There are various traditions of performing on high pipes throughout the world. By thinking of the piccolo as the modern instrument repository for these traditions and this music, in the same sense that the piano is the modern instrument repository for all keyboard music, the piccolo’s potential repertoire is vastly enlarged. It was with this definition of the piccolo in mind that David Loeb wrote these works, though the piccoloist need not copy all of the performance techniques of the original instruments.

This new collection for piccolo alone explicitly emphasizes explorations of different Asian instruments. It combines both previous Studies on East Asian Pipes (P-02, P-05); the Lyric Pieces (P-22) - works originally for the shinobue, ryuteki, and shakuhachi; and Of Dreams and Promises (P-18), a deeper look at the shinobue's abilities and sound.