The primary material for this piece is mainly derived from a hunting song associated with the Comanche Indian tribe native to the current state of Oklahoma. The song was initially borrowed, sung and recorded in 1957 by Ramon Herrera, then governor of Cochitit Pueblo, in New Mexico. 

	The piece is divided into four distinct interlocking sections. The first section depicts the assembly and planning of a hunting party, the second depicts the party sneaking up on their targets, the third, which suddenly and noisily interrupts the section before it, depicts the ambush, pursuit and eventual takedown of the targeted animals, and the last section depicts the cheering of the party as they celebrate their big catch. The first interpretation of the hunting song, which occurs in the piece's first section, is as follows: the first half of the song's first line is stated in the baritone saxophone, and from there, the alto saxophone picks up the song and carries it from the second half of the first line up to the first half of the third line, and the tenor saxophone finishes the rest of the song. There are also derivatives of certain parts of the song that occur elsewhere: the second half of the song's third line is heard as a sixteenth-note double-tongued rhythm in the piece's second section, and a variant of the second half of the song's first line can be heard throughout the piece's third section. As a further note, Herrera includes a brief introductory humming line in his recording just before the start of the song, which is represented via ostinatos consisting of alternating minor seconds that occur in numerous places throughout the piece's length.

Primal Routine for Saxophone Quartet (2014)

THANK YOU to:

John Cooper - viola
Patrick Fowler - bass
Bryce Leafman - vibes
Arthur Lin - other percussion
Colin McDearman - piano
Rob Rankin - conducting

my dumb music

Practice of Water

Elbert Liu (b. 1988) is a native of southern California and earned a DMA degree in music composition from the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC), where he studied with Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and Paul Rudy. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Southern California (USC), where he previously studied under Frank Ticheli, Stephen Hartke, and Erica Muhl. 
He has attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Atlantic Music Festival. In 2009, he won the 2nd Annual Charles E. Gamper Contemporary Student Compostion Competition Award, and in 2013, he was selected as one of 15 composers to partake in a 15-Minutes-of-Fame event hosted by the contemporary music organization Vox Novus, featuring the Crane Harp Ensemble. Most recently, Elbert won the 2014 Gerard Kemner Wind Ensemble Composition Competition Prize, and his winning work, "A Particle-ar Theory", was performed by the UMKC Wind Symphony in 2015.
Apart from his studies in composition, Elbert served as a conducting/library assistant intern for the California Philharmonic, headed by Victor Vener, during the summer seasons of 2012 and 2013. He currently serves as an independent contractor under the USC Thornton School of Music, as well as a librarian for the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra (LAYO). Elbert has also served as a tutor in piano, music composition and music theory.

Primal Routine for Saxophone Quartet (2014)

Elbert Liu

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