A Conductor’s and Performer’s Guide to Steven Bryant’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone - Chester Jenkins

5 working session with Prof. Joe Lulloff of Michigan State University, for whom the concerto was written, were used. The analysis will focus on the development and usage of these motives and elements. The fundamental building block of the work is the motive from Paul Creston’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano Op. 19. This work, written in 1939, is central to the saxophone’s repertoire, and is one of those pieces that every saxophonist is expected to have studied and performed. Bryant recounted his selection of the motive: I don't remember precisely. Having been a saxophone player, an alto player, I played it at some point in college…probably not very well. You know, that opening bar was still embedded in my memory, I can’t quite remember the moment exactly. It wasn’t calculated, I didn’t cast around for saxophone war horse pieces….The motive itself is the sort of motive I like to use any way so it would very much already fit with my predilections, so it was an obvious fit with the 3rds and half steps. It automatically has this built in chromaticism, so I knew I could string that together into sequences and flow it through tonalities. Those sort of motives I gravitate toward anyway…and it tied into my own history as a saxophonist and it would be a nice little inside joke or connection for every single saxophonist out there. 6 Throughout the analysis section of this document, I will describe a technique that Bryant uses to extend phrases using the notes of the Creston motive. I refer to it in my interview with Bryant in Appendix B as a pivot pitch. The pivot pitch may serve as the 4 th note of the motive in the first tonality, but will also serve as the 6 Steven Bryant, interview by author, phone interview, March 8, 2018.