Eastern Hymn (2009) for Saxophone Quartet began as a study in combining singing and playing instruments simultaneously. As a former singer, I am intrigued by the influence the voice has on producing sound in pitched instruments. Through this process evolved the sound of a drone like instrument as in middle Eastern music. As the world gets increasingly smaller and cultures become more intertwined, the progress of cross-pollenating musical genres becomes more evident. Eastern Hymn is the cross pollenation of the East and the West, i.e. Indian ragas and Western jazz, a tradition I grew up with (the Western part!) and the music I love to listen to. This work is dedicated to Dr. Alan Durst and the California State University Fresno Saxophone Quartet.