Tune Contest (March 26 - April 5): Despair and Great Joy

[Viking]

Easter is right around the corner.  This is the time of year when Christians (including myself) commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the central event in the history of Christianity.  It is also the time of year when many neo-pagans celebrate the vernal equinox (on March 21 this year), and the renewal of life after a long winter.  From the (ancient) pagan traditions we get the Easter bunny and Easter eggs, and even the name Easter.

So, with that in mind, and taking a page from Calin Leafshade's recent "anxiety descending" tune contest, I would like you to write a piece of music that expresses deep despair, and then great joy.

Rules, rules, rules....

• You may write any genre of music, using any instrumentation you can think of.
• Your piece must be at least one minute long.
• Your piece must start with a feeling of despair, and end with a feeling of great joy.  Whether it suddenly or gradually changes is up to you.
• Your entry must be posted here by Tuesday, April 6, 12am Alaska Time (GMT-0900).

Since I will be out of town during Easter weekend and busy this coming weekend, I will likely not be able to make any trophies this month (and probably a good thing too considering my complete lack of art skills).  If some other kind soul would care to make some that reflect the theme, I would be more than happy to use them.

Good luck!

[Le Woltaire]

http://spectrum.agsarchives.com/music/dream.mp3

[Questionable]

http://spectrum.agsarchives.com/music/dream.mp3

Damn you- just DAMN YOU TO HELL for setting the bar high...

[Danman]

Here is my Quick attempt
I am not exactly the best at music. But I like to test out what I can do.  


The Hell In Heaven

Least I gave it a cool name  8)

[Kabukibear]

edit2: oh whatever, here it is anyway http://www.mediafire.com/?imjjzzc35ng
and a youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPWL3RS_dc

[ShiverMeSideways]

Well, here's my half-arsed submission: Hope & Despair (Newgrounds link).

All instrumentation played by Guitar Pro, but composed by me. The song should be named Despair and then Hope, but meh, it sounded better this way . The song plays on that well-abused heavy metal dichotomy of ballad/uber-fast which I've been thoroughly making use of lately.

I don't think the song suits the whole Easter thing... (well, unless you can picture Jesus riding into battle wielding a huge axe, in which case, AWESOME)

PS: Kabukibear's song reminds me of A Warm Place by Nine Inch Nails. Which is a good thing, I suppose...

[TheRoger]

Created something too... I called it Light always wins.
I think it came out pretty well, you download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?llm3yfyfywn
Or watch in Newgrounds: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/322889

[Viking]

Great, thanks for all the wonderful entries!

Here are my thoughts on each, followed by the winners....

Le Woltaire:
+ Great musical content in the first section
+ Nicely orchestrated (although could use more detail)
- The (rather subjective) emotions that the music suggested to me were more abject terror followed by relief, rather than despair and joy
- The "joy" section could use more development

Danman:
+ Much of the "joy" section was quite soothing
- I could not make heads or tails of the "despair" section -- the synthesized sound used was rather annoying and it seemed like quasi-random notes on a scale
- Seemed somewhat incoherent, switching from one thing to the next without any connection

Kabukibear:
+ Lovely, flowing music
+ Appropriate instrumentation
- The violin sample didn't sound much like a real violin (but then, I'm picky because I play violin )
- I didn't sense a change in mood -- it seemed rather melancholy throughout

ShiverMeSideways:
+ Nice guitar slides and effects
+ The "despair" part seemed to capture the mood pretty well
+ Nice contrast and changes between sections
- The samples don't sound very realistic, and the notes are precisely evenly spaced
- The "hope" part sounded heroic, but not really joyful (to my ears)

TheRoger:
+ Captured both "despair" and "joy" pretty well
+ Kept the musical interest going with frequent coherent changes
- Too heavy on the drums to my ears, especially in the "joy" section -- they need more variety, although keeping the same basic rhythm makes sense
- The joint between the two sections is too sudden
- Notes are exactly the same length, and samples are not convincing

Well, it was a tough decision because of the very different character of the entries, but here goes....

• The bronze goes to ShiverMeSideways!
• The silver goes to Kabukibear!
• And the gold goes to Le Woltaire!

Thanks for participating!

[ShiverMeSideways]

Thanks for the kind words, Viking, and congratulations to Le Woltaire!

Good compo, everyone!

[Danman]

Yeah got to agree. The despair part was quite hard for me. I tried to make it a scary sounding beginning.

@Le Woltaire you always win it is unfair  . 
Anyway everyone's attempts were quite good if you ask me.

But I enjoyed making that track and I will keep participating in this competitions it will improve my music a lot.