When I write a transition, it's usually the barest minimum that I need to get myself from one section to the next. I was in a master class in grad school once where the guest composer (a student of some rather well-known folks) offered the following "advice": "Spend your time practicing writing transitions." Even then I raised an eyebrow and thought to myself, "But, why?" I didn't know
why I felt this way at the time. On reflection I think that many years of listening to and absorbing heaps of film music and realising that some of my favorite composers - like Stravinsky - seemed to have very little use for transitional material.To me it seems like a great deal of the affect of music like his is that it's more visceral - by design - without those transitions. That's one of the many things that actually makes it
interesting to listen to. Steve Reich's
Music for 18 Musicians? Few - if any - transitions. Just ideas butting themselves up to one another in a really logical and - to me, pleasing - way.
Long ago a friend quoted to me something to the effect of the following:
"Transitions are for people who don't know how to write music"
I may be misquoting and I can't remember who said it. I don't know if this particular person meant it literally that all transitions are useless, but I get the spirit of it. Don't spend all your time getting from one part of the piece to the next. You don't
have to be in a constant state of flux. If you have a good idea, try to stick with it and see where it goes. And that's what I try to do.
