Buffalo Dance for alto sax and piano
Duration: 7.5 minutes

Score
Audio (Kenneth Tse (sax) and Inara Zandmane (pf) in rehearsal)

Buffalo Dance for alto saxophone and piano is based on an Indian chant of the same name (recorded in New Mexico in 1954 by John Donald Robb and archived at the Robb Field Recordings on the Center for Southwest Research website). The piece is essentially a fantasy freely using fragments and motifs from the chant. At the work’s opening, the piano serves as a accompanimental drum to the saxophone’s winding melodies, which are peppered with melodic fragments from the chant. This rambunctious opening gives way to other musical reflections of the chant, including a more meditative middle section. The final section is marked by a return to the opening material with the piano reverting to its drumming duties and the saxophone exhibiting even wilder reflections on the chant. Buffalo Dance was written for and dedicated to saxophonist Kenneth Tse.


"Buffalo Dance" (transcription of original chant)
Listen to the original field recording here.