Pac-Man

Panayiotis Kokoras

General Info

Year: 2024
Duration: c. 9:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manuscript
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player I:
Player II:
Player III:
Player IV:
Player V:
Player VI:

Program Notes

Pac-Man was composed in 2024 and commissioned by Ensemble Residente del Festival SoXXI de Canals in València. The instrumentation spans a diverse array of percussion instruments and found objects, some of which are modified or 3D-printed. These include giant toy hammers, groan tubes, slide whistles, spokes, coconut shells, and steel drums. Among these is a unique 3D-printed interpretation of the rarely used instrument, named “Stirring Xylophone.” This instrument involves stirring a mallet or marble inside a hollow chamber containing tone bars, producing a softer, more sustained, and often ethereal sound alongside traditional xylophone timbres.

The piece begins with a reinterpretation of Toshio Kay’s iconic Pac-Man intro theme, performed on the stirring xylophones at a much slower tempo. The subsequent sections draw from an analysis/resynthesis process, where the original sounds of the arcade game were analyzed and then reimagined for the percussion sextet. This resynthesis is not a mere replication of the game’s sounds but rather a creative recontextualization, designed to fit the expressive and structural needs of the composition.

Pac-Man concludes with a playful nod to the game’s iconic “Game Over” sound, realized through the downward oscillating glissandi of slide whistles.

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

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