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.
Audio by Ermir Bejo and Panayiotis Kokoras
Video by Jack Kloecker