for alto saxophone
duration: 6′
Commissioned by Matthew Oakes
Premiered by Wilson Poffenberger

Program notes

Written during my last summer before moving to Champaign-Urbana as a project for saxophonist, educator, and most of all great friend, Matthew Oakes, in(side) the Loop is a reflection on my amazing time in Houston while I was getting my undergraduate degree. The title is a play on words mixing two expressions in one: “in the loop,” the more universal one, and “inside the loop,” a Houston-specific one when referring to a place being inside the 610 freeway loop. Similarly, the saxophonist is constantly looping around the same material while undergoing different techniques idiomatic to the instrument.

It was premiered by Wilson Poffenberger during the Composition Studio Recital at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on November 11, 2019.