Till the Stars Come Down

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."

Program Notes

Commissioned by Mark Cashin and the Cardinal Gibbons High School Percussion Ensemble (Raleigh, NC), ,b>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.

Grade Level: Intermediate
Copyright: 2023
Number of Players: 10
Duration: 5:30

Listen to Recordings

Sample PDFs

• Till_The_Stars.pdf

Instrumentation

Player 1: Bells
Player 2: Xylophone, Bells
Player 3: Vibraphone, 2 Congas
Player 4: Marimba 1 [4-octave]*, Medium Tom
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
Player 10: 2 Low Toms, Claves, Temple Blocks, Suspended Cymbal

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