I was going for went pretty well in my composition. I was able to obtain that feeling of joy, and achieve in making a part that expresses some hyper-activeness. I think I could have improved the very beginning though. The very beginning sounds fine, but it's pretty empty compared to the rest of the song. I think I could have improved the ending too. All I did at the end was repeat another part of the song with two added notes.

DunNotCome

Glass Reflections
A piano solo composition by myself
Writing Prompt

Thematic materials:

This tune was idealised by the reflection of me onto a glass block, which invokes a dream like, yet a sad feeling, to express the utmost of what I, as a person, have accomplished and what obstacles lies ahead. By looking through the glass block, illusion of me, nonchalant, unable to express feelings, appears. This tune is, therefore, the derivation of these feelings.

Strong Points:

Expression:
The piece has a dream-like feeling, as invoked by the repeated drones (A and D or just A), and can be expressed in the utmost limit.

Difficulty:
This piece is technically easy, but musically challenging, requiring careful phrasing and vocalising of melody to be able to express the most out of it.

Weak Points:

Pedalling:
Due to the nature of this piece, it is very easy for a pianist to play the melody entranced in the background sonority of the drone notes.

Repeated Structures:
This piece is based on one simple melody and allows for very little improvisation. Also, it the sonority of the piece does not change, but the piece ends quickly to prevent over-lengths of mood so as not to bore the listener.

PorscheGTIII

The beginning of last year was hectic for me. I was working on a team building a race car for an international competition while juggling a full load of classes and swimming. It was rough. My composition “Rex Tremende” represents the forgiveness of sin; transforming the uncertainties, chaos, and faults of humanity into a flowing, calm and pure state of enlightenment. Just as my life at the beginning of 2011 was hectic, so too is the beginning of this composition as it is loaded with dissonance and consequentially, tension. Shortly after the beginning dissonance, the mood suddenly changes. The composition seems to sigh, and ponder what was mentioned earlier. Later in the year I reflected on my past actions and vowed change. My year got progressively better. I started graduate school, met my current girlfriend, and found research in a field that I'm interested in. The composition to slowly starts to change as well. The choir sings “Salva me” or “save me” and the sins of the world slowly begin fading. The climax builds and a triumphant tutti section rings out the a powerful message of good news. This is where I picture my life going in 2012. I see a light on the horizon, a calm breeze against my back. It's hope. The composition suddenly transitions into and feels like it's calm and flowing. There's some dissonance, but it's only to be expected. There will always be bumps in the road in our future, but these bumps are not necessarily bad because without times of hardship, there can be no times of joy.

The strong point to my composition is the creative harmonic progressions and use of dissonance. The weak point is the lack of counter-subject.

Gotank

I hope to one day compose professionally and have been studying for the past few years in pursuit of this goal. On one hand I'm somewhat optimistic about the future, but on the other hand I recognize the likely event that this goal may never come to fruition. 'Daydream', in reflection of this mindset, mostly attempts to capture the hopeful mood, while occasionally introducing brief moments of introspection and doubt.

As for the music itself, I think it was a little too ambitious given my current lack of experience for orchestration. A number of sections are too muddy and bottom-heavy due to having many independent lines. The thematic material, which is especially pivotal in this style of music, is not as interesting as it needs to be and while also being too repetitive.

On the positive side, this is by far the most extensive project I've ever undertaken on. Perhaps the most praiseworthy aspect of 'Daydream' is the fact that I saw it all the way to completion.

Thanks,
Gotank

sagemse

When I composed this piece, I thought back to all the major events that happened in the previous year. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the last year was like a stereotypical story. There was a period of time where I was relaxed where I felt nothing could go wrong. Then a wave of problems came. In the end, though, I survived. As I look back now I realize that it wasn’t so bad. At the time however, it was pretty scary. But I digress.

I decided to compose based on my emotions at each of these periods of time. A time when life was good. A time when troubles reared their ugly heads. A time where I managed to pull through and triumph, and the hope I had for the future after the whole ordeal. My goal in the future is to be able to compose like Ryo from Supercell. With that, I present you with this composition I call, “Life”.

Strong point about this composition, I used modulation to change the mood, started from A major and then modulated to 3 other different keys, F sharp minor (relative minor of A major) then A minor and then finally C major (relative major of A minor).

Weak point about this composition, I feel that this composition is rather rushed and not really polished and fine tuned. I only have myself to blame for not spotting this contest earlier. Another reason is because this is my first orchestra piece, I never wrote for orchestra before, I do not really understand the instruments well enough, like which to play together, and which is for harmonizing. I just use trial and error..hopefully I scrape through. And 1 final point, the audio mixing isn't very well done, I still got lots more to learn about it.

beansato.

[Gotank]

Thanks Nyu, Porsche, and everyone else for organizing and participating in this contest! There were many great pieces entered into this competition, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to engage in such an educational experience.

[sagemse]

Congratuations Gotank, was actually quite inspired by your piece And I am grateful for all the critics, I will continue to compose and hopefully improve myself. I had fun in this competition too, ill definitely take part if another one is organized

[Nyu001]

I uploaded Gotank's entry to Ichigo's Channel!



Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=LmIfafE8RnI