Perez-Aether (SP)-B/3V/C/Cro./4M/P/opt. Synth.

According to Sir Isaac Newton, the "aether" was a medium which permeated all of space, which enabled all light and energy to traverse through it. In his piece for percussion ensemble Aether, Francisco Perez attempts to encapsulate this concept through the use of bright and shimmering instruments like crotales, glockenspiel, vibraphones, triangle, and chimes. Although the piece is meant to portray the nebulous aspects of the universe, there is a deep underlying group present in the piece, largely due to the ad lib. djembe part. Aether was commissioned by William Register and the Ashley Ridge High School Percussion Ensemble.

Aether comes with a full, bound score and includes a CD-ROM containing an audio recording and all individual parts available for printing.

Number of players: 11-12
Difficulty: Intermediate

Instrumentation

Player 1: Crotales (2 octaves), chimes (shared)
Player 2: Glockenspiel, chimes (shared)
Player 3: Vibraphone 1
Player 4: Vibraphone 2
Player 5: Vibraphone 3
Player 6: Marimba 1 (4.3 octave)
Player 7: Marimba 2 (4 octave)
Player 8: Marimba 3 (4.3 octave)
Player 9: Marimba 4 (5 octave)
Player 10: Synthesizer (optional)
Player 11: Djembe, crystal wine glass (tuned to A)
Player 12: concert bass drum, triangle, suspended cymbal, China cymbal, hi-hat

If 4 marimbas aren't available this piece can be performed with 3 instruments with Marimba 2 and 4 sharing a low C instrument