# ContrapunKt Competition



## MichaelSolo

As a concievably useful and fun excercise, I propose a little musical competition with the following rules.

1. Open to anybody considering him/herself worthy of the challenge
2. Use any four "musical" letters of your given and last name (for example, B - A - C - H) as a melodic base, indicate them outside the composition, and devise around them not more than 10 bars of contrapunctual development in any style
3. The only demand is the development is "complete", i.e., the musical thought is (subjectively) finished by the end of at most 10th bar.

Those willing to enter, please publish the composition here in one of the popular formats (e.g., MP4 or similar). The judges would be the community (except the composer does not judge own piece).

I will make sure to periodically "average" the ratings, and publish a ranked list. First place on the list would assure immortality of the composer (just kidding).

Any takers?


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## Jord

I'm confused, 'any four "musical" letters of your last name (for example, B - A - C - H) H isn't a note, or have i been mislead?


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## MichaelSolo

Jord said:


> I'm confused, 'any four "musical" letters of your last name (for example, B - A - C - H) H isn't a note, or have i been mislead?


"H" is an oldish for B in Germany.


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## Ramako

Hmm, mine's a pain - I've just been trying it. May or may not have a go at this, depending on my success :lol:


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## MichaelSolo

Ramako said:


> Hmm, mine's a pain - I've just been trying it. May or may not have a go at this, depending on my success :lol:


Wish you luck!


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## Mahlerian

Here's my entry on BSCH.

View attachment Developed Name.mp3




MichaelSolo said:


> "H" is an oldish for B in Germany.


And B is B-flat. Other common conventions include making 'R' into 'D' (for Re).


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## juergen

MichaelSolo said:


> "H" is an oldish for B in Germany.


"H" is not an oldish for B in Germany. It is absolutely the right name for that note in Germany.


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## elgar's ghost

SCH are my actual initials and I'm already at a disadvantage as all three have been used as part of you-know-who's signature. 


How about E-F-H-A? (E, F, B nat, A)? Even that's a cheat as I'm using F to replace the letters PH because my first name's Stephen) but I've taken two letters each from both my first and last names. Bet it sounds awful...


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## Mahlerian

elgars ghost said:


> SCH are my actual initials and I'm already at a disadvantage as all three have been used as part of you-know-who's signature.
> 
> How about E-F-H-A? (E, F, B nat, A)? Even that's a cheat as I'm using F to replace the letters PH because my first name's Stephen) but I've taken two letters each from both my first and last names. Bet it sounds awful...


It has a tritone in it that's resolved weirdly. It might be tough to work with. I had a bit of a hard time forcing mine into C minor, because the opening fourth makes it sound like E-flat major...


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## Crudblud

The rather unremarkable DAEG.

I have no idea if I have done what I was supposed to do with those letters and so I have called the piece A _Potential_ Contradoodle for a quartet of trombone, marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel. I used those instruments simply because they're in a piece I'm working on at the moment.


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## MichaelSolo

But this is a very well done piece, Mahlerian, what a pleasure to listen! I espessially liked the ending; upgoing progression did remind me of you know who...


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## MichaelSolo

juergen said:


> "H" is not an oldish for B in Germany. It is absolutely the right name for that note in Germany.


My hat off - profound apologies!


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## MichaelSolo

Dear Crudblud,

Could you please kindly attach your file to a message, as the link you provided lead me to a site fully engrossed with ads asking to pay a dollar fifty?..


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## Mahlerian

MichaelSolo said:


> But this is a very well done piece, Mahlerian, what a pleasure to listen! I espessially liked the ending; upgoing progression did remind me of you know who...


Thanks. I'm not entirely happy with some things I did (like having the initial voice become the alto and then dip into tenor range), and some of the verticals sound weird without much justification (other than "because I'm using the inversion of the motif at G"), but I haven't experimented too much with writing in this style before. Also, the 10 bar limit was a good idea, because I was able to keep up a three voice texture for that long without much trouble!


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## Ravndal

juergen said:


> "H" is not an oldish for B in Germany. It is absolutely the right name for that note in Germany.


In Norway as well!


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## Schubussy

I'll have to use H or R (or S, that's E-flat right?) otherwise I'll only have F, A and C to work with. Might upload an entry later, if I manage to make something that's not _completely_ horrific.


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## Kopachris

C-H-S-E, or in standard notation: C-B-Eb-E for me. I'll try to work on this tonight. No guarantees, though.


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## Crudblud

MichaelSolo said:


> Dear Crudblud,
> 
> Could you please kindly attach your file to a message, as the link you provided lead me to a site fully engrossed with ads asking to pay a dollar fifty?..


Admittedly, mediafire has gone sharply downhill in recent times, but if you just click the download button it's entirely free. Anyway, not wishing further incident, I've done as you asked...

View attachment A Potential Contradoodle.mp3


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## jani

A-H=B-E-A

That's what i get from my first and last name, it can be tricky but i try.


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## MichaelSolo

Crudblud said:


> Admittedly, mediafire has gone sharply downhill in recent times, but if you just click the download button it's entirely free. Anyway, not wishing further incident, I've done as you asked...
> 
> View attachment 15235


Wow! This is so cool! I liked very definite and bold statement of your namenotes at the beginning, and the tong in cheek attitude. Cool. (there also was something a bit sublime and interesting going on in the middle, but I did not quite figure it out yet)


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## Klavierspieler

D-A-D Es-E-B-E-Re

I'll be Bach...





Hmmm.... 10 measures? Let's see, if I put it in 24/1, that gives me... :devil:


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## MichaelSolo

Klavierspieler said:


> D-A-D Es-E-B-E-Re
> 
> I'll be Bach...
> 
> ..


Good luck!


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## Lunasong

MichaelSolo said:


> Dear Crudblud,
> 
> Could you please kindly attach your file to a message, as the link you provided lead me to a site fully engrossed with ads asking to pay a dollar fifty?..


I had no problem downloading and listening to the file without paying anything. Nice job, DAEG!


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## aleazk

lol, my initials are AA... I will write a four voices fugue. 

(I was going to discard that theme, but I remembered this: 



, damn Ligeti and his geniality :lol


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## MichaelSolo

Did not know of this one. Yep, you are in double trouble! 

(well, maybe triple trouble, depending on number of voices)


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## SottoVoce

Mahlerian said:


> Here's my entry on BSCH.
> 
> View attachment 15214
> 
> 
> And B is B-flat. Other common conventions include making 'R' into 'D' (for Re).


The first three notes of your name share the notes of the op 110 fugue. Thus, your name makes me extremely happy. Also, The mini fugue is very well done, and that makes me happy as well.


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