Contours Soprano Saxophone - Digital Sheet Music

'Contours' explores various shapes and directions of brief musical phrases, in the context of a virtuosic single-movement solo work. The piece takes the notion of improvisation, commonly associated with the saxophone, and aims to convey this through a fully notated work. Contours is cast in an overall ternary form. A fairly chromatic opening section develops a succession of short phrases, occasionally repeated by octave displacement, that are separated by notated silences. The middle section is more obviously influenced by jazz and is itself in an arch form. It is framed by a fanfare idea followed by a theme of triplet arpeggios. The apex of this central part is a jazz-like syncopated melody. This idea is repeated with its own canon, thus giving the illusion of two saxophones answering each other in contrasting octaves. The opening section then returns in full, exact in rhythm and almost exactly in inversion by pitch. The piece is accessible for the listener and is appropriate for advanced saxophonists, including students and professional players.Duration: 6 minutes 30 seconds. Registered with PRS (Performing Rights Society, UK). Composer's website: www.roberthowardmusic.co.uk