Composed by Steve Kornicki

TEMPO DISTORTION #4
For Marimba and Processed Marimba Samples

Watch performance on YouTube
Premiere performance by Dave Gerhart, California State University Long Beach, Spring 2007 (8MB)

Watch Performance by Scotty Horey at the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts, February 2009

Download from iTunes. Score available from Media Press.

Tempo Distortion #4 is a conceptual study in simultaneously occurring patterns in different tempi for solo marimba and pre-recorded and processed marimba samples.  The marimba part is a continuous stream of notes consisting of thirteen repeating patterns that shift gradually in tempo from fast to medium tempo and back to fast.  Each of the marimba’s patterns follows a dynamic effect of soft (mp) to loud (ff) to soft (mp).  The pre-recorded track was assembled from marimba samples recorded by David Gerhart.  The samples were manipulated and transformed through digital looping and pitch shifting techniques and then layered to create a continuum of phasing rhythmic structures.  The combination of the live performance elements and recorded sounds results in a sonic landscape of shifting tempo ambiguities and overlapping textural densities.

The piece can be performed with two speakers very close to the performer with the lights dimmed to create a blurred sonic effect of live and pre-recorded sound.

Music, text and concepts © 2007 Steve Kornicki