KookNite

A Piece for Timpani, Multi-Percussion, and Electronic Tape.
Composed by Kevin Dostalek, Brent England, and Richard Decosta.
Distributed in "track" form 8/26/95.
First playing (debute): 8/20/95.
Scheduled "world premiere" performace: 10/1/95, Indiana University
Copyrighted 1995, Kevin Dostalek


Program Notes:

Kooknite is a 4 movement programatic piece for 2 players and tape.
The tape parts were composed on an Compaq 486, using Fast Tracker 2.04
and were post processed on DAT using Sound Tools (on a Mac).

The first movement entitled prelude has a very sparse tape part with the
melodic energy coming from the timpani.  It is inteded to show off the
pedaling technique of the performer.  Since the movement is not very
metered, and mostly timpani it is not included on the "track" distribution
of the piece.  In programatic terms this movement sets up the characters
apprehension about the upcoming night and concludes with his resolve to
make it a memorable night (as his car skids away).

The second movement is entitled The Party and was writen by taking the shell
of a song Richard Decosta wrote in 1994 called madmix12.  As this piece forms
the underlying chord structure and form, all the melodic and accompanimental
aspects have been rewriten to fit the program.  In this movement the main
character is at a party which includes all the cliche'ish party dance themes
from years past.  These themes will form the basis for themes later twisted
in the nightmare.

The third movement is in 5+5+7/16 time which represents the way in which
someone that is very drunk would walk home (hence the name "The Walk Home").
After the opening section it moves into a 3/8 section of debauchery, only
interupted by a few trips and slips.  At the sound of the snaps the char-
acter sees a beautiful girl (and she has her own theme).  The next section
is best left for the listener to interpret. :)  The concluding section is 
a variation on the opening section as the character finally makes it back
home to fall on his bed.

The last movement entitle "The Nightmare" was writen also using another one
of Richards songs as a shell from 1994 called nightmusic.  The opening phrase
is panned to hell which is suppose to sound like the character feels (he's
got the bed-spins)... and then the nightmare begins.  The piece builds to a
peak in the middle and then goes into a "dream sequence" section where all
the themes from the previous movements are explored, but the are all twisted
in an a la Berlioz sort of way.  The conclusion of the work ends in a crash
of rushing power that is really only a fitting ending to night.


Special Notes for the "track" distribution:

This piece was originally intended for a live performance and so all the
timpani, tom, and cymbal parts have been added in, where as in the real
performance they would be played on the actual instruments.  I had a hard
time finding decent samples for some of these instruments, especially the
timpani one.  Also there are some ballance problems do to this crossover.
The first movement did not convert over well to this format, so it is not
included with the package.  Also, the work is meant to be played loud, and
on large speakers for maximum bass response.  Also dolby surround effects
have been added in various places (set decoder to dolby surround, but do not
use the "surround" feature in your mod player).

Greetings:

I want to thank all those in #trax that supported me through this summer as
I was trying to work through this piece.  Specifically Zapper, Shawnm, and
the Duellist who actually inspired the begining of the 3rd movement for me.
I'd also like to greet GD, Basehead, Red Penguin, Popcorn, Ms. Saigon,
Quarex, Psibelius, and anyone else I forgot (sorry).


Sample Credits:

I tried to credit as many of my samples as I could in the sample names (not
the instrument names).  But I know I've forgotten many.  Some sample sources
that I know I used and would like to mention now are: Basehead, Sathin, 
Mello-D, Psibelius, and Zapper.  Sorry to those I've missed. 


Contact:

Kevin Dostalek  (Spyder)
kdostale@indiana.edu

