Arrangement Contest No. 4

[MaestroUGC]

Just 3 more days until I am crowned 1st Runner-Up.

[Olimar12345]

The poll will close later today, so get those last votes in!

[Yugi]

btw olimar I can still judge

its just that I haven;t had time to listen to the songs

[Olimar12345]

...I have been pm-ing you... If you PM me ASAP with your scores I'll still count it.

[Olimar12345]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! As promised, here are the ghoulish entries and their scores. This was a tough one, so don't feel discouraged if you didn't take home the gold! All entries were formidable, and I wish I could give you all first place!

The grading for this contest was done by a simple, "Who can get the most points" system. In no specific order:

The Popular Vote:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +10 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +5 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +2.5 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +7.5 pts


The Formatting:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +17.5 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +18.5 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +2.5 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +17 pts


The Orchestration:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +16 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +19 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +11 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +11 pts


The Criteria:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +20 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +14 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +8 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +13 pts


The Preservation:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +20 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +20 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +14 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +17 pts


And Finally, The Creativity:

-Bloop ("Toad Tomb")------------------------------------------------------ +16 pts
-MaestroUGC ("Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet")---------------- +16 pts
-NocturneOfShadow ("Lament of the Legendary Hero")----------------- +7 pts
-SlowPokemon ("The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg")-------------- +5 pts




...



...drum roll....



...




"Toad Tomb" by Bloop takes first place, with a total of 99.5 pts!

"Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet" by MaestroUGC comes in a CLOSE second, with a total of 92.5 pts.

"The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg" by SlowPokemon takes third place, with a total of 70.5 pts.

"Lament of the Legendary Hero" by NocturneOfShadow comes in fourth place, with a total of 45 pts.


Congratulations to all participants! I look forward to seeing you all (and many more) for our next contest!





The individual scoring can be read below (arrangers, be sure to check out the comments!):

Echo's scoring

"Toad Tomb"

Orchestration: 10
Preservation: 10
Creativity: 7
Criteria: 10
Formatting: 9.5

Comments: Nice arrangement, brah. Really nailed the "spooky" theme of the contest (good use of dynamics in particular), and the song choice was interesting.

"Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet"

Orchestration: 10
Preservation: 10
Creativity: 8
Criteria: 9
Formatting: 9.5

Comments: I like the use of contrasting moods at the start of the arrangement, with a lighter tone descending into a darker one. Very clever concept, since it makes the suspenseful parts stand out more. However, for the purpose of making the song "scary" overall, I felt that the uplifting parts later into the song were unnecessary and go against that theme, and that it'd be more effective without them. That's just my personal taste, though.

"Lament of the Legendary Hero"

Orchestration: 5
Preservation: 10
Creativity: 4
Criteria: 5
Formatting: 1.5

Comments: I think more focus on dynamics in particular would've helped to convey more fright in this arrangement. For example, crescendos or diminuendos could gradually build unease, or sudden fortissimos could make the listener jump, and so on. The pedal could be used to make "ghostly" sounding notes and such. Basically, I'd say to think about how to play the notes in addition to what notes to play. I find that kind of stuff especially important for a solo instrument arrangement, since you don't have the advantage of having a bunch of different kinds of sounds like you would in an arrangement with multiple instruments.

Besides that, try to remember to follow the formatting stuff, since you'd be getting a load of easy points if you do.

"The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg"

Orchestration: 8
Preservation: 10
Creativity: 4
Criteria: 8
Formatting: 10

Comments: While it does sound nice, I feel like it's still too similar to the original piece. Stuff like more tempo changes, dramatic dynamics, or even unique phrases could've spiced it up a bit more. Also, it's kinda sad that the oboe and timpani players only play for four measures and then peace out, haha.

[close]

Olimar12345's scoring

"Lament of the Legendary Hero" by NocturneOfShadow

1) Orchestration: Writing for a solo instrument is a perfectly fine idea for this contest, so don't let the other submissions get you down on that regard. Your piece actually sits rather well for piano, in my opinion. Never does anything you have written go outside the abilities of a pianist, and that is a good thing. Though, don't be afraid to demand a little more from your soloist!
Score: 6/10

2) Preservation: Interestingly, you preserved the melody rather fine. The whole piece was rather skeletal (no Halloween pun, I swear), so it was unclear at times how you wanted it to sound.
Score: 4/10

3) Creativity: The piece was obviously different from the original in more than just and orchestration stand-point. Though, you could have been more creative with it over all. The lack of clear harmonies at times would have worked much better (in y opinion) if you utilized a clear plan with your dynamics, or something. When the piece is over I feel like I am still experiencing a piece "in-progress."
Score: 3/10

4) Criteria: This goes mostly with what I said about the creativity. An abundance of ambiguity and lack of direction really set you back in establishing the mood, or any mood, really. I do understand that this is all new for you, though. Unfortunately for you, I have to hold you to the same standards that I am holding everyone else. Don't be discouraged! You are well on your way here!
Score: 3/10

5) Formatting: Unfortunately, formatting was your biggest downfall. Before I can even harp on the lack of witten dynamics and articulation, I must address the fact that I can't even tell who wrote this! No composer/arranger names? Ouch. Easy points, if you ask me. Other things to consider:
-Measure numbers would make it easier to rehearse.
-Many times the accidentals you choose are enharmonically harder to read. Remember your harmonies, and that for chromatic passages sharps go up and flats go down!
-Tempo changes are usually additionally marked with a double bar line. This makes them stand out when reading.
-I find it odd that each system reminds me that this is a piano solo, when that is obvious due to the lack of other instruments d:
Score: 1/10

Final Score:  17/50

"Stranded - Night on the Distant Planet" by MaestroUGC

1) Orchestration: Nice job. You made the decision to use an orchestra and stuck with it. Just watch that low tenor trombone though.
Score: 9/10

2) Preservation: Very clear. There was never a question about the theme(s).
Score: 10/10

3) Creativity: Quite creative! I loved how cinematic the piece felt. I think it could have used a little more direction, though (with the form and the organization of your ideas).
Score: 8/10

4) Criteria: Yes and no. You went a bit farther than just "spookifying" it, and told a story. It was a great tale, but in a sense it didn't really feel spooky or scary. Not to belittle the big ominous moments, (especially 55, 111) but it didn't leave me with the impression of a spooky or grim tale in accordance to the theme at hand. A good story has a focused conflict and a resolution, which yours had, but that didn't set it apart from any other tale or fable. So what makes this a scary story?
Score: 5/10

5) Formatting: The formatting is correct. Do watch out for little copy/paste nesciences, though (ex: horn 1 and flute at 96). A suggestion would be to use a bigger size paper. 8.5/11 will be too small to make out anything that tiny.
9/10
Score: 41/50

Final Score: 

"Toad Tomb" by Bloop

1) Orchestration: You were the only one to incorporate the voice, and glockenspiel, and I thought they served this theme well! Though, you did tend to get up there in your voice at times. C6 is a good ceiling for the voice in my opinion. Also, your timpani and harp writing could use some work.
Score: 6/10

2) Preservation: Spot on. There was never a doubt.
Score: 10/10

3) Creativity: Good work. Excellent job! Props to measure 63. The forte worked exceptionally well because of the way you set it up.
Score: 9/10

4) Criteria: Spot on! In a sense, this was a repeat of the first contest we did, in which the objective was to inverse the mood to (in this case) a Halloween theme.
Score: 10/10

5) Formatting: Everything required is there. At times your staves are pretty close; I'd utilize some of that extra page space, especially at this font size. Also, you could have been more clear to your triangle player on what the three different notation styles meant.
Score: 8/10

Final Score:  43/50

"The Blood-Stained Peaks of Froenborg" by SlowPokemon

1) Orchestration: I really wish you would have finished this piece. The way it stands, the orchestration is rather thin, with most instruments only playing one or two times. Condensed for only, say, five instruments, this would make a nice little quintet. I also wanted to mention a couple other things:
-The piano voicings from measures 9-16 are oddly inconsistent. Sometimes you have four voices, and sometimes you have three. Try to think about the individual lines when writing things like this.
-The chimes are played by striking the top edges with a hammer. Unlike other three or four mallet percussion instruments, it would not be practical to play chords of more than two notes (one hammer per hand). Since you are always doubling one tone in octaves, it would be a quick fix.
Score: 3/10

2) Preservation: The preservation is fine. You've written it out to play one time through the tune, it would seem.
Score: 7/10

3) Creativity: You have a creative ensemble choice, but as for creativity, you could have done much more (I was really hoping that you would develop that figure in the second violin at the beginning). Aside from some odd harmonic changes and instrumentation, there really isn't too much "new" material here.
Score: 1/10

4) Criteria: The instrumentation served you well here. Very soft and eerie. Like I have said already, you could have done so much more.
Score: 5/10

5) Formatting: For the most part, it was good. There were a few spots of interest, though:
-Your diminuendos are colliding with other things like staves and fermatas. Also, they should be underneath the staff they apply to. (Adjust the distance between staves if this is an issue)
-You don't have to mark the strings' lines with "arco" before they play. Only mark pizzicato and then arco when they are returning to the bow.
-For punctuating percussion instruments (or for instruments being used as such) provide a specific dynamic for every entrance.
Score: 7/10

Final Score:  23/50

[close]

[SlowPokemon]

Congrats Bloop and Maestro! And nice work, Nocturne, I'm sure you'll only get better! It was a lot of fun to have a contest where all of the competition was so enjoyable I can't even be mad about it XD

I really appreciate all the comments that both Echo and Olimar gave me! But I take serious offense to the fact that Olimar gave me 1/10 for creativity. You seriously don't think that was too harsh? You make it sound like I put no effort into the piece whatsoever???

Don't get me wrong, this isn't about the competition; I'm taking offense as a musician here. Most of your comments are appreciated and noted, but the creativity I put into this is more than 1/10. I also don't get how I could have preserved the piece any better (didn't you complain it was too similar to the original?), or why my criteria is so low...didn't I make it sound creepy? Was it just not creepy enough? I don't really mind being marked so low for the orchestration, though--I wrote it how I wanted to sound, which resulted in some unorthodox notation. I originally had just two notes at a time on the chimes, but it didn't give the sound that I wanted. As a final thing idk what led you to believe the piece was unfinished, that was my completed arrangement.

Either way though I'm still really pleased with this contest overall, it was much more fun than I anticipated.

[Bloop]

YAY I WON

Great job everybody! I agree of this competition :3
Group hug ?

Also, although I do agree that 1/10 for slow's creativity is a bit low, it seemed that the arrangement was based around the melody with some dissonant chords. There's a lot could've been added :p

[SlowPokemon]

Oh, no worries! Olimar explained his reasoning to me in a few PMs which I appreciated so there's no problem ^_^ I'M ALL FOR THE GROUP HUG CONGRATS BLOOP

[mikey]

I still did better than the three who quit :/
*sits in corner and hugs consolation prize*

[Bloop]

YAY GROUP HUG
Don't worry nocturne you'll get an addition hug

[MaestroUGC]

And once again I was robbed of a clear victory.

Though I can't complain as for
1:This was the result of working on it for about a week, and
2: This wasn't my original plan because Olimar vetoed it.

Congrats, though, bloop, yours was really well done. It fooled me into thinking it was actually in the game. Not really, but damn did it sound right.

[Bloop]

Yay thanks
Do you wanna go in the group hug too? :3