Dream Helix

Dream Helix is a brief yet exciting work that uses overlapping patterns and ostinatos in the vibraphones and marimbas to capture a dreamlike, cyclic state of mind. It can be played as either a mallet sextet or with additional percussion parts.

Program Notes

Dream Helix is a brief but exciting work with the option to be played as a mallet sextet or with three additional percussion parts. It draws inspiration from the idea that time within a dream can be far different than what we experience in reality, sometimes even feeling cyclic in nature. From the very beginning the vibraphones provide ostinatos and layered patterns to capture that dreamlike, cyclic state of mind, while the marimbas provide uplifting melody and harmony beneath them, until the roles eventually switch.

Grade Level: 4
Copyright: 2021
Number of Players: 6-9
Duration: 3:25
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Category: Percussion

Listen to Recordings

Instrumentation

Glockenspiel
Vibraphone 1
Vibraphone 2
Marimba 1 [4-octave]*
Marimba 2 [4.3-octave]
Marimba 3 [5-octave]*
Percussion 1 (optional): Snare Drum, 2 Concert Toms
Percussion 2 (optional): Bass Drum, Triangle
Percussion 3 (optional): Suspended Cymbal, 2 Woodblocks

*Marimba 1 and 3 may share one 5-octave instrument