Length: 5:06

This work focuses on one of the denizens of the forest in question. His day begins as a typical bear day would transpire, a gentle stroll through the woods. When confronted with the inevitability of a forest fire, Mr. Bear heads for the plains below, we aware of the dangers that fire presents. This event is depicted by the shift in harmonies into the Locrian mode and then into the wholetone scale. When the danger has been averted, the harmonies in the tuba part shift back into the more conventional church modes.

Of course, while the mood of impending doom is palpable, there is not a sense of uncontrolled panic since wildlife have an uncanny ability to sense and avoid natural disasters in a way which baffles humankind.

Compositionally, one must understand the instruments which are being employed in an ensemble such as this. First of all, Tubas and piano DO NOT blend. This means that a heterophonic texture must be adopted.  Secondly, there is not a balance issue between Tuba and Piano. The tuba is ALWAYS louder than the piano and I tried to capture this in my sequencer realization of this piece.

As for formal implications, I adopted a ternary type form, "A B A" in which the material from the beginning is stated once again at the end although it is varied upon.  Harmonically, this piece is quasi tonal and relies on many twentieth century practices such as diatonic clusters, chromaticism, bitonality and rhythmic flexibility to achieve the effect. In spite of this Avant Garde style the piece still retains the traditional function of melody and harmony, the dissonances being merely decorative in function.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate all the entrants on a job well done. I am impressed with how the overall quality of the entries is quite high which should make the grading quite an enjoyable experience.  I’d like to make it clear that the purpose of my critique will be to
expose weaknesses in compositional technique while pointing out strengths in your writing. This does NOT mean I think you are a bad composer, I’m only trying to help. In the end, my goals with this review is to provide constructive feedback designed to help everybody improve as composers so please bear this in mind when reading what I have to say.

As for my grading scheme, I’m going to award 60% of the grade for compositional technique, 20% for musicality and 20% for relevance. My personal conviction is that this is a composition competition so the works should stand alone from a technical and musical standpoint, not requiring a program to ‘prop them up’ compositionally.

Didn’t Bartok write a Dance for a Drunken Bear? Anyway it’s harder writing truly amusing music than something terribly serious. So full marks on that point at least. The melodies aren’t quite hummable enough (rather closer to Hindemith than Bartok perhaps), but they are getting there. And btw, the piece is NOT in the least avant garde! What however this piece has to do with a forest fire I’m not sure. Perhaps Mr Bear started the fire when he dropped his lighter whist having a surreptitious cigarette away from Mrs Bear? Have a look at the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto and you’ll see that the tuba can sing equally as well as acting the buffoon. Good piece!

By: wobbie

I see no bear in the picture!…READ THE QUESTION….but that aside, which instrument represents the bear with its clumsiness, the piano or the Tuba? The lack of syncopation or cross metres was what I missed here, and I had difficulty deciding who was who, even though it would be normal to give the bear to the Tuba. The harmonies were not at all dissonant, at least not by my standards, I know a composer who said that if he wanted to, he could write a chord that would give you a heart attack. All the unresolved notes seemed to resolve very easily and the integrity of the piece was good, it is a pity you promised things which I didn’t hear. Of course the Tuba doesn’t blend with the piano - no instrument does except another piano, and that is precisely the point of two different instruments playing with each other. The composer has to try and use the contrast to create a unified whole and unfortunately for you that is exactly what you did.

By: Judge No. 1 (See Notes)

By: Judge No. 2

General

1. Complexity - I don't really hear the same thing twice, I thought that was nicely done a bit. Not entirely though.
   

2. Instrumentation - The only song with bending notes, which makes this song unique in it's own way. The piano just felt awkward at some points of the song, like it was almost random, or somewhat had a mind of it's own, almost.
   

3. Composition - The piano is evil. The tuba is bizarre, almost seems unknown on what's going on next. There was some parts where the tuba and piano cooperated so well together.
   

4. Initial Inspiration - I can smell the forest, but what is happening? I don't think this really depicts the picture well.
   
   

Specifics

1. Opening - When I first listened to the song, I thought to myself, another piano solo, but the tuba snuck up on me. My first thought was about how funny it was.  I was reminded of a bear who did everything wrong, no matter how he tried, and this was incorporated by your title.
   

2. Middle - Towards this point, I didn't know what was going on. I just continued to listen and listen, and it felt all over the place, I don't know what's going on though. It was a bit dull to listen to, however there were some good parts I liked.
   

3. Ending - A slow and mellow ending. It has me thinking, 'what just happened?' Strange, yet good.
   

This song has some sense of comedic gold in it, however, the picture seems to represent more intensity, sadness, or chaos within it.

From the composer of: Abysmal Flames

From the composer of: Affordable Wisdom

From the composer of: Blisters

From the composer of: Fate of the Forest

From the composer of: Forest Fire: A Brief Tone Poem for Orchestra

Clearly tuba is the best choice when depicting something clumsy and bear-like.  I think this piece did an extravagant job of portraying the hike of a bear through the forest.  It was lilting and leaning, never establishing a key, but never atonal, and always hearing that recurring motif.  I enjoyed the references to the modal scales.  The provided PDF score was fun to follow along with as well.

I question this piece’s relevance to a picture containing devastating fire.  If the picture showed us a bear, perhaps I’d enjoy this interpretation more, but what does this piece have to do with a raging forest fire?  I’m having difficulty trying to make the connection.  If I heard this composition without knowing its origin, I most certainly would envision a bear, but I would have no idea that it came from a forest fire picture.

From the composer of: Inferno

From the composer of: Music for Trumpet and Strings

From the composer of: Of Desperation, Death, and Hope

From the composer of: Prelude for Solo Piano

From the composer of: Tell Me About The Forest

From the composer of: The Wildfire Suite