I was also expecting to hear woodwinds playing (flutes, bassoons, oboes etc...) because the line of the poem "The winter wind whistles and the lime trees moan", ago I think of wind instruments because woodwinds are associated with blowing to produce the sound of the instrument. When I actually listened to Dance Macabre it was similar to what I imagined it to sound like. The piece was initially introduced by the strings played (harp + violin), then the timpani were played to represent the heels tapping on the tombstones. Towards the middle of the piece the woodwinds were used to symbolize the whistling of the winter wind. When the Skeletons were introduced I expected to hear the double bass playing because it would have created a crawling effect. The skeletons were actually represented by the xylophone, this is very clever because you could visualize the jingle of the skeletons' bones dancing just by listening to the xylophone. The ending of Dance Macabre was very effective as when the Skeletons stopped dancing wildly