This work includes an audio backing track, requiring a stereo pair of high intensity audio monitors capable of delivering impact across the full frequency range. Each performer will need to listen to a click track via an in-ear monitor (a total of 5 in-ear monitors required).

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It is advisable for each performer to use one in-ear monitor only, in order to be able to hear the backing track and the rest of the ensemble clearly through the other ear. All audio provided by the composer.

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Instrumentation (most instruments are shared) :

2 marimbas (played with mallets and bows)
2 vibraphones (played with mallets and bows, motor used on both vibraphones) shakers and shekeres
crotales
4 djembes
bass drum
hi-hat
high and mid tom-tom
floor tom
suspended cymbals (sticks and mallets)
tubular bells (3 notes only)
tambourine
sleigh bells
2 kenkeni bells and dunun

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‍Digital download includes the following files:

1. Koolish Zein - Quartet - INSTRUCTIONS.pdf

2. Koolish Zein - Quartet - SCORES & PARTS

Koolish Zein - Quartet - FULL SCORE.pdf
Koolish Zein - Quartet - SOLOIST.pdf
Koolish Zein - Quartet - PERC 1.pdf
Koolish Zein - Quartet - PERC 2.pdf
Koolish Zein - Quartet - PERC 3.pdf
Koolish Zein - Quartet - PERC 4.pdf

3. Koolish Zein - Quartet - PERFORMANCE MATERIALS

KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (M) 96bpm.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PERFORMANCE AUDIO 96bpm.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PERFORMANCE AUDIO 96bpm.wav
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (M) 100bpm.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PERFORMANCE AUDIO 100bpm.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PERFORMANCE AUDIO 100bpm.wav

KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - CLICK (M).mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PERFORMANCE AUDIO.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PERFORMANCE AUDIO.wav

KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - CLICK (M).mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PERFORMANCE AUDIO.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PERFORMANCE AUDIO.wav

4. Koolish Zein - Quartet - PRACTICE MATERIALS

KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (96bpm) 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (96bpm) 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (96bpm) 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (96bpm) 95%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (96bpm) 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (96bpm) 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (96bpm) 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (96bpm) 95%.mp3

KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (100bpm) 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (100bpm) 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (100bpm) 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - CLICK (100bpm) 95%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (100bpm) 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (100bpm) 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (100bpm) 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - PRACTICE TRACK (100bpm) 95%.mp3

KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - CLICK 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - CLICK 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - CLICK 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - CLICK 95%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PRACTICE TRACK 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PRACTICE TRACK 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PRACTICE TRACK 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - PRACTICE TRACK 95%.mp3

KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - CLICK 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - CLICK 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - CLICK 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - CLICK 95%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PRACTICE TRACK 80%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PRACTICE TRACK 85%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PRACTICE TRACK 90%.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - PRACTICE TRACK 95%.mp3

5. Koolish Zein - Quartet - REFERENCE MIXES

KZ - Mvt 1 Her Alchemy - REFERENCE TRACK.mp3
KZ - Mvt 2 London Busking - REFERENCE TRACK.mp3
KZ - Mvt 3 Trimetrical Hub - REFERENCE TRACK.mp3

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+ click in the images to enlarge

About this Work

Koolish Zein is an orchestra-less concerto written for Michael Burritt. In place of the symphony orchestra is a percussion quartet and a track of richly layered audio. The soloist is the storyteller from start to finish, navigating an ever-changing terrain of dynamic textures and grooves. The three parts of Koolish Zein each look to evoke resonances of an imagined future. Her Alchemy emerges from women’s voices transformed digitally within the software Alchemy. London Busking 2149 imagines what it might be like busking at Trafalgar Square some 125 years from now, evoked with the sound of flying vehicles coming and going, the loose quality of the music, and a duet with a passing robotic improvisor. The up-tempo Trimetrical Hub (an anagram of Michael Burritt) begins in a Macedonian dance rhythm of 17/8 (4+6+7) and eventually transforms into a high-spirited groove inspired by a 6/8 Moroccan wedding dance.

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View the full details

Koolish Zein

for solo percussion, percussion quartet, and digital audio (2019)