Trippin' (2011)  SZM073

Difficulty Level: Medium-Difficult

Duration: 13:00

Publisher: Suburban Zombie Music

Instrumentation:

• Soprano Saxophone

• Alto Saxophone (Alternate for Soprano)

• Tenor Saxophone

• Baritone Saxophone

Trippin’ (2011) for Saxophone Quartet was commissioned by the Tesseract Quartet: Mike Bartunek, Jonathan Ellwein, Chris Schuster and Antoine Poitras, at North Dakota State University in the spring of 2011. They subsequently stiffed me for the cost of the commission, so please speak unkindly of them if you happen to run across them.

Trippin’ is about the voyages that we all take as we travel through the years. It was, in fact, conceived during a personal journey of my own: 18 hours in the car to Colorado! The quotes that precede each movement are meant to set the tone for that portion of our quest and may be printed in the program, or read aloud between movements. Mvt. V “Mingo” is a reference to my favorite musical group, Mingo Fishtrap (www.mingofishtrap.com), who often find their way onto my playlist when I am on a journey . . . both literally and spiritually.

The remainder of the movements are but cut-scenes from the adventures of life. There are several references through the piece which loosely point toward the continuing idea of traveling. I often used a set of 8th notes paired together in various segments of the piece to represent the rhythmic click-clack of the highway as you move cross country. There are also moments of heavy traffic, insane freeway interactions and lonely isolation on the open road. Many moments in the piece are littered with the trademark crescendo-decrescendo of approaching and passing motorists on their own journeys. Finally, a great series of chromatic runs narrates the final frantic escape from the car, and the great slamming of the front door as the voyage ends.

It is my great hope that you thoroughly enjoy Trippin’ many times as you make your own journey through the world!