Dance of the Jesters (Tchaikovsky)

by Tchaikovsky, arr. Joe Hobbs

Advanced Concert Percussion

9-14 Players

Instrumentation:

• Glockenspiel
• Xylophone
• 2 Vibraphones
• 3 Marimbas— (2) 4-octave, (1) 5-octave
• 4 Timpani
• Optional percussion:concert snare drum, concert bass drum, tambourine, triangle, hand cymbals

Dance of the Jesters is a lively and playful orchestral number from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Snow Maiden, music composed to accompany Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s musical play of the same name.

This arrangement for large percussion ensemble by Joe Hobbs perfectly captures the spirit of the original while providing an exciting challenge for the performers.

Set in presto 2/4 time, the ensemble will have its work cut out to maintain the energetic tempos with grace while blending and balancing with the melodies. Although no four-mallet technique is required, the xylophone and marimbas will encounter their fair share of fast 16th note runs.

Scored for 14 players, the arrangement is also playable with nine players without the unpitched orchestral battery percussion. Playing the piece with only partial battery is not recommended.

Dance of the Jesters ships as a fully bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for either printing or tablet viewing.