Till the Stars Come Down

Instrumentation
Player 1: Bells
Player 2: Xylophone, Bells
Player 3: Vibraphone, 2 Congas
Player 4: Marimba 1 [4-octave]*, Medium Tom (easier part included)
Player 5: Marimba 2 [4.3-octave], Medium Low Tom
Player 6: Marimba 3 [5-octave]*, Low Tom
Player 7: Timpani [4 drums], China Cymbal
Player 8: Multi-Bass Drum, Piccolo Snare Drum, Cymbal Stack, Splash Cymbal, Suspended Cymbal
Player 9: Medium Low Tom, 4 Metal Cans (or other trashy metal sounds), 2 Triangles (easier part included)
Player 10: 2 Low Toms, Claves, Temple Blocks, Suspended Cymbal (easier 2-mallet part included)

*Players 4 & 6 may share one 5-octave instrument.

Program Notes
Commissioned by Mark Cashin and the Cardinal Gibbons High School Percussion Ensemble (Raleigh, NC), Till the Stars Come Down was inspired by the final stanza of the poem “Death’s Echo” by W.H. Auden:

Dance, dance, for the figure is easy,
The tune is catching and will not stop;
Dance till the stars come down from the rafters;
Dance, dance, dance till you drop.