Dark Sky by Dustin Schulze

Dark Sky is a dark, intimate journey through a foreboding landscape. Its themes are driven by subtly difficult rhythmic challenges between each player’s hands, and between the two marimbas on the whole. Although the main musical energy of the piece could be described as haunting or lyrical, there is a deep, subdued rhythmic drive that slowly but incessantly ferries the listener from one landscape to the next like a slow-moving river boat on a moonlit night.

The Marimba 1 part carries the melody in the right hand for much of the piece while maintaining a steady stream of octaves in the left hand to keep the time moving along. The tension in the melody often stems from the juxtaposition of various rhythms. This will require some solid rhythmic hand-to-hand independence and coordination on the part of the Marimba 1 player. Each player must have a good command of lateral rolls.

Dark Sky is provided as a professionally bound folio and includes a CD-ROM containing individual parts and an audio recording.