Tune Contest: Number Crunching (February 26th - March 11th)

[Diamond16]

Tune Contest: Number Crunching

For this contest, you are going to assign each semitone a number, so:

C=1
Db=2
D=3
Eb=4
F=5
Gb=6
G=7
Ab=8
A=9
Bb=10
B=11
12=Any note

Then roll a d12 8 times (if you don't have one handy, you can go here: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htm ).
The eight numbers you get are going to be the notes of your main motif.

So, for example:

I roll: 10 3 6 5 2 3 9 8
So the notes of my motif will be: Bb D Gb F Db D A Ab

Guidelines:

You must use the notes in the order you have rolled them but the rhythm and style of your composition will be up to you.
You must use the motif in it's entirety at least once.
You must put the number sequence in your entry.
Have fun with it!

Entries close: 12th March

[Viking]

You're trying to turn us all into serialists!

Just kidding...this is a really neat idea!  Are we allowed to repeat a note of the sequence?  For example, if we got C D Eb, could we use C D D Eb in the motif?  Or does it have to be exactly eight notes long?

[Sane Co.]

Was difficult, mainly because of all the flats and naturals and whatnot. But here it is:
https://soundcloud.com/sane_co/random-number-sequence
Hope you enjoy.
my numbers were 7,5,3,4,2,6,6,9
Which translates to G, F, D, Eb, Db, Gb, Gb, A.

[Diamond16]

Viking, I'm glad you like the idea You can only repeat notes if you roll them like that.

Sane Co. Wow, you work fast! 

[Viking]

Hello!  I hate to ask this, but could I have a slight extension, probably a couple of days?  I'm working on something fairly long compared to my normal entries, and I'm about 3/4 done.  Ordinarily I would just not enter if I didn't finish in time, but I think (I hope!) this one will be worth the wait.

[Problem]

Here's my entry. It's quite short, because I was running out of time. But it was a very inspiring and challenging contest. I really enjoyed it, and most likely I'll expand my entry later.

My numbers were 6, 7, 9, 3, 2, 9, 6, 5, which translates to Gb, G, A, D, Db, A, Gb, F

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1891681/music/Alea_iacta_est.ogg

[Creamy]

Bittersweet. I like how the cello blends with the piano.
It reminds me of the music from "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind".

@ Sane Co : another entry? You seem very active these days

[Diamond16]

Hey,

Not sure, Viking, what is the usual procedure? I'm happy to give you a couple of days more to hear your vision as it were, but then how do the other entrants feel about that?

[boojiboy]

Hope I'm not too late.
My numbers were 4 2 5 5 12 5 5 9  and I used your cipher (although I'm curious why you left out E) so my notes were Eb Db F F Any (Db) F F A.

It's short and rushed, but it was fun.

Motif

[Diamond16]

Right,

Well done to all contestants.  Some really excellent concepts emerged.  But anyway, on with the critique!

Sane Co. - Random Number Sequence.

I enjoyed the driving octaves in the left hand and how you varied the piece. I also liked the move to an arpeggiated accompaniment later on. Unfortunately sections of the performance were out of time and while I was listening mostly to the composition itself, it did detract from your ideas.  Also, the piece lost a little bit of it's direction towards the end. Perhaps aim for fewer really well-developed sections next time.

Problem - Alea Iacta Est

You said your entry was on the short side, but I couldn't disagree more.  You have a very well developed piece of music from the opening piano with the melody accompanied by broken chords and long notes on the cello.  The drums are subtle but add a lot, as does the guitar. I think my favourite thing about your entry is that it doesn't sound like the motif has been derived from a formula which takes a lot of skill.  I look forward to hearing how you develop the piece further in the future.

Boojiboy - Motif

I completely didn't notice that I hadn't put E into the competition! Well, even without the E you have made a great entry I like how the drums and bass have established the mood of the piece and that the vibes play the motif as an ostinato through much of the composition. I enjoyed the chord progression at 1'02 and only wished you had developed that further had you the time. I would have liked the instrument playing the counter-melody with the vibes to have had more prominence at times to add variety to the piece.

Viking - Although you didn't make the deadline for the competition, I'm very interested to hear what you came up with and give you some feedback.

Overall, I was really impressed with the standard of the entries!

The winner of this competition is: Problem!

[Viking]

Wow, nice entries, everyone!  Congratulations, Problem!

I guess I have some more time to work on the piece now.   If this thread is still open when I finish, I'll post what I've got here.  Oh well, I should know by now that it's not exactly realistic to finish a reasonably detailed five-minute orchestral work in two weeks of sporadic evenings!

[boojiboy]

Thanks for the critique Diamond. Looks like nobody needed the E anyway. Fun contest!

[Problem]

Wow, thank you very much!
I really enjoyed the other entries. Looking forward to listening to Viking's piece.
Thanks for judging, Diamond16. I'll post the next contest tomorrow.

[cat]

I usually don't listen to tune contest entries, but I'm glad I did this time - very interesting topic and all entries are very good!

[selmiak]

problem's name for the tune alone justified the win! Cool stuff here

[Viking]

Sorry for the delay, folks!  It's been a bit crazy here in recent days, and I also decided to spend a bit more time polishing it since the time pressure was off.   Here are the numbers I rolled:

4 1 4 6 10 2 11 4 (Eb C Eb Gb Bb Db B Eb)

I interpreted the B as a Cb most of the time.

Anyway, I used the eight notes above, sometimes backwards, as well as the inversion (Eb Gb Eb C Ab F G Eb), and the backwards inversion.  All primary melodic material was derived from one or more of those four sequences, often transposed into a different key; and almost all secondary melodic material was derived from parts of one of those sequences as well.  Without further ado, here's the piece:

Eight

Long and boring musical commentary below.  Feel free to skip.

Spoiler

The piece is structured in the form of a miniature symphony, with three connected "movements".  The first movement (0:00-1:16) uses the eight notes directly as its main theme.  It's probably the best movement musically: it's orchestrated fairly well (unusual for me ), fairly consistent in style, and has a decent overall arc (although, of course, it's too short).  Of interest may be the "meta" use of the sequence in that the development section starting at 0:48 is in the keys of G, E, G, Bb, D, C, [possibly Eb] successively (the first 6-7 notes of the sequence, transposed up from Eb to G).  [EDIT: Just realized I made a mistake.  The C should be an F, so I'll have to fix the music at some point.]

The slow middle movement (1:20-3:23) uses the sequence backwards for the first time (as the main theme), and also uses the backwards inversion in the middle section.  I am fairly proud of the teeny little bit of the piece from 2:09-2:23: I thought I managed to actually make something pretty out of what are basically random notes.  The violins are playing the backwards inversion, and the oboe is playing first the backwards theme and then the forwards theme as its obbligato.

The last movement (3:42-6:25) is a march.  The main theme uses the sequence in its straightforward form, then the inversion transposed to G, then the normal inversion.  In each case the first note is quickly repeated. (I figured I'd stated the sequence enough times that cheating a little was allowed this time!)  The bit that sounds like one of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches in the middle uses all four sequences in succession: first the backwards theme transposed to start at C, then the forwards theme starting at F, then the backwards inversion starting at Ab, then the forwards inversion starting at Ab.  Each of the wind chords from 5:37-5:41 contains all eight of the notes in the sequence; and each of the wind chords from 5:43-5:48 contains all of the notes in the inversion.  Unfortunately, the last movement suffers from schizophrenia: it's nice and tuneful for the most part, then suddenly goes all cutesy at 5:12, then all aggressive and contemporary at 5:25, then back to tuneful at the end.  Oh well.

[close]

EDIT: I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Diamond16 for the wonderful idea for a tune contest!  This forced me to write stuff I normally wouldn't, which is a good thing.   And congrats to Problem for the well-deserved win!

[Problem]

Fantastic work, Viking.
This is very well-written with a lot of attention to detail. Each of the three movements could have been a winner entry.