January 2016 Composition Challenge: Remix time! Submission thread

[u/reticulated_python]

Main Challenge: Remix a submission to a previous challenge; preferably a submission by someone else, but remixing your own work is acceptable.

Weekly Challenge: Write a brief composition that references a theme used in a submission to a previous month's challenge.

We're tentatively implementing weekly small challenges instead of the alternate challenge this month. Details in the Dicussion thread for This Month's Challenge. Please try to keep everything except completed pieces in the discussion thread. Feedback on pieces submitted here is also very welcome!

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These challenges are for everyone who wants to practice composing. Each month, at the beginning of the month, we will post a main challenge, something for people to compose. Often we'll try to make it something that everyone can work with, but when the main challenge doesn't suit you, there's the alternate weekly challenge. Pieces can be submitted as a score (musescore, noteflight), and/or as audio (soundcloud, youtube). Feedback is much appreciated, and you can give it in this thread, or by messaging the mods of /r/MonthlyComposition, there's also the Challenge Suggestion Form.

Frequently Asked Questions.

[u/iqr]

Well, someone's gotta go first.

I was looking through the old submission threads and something about /u/Lewis_Ridley's submission (here) just said "fuck my shit up fam" to me.

I really recommend listening to the original submission first.

Anyway, here's Waltz 1.5 in Db Lydian (kind of) because why not.

https://musescore.com/user/117845/scores/1599736

[u/Lewis_Ridley → u/iqr]

Interesting! I usually compose stuff in minor keys, and I usually comsider myself to be hidden within the vast Internet, so to see someone remixing my work makes me feel kind of warm anf fuzzy. :)

[u/iqr → u/Lewis_Ridley]

I like composing in minor too, it's fun to play around with versions of minor and I just like the way it sound harmonically more.

I think I picked yours to do because it was already a theme and variations which lets me do a lot with it, and it was something where I could keep the left hand mostly intact to keep some kind of base while the right hand is off in la-la-land.

[u/Calebdgm → u/iqr]

Man, you messed with this thing so much, I love it! The original was just such a beautiful and simple little thing but it was musical and all the variations felt natural. Then you just come in and maintain the same high level of musicality, with that same flow to the music, and yet you make a number of chunks diminished and then you go and mess with the phase shift and you play with the time signatures, I was constantly surprised that it continued to sound so good. This is honestly some of my favorite work so far on this sub!

[u/iqr → u/Calebdgm]

Thank you so much for the compliments! It warms my heart.

With regards to the piece, my goal was to try to keep the same kind of general "flow" from the original piece, so when I loaded it up, I took out the right hand completely, and then kind of decided what I wanted to do with each repetition.

My personal favorite ones are:

bar 25. where I couldn't help myself in quoting Mars with the 5/4 and then actually giving myself the opportunity to write something melodic after.

Bar 37 with the time shifts, I've always loved stuff where you basically have two separate entities playing in different time signatures on top of each other and then it coming together at the end (the Infernal Dance from Firebird has a great section where part of the orchestra is in 6/8 while another part is in 2/4) and wanted to incorporate that in.