Name: Postprandial Somnolence - Level 1 by Wesley S. Uchiyama-Penix
Duration: 3 min 14 s
Description: This the music of Level 1 from Postprandial Somnolence. This was a part of the ATX Gamemakers "Hibernation Jam" January of 2023.

This the music of Level 1 from Postprandial Somnolence. This was a part of the ATX Gamemakers "Hibernation Jam" January of 2023.

Postprandial Somnolence - Level 1

Concerto Ludus for Piano and Gameboy
Composed 2022-2023
Dr. Matthew Thompson, Piano

February 4, 2023
The North American Conference on Video Game Music 10
Stetson University

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The best music can transport the hearer's imagination to another time, another place, another world. Video games possess the same potential – and their musical soundtracks are key to immersing players deeply in the gameworld. Concerto Ludus for Piano and Gameboy is an homage to the style and soundtracks of 'retro' video game music, drawing all its electronic sound sources from the sound card of the original Nintendo Gameboy – a console that defines many of my childhood musical memories.

I composed Concerto Ludus following nearly three years of writing no new music. There were many reasons for this hiatus – a global pandemic, burnout from finishing grad school, mental health struggles, starting a new teaching job – but I yearned for my creative energies to flow once more. When I conceived this piece, the prospect of
composing for solo piano – that well-trodden medium of countless composers before me – was daunting, spurring me back to my roots. The sounds I knew best, drawn from deep within my musical soul, form this piece's immersive musical journey: a recapitulation and revisitation of the soundworlds that first set me on the path of a composer.

All electronic sounds produced using SocaLabs' plugin Nintendo Gameboy PAPU, an emulator of the original Nintendo Gameboy's sound card. Learn more about SocaLabs' plugins at https://socalabs.com.

Concerto Ludus for Piano and Gameboy

This piece was commissioned by the Texas Flute Society and individual donors Deborah Ragsdale, Ann Vinod, and Spencer Hartman for the 37th Annual Myrna W. Brown Competition. 

This piece explores the ideas of light and shadow and the interplay between them. The title comes from a passage by one of my favorite authors:

"In that moment [he] understood the singing of the bird, and the language of the water falling in the basin of the fountain, and the shape of the clouds, and the beginning and end of the wind that stirred in the leaves; it seemed to him that he himself was a word spoken by the sunlight."

Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)

Live recording by Leslie Richmond, the competition winner.

Spoken by Sunlight

Made from Audio Tech class session samples. (Featured rap by Brandon)
A surround sound version was also premiered at UTSA's MuTe Fest 2018 Surround Sound Night.

Tyson

This work is my first for live laptop performance. Composed using only Connie Francis’ 1959 recording of “Tennessee Waltz,” I sought to explore the beauty of the original as well as the extremes of what was possible through electronic manipulation of small and large samples of the source material. Rather than making the music unintelligible, my goal was for the piece to be recognizable from the beginning and to showcase the possibilities of using only one recording to create wildly different sounds.

I Remember The Night - for live laptop

The title of this work takes its name from the legendary forest in the tales of King Arthur where the wizard Merlin is buried, an image that conveys a sense of wonder, mystery, and, of course, magic. I sought to evoke each of these in my first work for wind ensemble. The chant-like opening theme is introduced by alto saxophone and then transformed through numerous reharmonizations and modulations.

Broceliande - for Wind Ensemble

Composer, producer, and instrumentalist.  Normally write music for traditional instruments, electronic, and soundtrack; however, I enjoy many types of music such as rap, rock, and experimental.

Postprandial Somnolence - Level 1

Wesley S. Uchiyama-Penix

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