Thank you to the over 140 of you that have applied to our 2nd edition of “The Saad Haddad Prize," which focused on your string quartets. Five finalists were selected, and two winners were chosen (1st place = Dorico Pro, 2nd place = NotePerformer 4). Each of the five finalists will also have a free, virtual lesson with me to discuss anything related to composition, as well as free 1-year subscriptions to Nkoda. 👂 Listen to the full works here: 🎼 Work 1: th-cam.com/video/OTydmQQmyuE/w-d-xo.html 🎼 Work 2: th-cam.com/video/k063xgo1rMY/w-d-xo.html 🎼 Work 3: th-cam.com/video/Vx_5zKsuAv8/w-d-xo.html 🎼 Work 4: th-cam.com/video/PZsrChaePFs/w-d-xo.html 🎼 Work 5: th-cam.com/video/D0fRWK_WBFM/w-d-xo.html 👨⚖ Bobby GE: th-cam.com/video/1QIrf2LQEoI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vJZ6HXhOe2rMIpXe 👩⚖ Katherine BALCH: th-cam.com/video/Tczl9MdcmNM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=t0Pw5fuUWjyhuzYE
I think next time you should introduce a theme or a topic to aim to. I feel like it would help to get a more diverse set of finalists. These all have a very similar aesthetic and it’s easy to see that whoever picked these finalists values a particular style, which these composers happen to also share. This is not a bad thing, however this can mean that equally creative works of dissimilar styles are less likely to be finalists. So, if the criteria were judging how well people attained to a topic, quality, aesthetic, or something like that, I feel like this will make future competitions more constructive and relevant to the people involved. Hopefully, these suggestions give you some ideas! I enjoyed making my composition for this contest and I look forward to the next one!
Wooooow, so grateful to be chosen as one of the finalists. This is indeed huge for me. Looking forward for my session with you soon. Congrats to the top two winners.
Really honored to be among the finalists! Being self-taught I'm still amazed I went so far in the process. And yes, you got me, this wasn't originally written for string quartet! This is the finale of a larger suite initially written for sax quartet. Then I rearranged it for a string quartet performance opportunity, but ended up submitting something else. Congrats to the winners, and really looking forward for the session, Saad!
Thanks so much for giving me second place! It’s so interesting and useful to hear panel deliberations out loud. Thanks so much to you and the panel of mystery composers!
Thank you so much Saad, Katherine, and Bobby. It was such a validating experience to be chosen as a finalist at this point in my career, and I'm so grateful for your constructive advice. Very glad you appreciated the mix, Bobby, I'm hoping to release all four movements soon. I'm very much looking forward to our lesson, Saad! Congrats to every one of the composers who submitted their work, and to the other talented finalists.
This was such a fun competition to be a part of. And even though I didn't make the final 5, I'm still extremely happy and proud of all the participants/finalists and winner. Can't wait for the next competition! Happy Composing everyone!
Absolutely loved this, so fascinating! When you said "the first thing I think of is form", I thought about the history of composing, and how this truly is the backbone of the entirety of great composers--even the ones that people these days don't associate with "form". They were all obsessed with it, and rightly!!! If anything, form and structure is under-appreciated today, quite massively in some circles.
Will, I'm addicted to form what can I say -- and selfishly I am also wondering what YOU think of the pieces, especially as a concertmaster of a major symphony orchestra.
Rondo was not fully convincing for string quartet but it was fun. Sacred Object has a strong simplicity and clarity of intent but the content is just not that interesting throughout, in the middle it begins to find its warmest and most compelling expression...the ending didn't grab me. To be truthful, I found the constant non-vibrato style a bit too gray. It has a build to it and feels well formed. Ambrosia lost steam toward the end but started quite strong, structurally and in terms of the loss of energy the last movement felt disconnected from the rest. Synesthesia has some stylistic incongruence but the best parts were some of the best writing among the finalists and I would have gone chosen it as the winner.
Thank you so much!! That one was mine. I'm hoping to release it this summer and I hope you get to hear the whole thing. Grateful that you listened all the way through.
To be honest, i didn't like any of this. For sure, it's interesting to analyze.. but i couldn't find anything memorable or really enjoyable. Do you think a broad Audience would like any of this? I think they will stick to Vivaldi. And this is Music for the Ivory Tower. Is it so hard to write a nice Melody today? Is it really the case that your deepest feelings sound like a dissonant Cacophony?
I agree. Here's my string quartet I wrote for this inspired by Ravel: th-cam.com/video/gWNFM58uZ3s/w-d-xo.html I guess there wasn't enough microtonal dissonant nonsense in it to qualify.
I agree. This is a way for the untalented be able to write "music". It's only for college environment, where everyone writes the same type of dissonant foolishness and praise one another.
@@igordrm this is the same type of thing that people told composers such as Debussy and Mahler while they were considered new. All you are doing with this type of belief is playing into that cycle of “new music bad.” In 100 years, people will be asking why the composers of the time don’t write good traditional 21st century music.
A couple of things. First, having playback with your submission is really a necessity. Submitting just a score is a liability. Second. Submitting a string quartet written in the romantic style does not have a chance. You might not see it, but that is obvious to me.
Why should the style matter? What has that to do with whether it's good or not? Why does everything have to be cutting edge? I learned this from my teacher Richard Ratner.
@@apolace7242 One just might want to write in a particular style. Aren't we today still listening the masters of past centuries? Isn't their music which inspires many to seek the path of music? Then why can't we explore the resources that those masters developed? Schnittke's Concerto Grosso is a great example of how we don't need to trash everything that came before, and actually achieve something interesting by not doing so.
@@igordrm You just didn’t respond to my points at all there. If you want to write music that’s old then that’s fine. The Schnittke piece is closer to the type of music in this string quartet competition than the Debussy Quartet. It was an experimental piece that was polystylistic and played with tonality and atonality at varying times. It was cutting edge in its time. Edit: didn’t realize you were responding to me in a different comment thread. This comment is meant for the other thread.
@@apolace7242 I figured that I would get this response, eventually. I've heard it dozens of time. How many romantic composers were there? Buy a book on Romantic Music and it will list 50 well known composers. Maybe 70. During the past 25 years, music of another 500 have come to light. But that's about it. How many atonal composers are there? Maybe 100,000, perhaps 200,000. You're claiming there is nothing more that can be said for the Romantic style of composing. I would claim that there is nothing more that can be said in atonal music. We'd both be wrong, I suppose. There's a lot more that can be said in the 19th century style of music. Some like Romantic Music, some like Atonal music. Go to concerts of famous singers. (I don't, but that's not relevant). Does Taylor Swift sing atonal songs? Coldplay? Neil Diamond? Why aren't they not singing atonal music? Shouldn't atonal music be on the forefront of popular music? Is that what you're saying apolace7242? There's nothing wrong with composing Romantic Style music. It can still be original and good quality. But you are correct on one matter. Newly composed Romantic music is largely looked down upon, with deference to atonal music.
@@VepiumOfficial Why write something deliberately unpleasant only for one's own ego and idealizations of intellectual superiority by being palatable for very, very, very few, if not only for those who write the same thing and are willing to flatter to be flattered back?
@@VepiumOfficial it’s always a careful balance. The last few commissions I’ve received call for more tonal music. I throw in a little bit of harmonic instability but they are mostly tonal. Total depends on who wants to perform your music I guess.
@@igordrm i also agree with the idea of writing something deliberately unpleaseant. it seems you've forgotten that the beautify of music is that it is subjective, and different things are pleasant to different people.
@@soundtreks in my (classical music), whether i use consonance or dissonance is just another choice like what time signature or register to use. it's contextual, and there's no right or wrong answer. i think it's stupid to limit yourself to writing only "atonal" music, and you'll find that most composers nowadays have a more diverse and encompassing tonal language.
Thank you to the over 140 of you that have applied to our 2nd edition of “The Saad Haddad Prize," which focused on your string quartets.
Five finalists were selected, and two winners were chosen (1st place = Dorico Pro, 2nd place = NotePerformer 4). Each of the five finalists will also have a free, virtual lesson with me to discuss anything related to composition, as well as free 1-year subscriptions to Nkoda.
👂 Listen to the full works here:
🎼 Work 1: th-cam.com/video/OTydmQQmyuE/w-d-xo.html
🎼 Work 2: th-cam.com/video/k063xgo1rMY/w-d-xo.html
🎼 Work 3: th-cam.com/video/Vx_5zKsuAv8/w-d-xo.html
🎼 Work 4: th-cam.com/video/PZsrChaePFs/w-d-xo.html
🎼 Work 5: th-cam.com/video/D0fRWK_WBFM/w-d-xo.html
👨⚖ Bobby GE: th-cam.com/video/1QIrf2LQEoI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vJZ6HXhOe2rMIpXe
👩⚖ Katherine BALCH: th-cam.com/video/Tczl9MdcmNM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=t0Pw5fuUWjyhuzYE
I think next time you should introduce a theme or a topic to aim to. I feel like it would help to get a more diverse set of finalists. These all have a very similar aesthetic and it’s easy to see that whoever picked these finalists values a particular style, which these composers happen to also share. This is not a bad thing, however this can mean that equally creative works of dissimilar styles are less likely to be finalists. So, if the criteria were judging how well people attained to a topic, quality, aesthetic, or something like that, I feel like this will make future competitions more constructive and relevant to the people involved. Hopefully, these suggestions give you some ideas! I enjoyed making my composition for this contest and I look forward to the next one!
Wooooow, so grateful to be chosen as one of the finalists. This is indeed huge for me. Looking forward for my session with you soon. Congrats to the top two winners.
I’ll be in touch Tinashe! Congrats again! Really fun piece!
Really honored to be among the finalists! Being self-taught I'm still amazed I went so far in the process.
And yes, you got me, this wasn't originally written for string quartet! This is the finale of a larger suite initially written for sax quartet. Then I rearranged it for a string quartet performance opportunity, but ended up submitting something else.
Congrats to the winners, and really looking forward for the session, Saad!
We had a feeling! I'm looking forward to chatting, you have a very interesting background.
Thanks so much for giving me second place! It’s so interesting and useful to hear panel deliberations out loud. Thanks so much to you and the panel of mystery composers!
Congrats Isaac! I will reach out to you ASAP
Yay, Isaac!
Thank you so much Saad, Katherine, and Bobby. It was such a validating experience to be chosen as a finalist at this point in my career, and I'm so grateful for your constructive advice. Very glad you appreciated the mix, Bobby, I'm hoping to release all four movements soon. I'm very much looking forward to our lesson, Saad! Congrats to every one of the composers who submitted their work, and to the other talented finalists.
We were so impressed with your piece Jeremy! Can’t wait to chat soon 🙏🏽
Wow! Congrats to everyone involved and thanks so much!!!!!
I will get in touch soon! Congrats once again Layne!
such a wild piece! loved it and congrats!
Congrats to all of the finalists! I look forward to future competitions.
This was such a fun competition to be a part of. And even though I didn't make the final 5, I'm still extremely happy and proud of all the participants/finalists and winner. Can't wait for the next competition! Happy Composing everyone!
Amazing attitude Jon. Thanks so much for participating!
I liked the Mbakumba dance
Absolutely loved this, so fascinating! When you said "the first thing I think of is form", I thought about the history of composing, and how this truly is the backbone of the entirety of great composers--even the ones that people these days don't associate with "form". They were all obsessed with it, and rightly!!! If anything, form and structure is under-appreciated today, quite massively in some circles.
Will, I'm addicted to form what can I say -- and selfishly I am also wondering what YOU think of the pieces, especially as a concertmaster of a major symphony orchestra.
@@saadhaddadmusicreally liked Ambrosia. Very creative, and offers a story to tell on many different levels!
@@ViolinistWilliam you’re awesome 👏🏽 thanks for watching 🙏🏽
This was so interesting...I loved watching the process. Congrats Layne Bruce!
Glad you enjoyed it!
watching this after having won a quartet competition lol...who's deciding whom the pros are??
Wow, those were some great compositions! Hearing them really gives me a goal to strive for in my own pieces
Amazing attitude 👏🏽
Layne’s music is so beautiful.
Rondo was not fully convincing for string quartet but it was fun. Sacred Object has a strong simplicity and clarity of intent but the content is just not that interesting throughout, in the middle it begins to find its warmest and most compelling expression...the ending didn't grab me. To be truthful, I found the constant non-vibrato style a bit too gray. It has a build to it and feels well formed.
Ambrosia lost steam toward the end but started quite strong, structurally and in terms of the loss of energy the last movement felt disconnected from the rest. Synesthesia has some stylistic incongruence but the best parts were some of the best writing among the finalists and I would have gone chosen it as the winner.
I really loved the 5th quartet.
Thank you so much!! That one was mine. I'm hoping to release it this summer and I hope you get to hear the whole thing. Grateful that you listened all the way through.
@@jeremyzerbe3152 Awesome. I’d love to listen to the whole thing.
Will there be competitions focusing on various chamber groups (e.g. WW quintets, Brass Quintets, Piano trios and quintets, etc.)?
Yes!
I’d be up for a brass quintet one. I wrote a work years ago for brass that never got performed (thanks Covid).
Omg go Layne
LAYNEEE
What software do they use to make it sound nice ? I use Sibelius 6 and it’s sounds terrible when I export the audio. 😢 Thank you in advance
Purchase NotePerformer for Sibelius
^yep
How do you spell the name of the composer mentioned at 32:25?
I'm Jeremy Zerbe! Pronounced Zehr - bee
Carola Bauckholt!
dude thanks
As always 🤓
Layne Layne Layne
To be honest, i didn't like any of this. For sure, it's interesting to analyze.. but i couldn't find anything memorable or really enjoyable.
Do you think a broad Audience would like any of this? I think they will stick to Vivaldi. And this is Music for the Ivory Tower.
Is it so hard to write a nice Melody today? Is it really the case that your deepest feelings sound like a dissonant Cacophony?
I agree. Here's my string quartet I wrote for this inspired by Ravel: th-cam.com/video/gWNFM58uZ3s/w-d-xo.html
I guess there wasn't enough microtonal dissonant nonsense in it to qualify.
My piece had plenty of melodies! They’re hidden amongst beautiful noise and harmonic masses :)
i guess its music for musicians, but still i like ginastera, id be called weird for liking that as well i guess
I agree. This is a way for the untalented be able to write "music". It's only for college environment, where everyone writes the same type of dissonant foolishness and praise one another.
@@igordrm this is the same type of thing that people told composers such as Debussy and Mahler while they were considered new. All you are doing with this type of belief is playing into that cycle of “new music bad.” In 100 years, people will be asking why the composers of the time don’t write good traditional 21st century music.
The first one is definitely copying Bartok's 4th quartet, 5th mvt.
Copy is a strong word to say there! But definitely could be inspired by it sure why not
A couple of things. First, having playback with your submission is really a necessity. Submitting just a score is a liability. Second. Submitting a string quartet written in the romantic style does not have a chance. You might not see it, but that is obvious to me.
Why should the style matter? What has that to do with whether it's good or not? Why does everything have to be cutting edge? I learned this from my teacher Richard Ratner.
Why write in the romantic style in the 21st century? Not much new can be said within it.
@@apolace7242 One just might want to write in a particular style. Aren't we today still listening the masters of past centuries? Isn't their music which inspires many to seek the path of music? Then why can't we explore the resources that those masters developed? Schnittke's Concerto Grosso is a great example of how we don't need to trash everything that came before, and actually achieve something interesting by not doing so.
@@igordrm You just didn’t respond to my points at all there. If you want to write music that’s old then that’s fine. The Schnittke piece is closer to the type of music in this string quartet competition than the Debussy Quartet. It was an experimental piece that was polystylistic and played with tonality and atonality at varying times. It was cutting edge in its time.
Edit: didn’t realize you were responding to me in a different comment thread. This comment is meant for the other thread.
@@apolace7242 I figured that I would get this response, eventually. I've heard it dozens of time.
How many romantic composers were there? Buy a book on Romantic Music and it will list 50 well known composers. Maybe 70. During the past 25 years, music of another 500 have come to light. But that's about it.
How many atonal composers are there? Maybe 100,000, perhaps 200,000.
You're claiming there is nothing more that can be said for the Romantic style of composing. I would claim that there is nothing more that can be said in atonal music.
We'd both be wrong, I suppose. There's a lot more that can be said in the 19th century style of music. Some like Romantic Music, some like Atonal music.
Go to concerts of famous singers. (I don't, but that's not relevant). Does Taylor Swift sing atonal songs? Coldplay? Neil Diamond? Why aren't they not singing atonal music? Shouldn't atonal music be on the forefront of popular music? Is that what you're saying apolace7242?
There's nothing wrong with composing Romantic Style music. It can still be original and good quality.
But you are correct on one matter. Newly composed Romantic music is largely looked down upon, with deference to atonal music.
What a tragedy
Box figures = composer stops composing.
why is every piece so dissonant? Why not stick to tradition and make the music sort of easier to listen to
why write music that isn't genuine to yourself to please others
@@VepiumOfficial Why write something deliberately unpleasant only for one's own ego and idealizations of intellectual superiority by being palatable for very, very, very few, if not only for those who write the same thing and are willing to flatter to be flattered back?
@@VepiumOfficial it’s always a careful balance. The last few commissions I’ve received call for more tonal music. I throw in a little bit of harmonic instability but they are mostly tonal. Total depends on who wants to perform your music I guess.
@@igordrm i also agree with the idea of writing something deliberately unpleaseant. it seems you've forgotten that the beautify of music is that it is subjective, and different things are pleasant to different people.
@@soundtreks in my (classical music), whether i use consonance or dissonance is just another choice like what time signature or register to use. it's contextual, and there's no right or wrong answer. i think it's stupid to limit yourself to writing only "atonal" music, and you'll find that most composers nowadays have a more diverse and encompassing tonal language.
all of them are awful
Let's hear your masterpieces.
We’re all learning one step at a time ✍🏽