 Birds Birds

Transitions

Analyze  Do your ideas really belong together?  What makes them so?  What do they have in common?  What are their differences?  Where are they going?  What kind of development will they undergo?

1.  Tempo: –Slow down or speed up to arrive at the right tempo for the new idea –This also suggests that the new idea might be in a different tempo than the first idea.

2.  Register –Change register to the register of the new idea –This also suggests that the new idea might be in a different register than the first idea.

3.  Repeat a motive from the first idea to give it the feeling of both ending that idea and preparing a new idea

4.  Stretto a motive from the first theme to give the feeling that change is inevitable

5.  Dynamics –Slowly dim. or cresc to the new idea –This also suggests that the new idea might have a different dynamic than the first idea.

6.  Pivot idea or a new theme between A and B that includes elements of both ideas (similar to a pivot chord used in tonality)

7.  Silence –Add short silences in the transition to indicate that something is about to happen and that the resulting change is inevitable

8.  Rhythm –Choose a rhythm from theme A and vary it until it becomes a rhythm for theme B

9.  Modulate in some way (tonality not necessary, you can use a scale type, chord type, set type, etc. that can work just as well).

10.  Keep some element of A active in B (a rhythm, pitch, etc.) so that B does not sound like an introduced foreign body to the music of A.

11.  If they have anything else in common: Keep the common element between them and morph the rest?

12.  Use whatever contrast they have between them as the vehicle to get from one to the other (i.e. if one is in eighth notes and the other in sixteenth notes [simple example] let the eighth notes change to sixteenths during the transition).

13.  Take one element of A and morph it slowly into B

14.  Foreshadow B in A

15.  Maintain at least one element between the two ideas.

16.  Maintain lots of variety in A so that B will not come as a shock.

17.  Hold a single held note or chord (common between the two ideas for a long enough time so that the new idea seems prepared)

18.  Use a common timbre to get from one idea to another.

19.  Have the cadence of A become the first chord of B

20.  Use A and B together as transition (i.e. overlap them)

21.  Slowly morph the textures between A and B

22.  Slowly add or subtract an articulation to find B

23.  Sleight of hand: point the music away from what you’re doing (e.g. Chopin’s flourishes)

24.  Line up the ducks - –Align all of those elements in common between the two ideas

25.  Develop A until it turns into B

26.  Switch the themes (as a technique, not in reality) for a better point of view

27.  Develop the mystery of what’s coming next

28.  Use a subtle ostinato to underlie both themes and thereby underscore their similarity

29.  Use a pedal tone during the transposition

30.  Balance –Somehow inform the listener that B is now necessary

31.  Create a strong cadence to A so that B seems necessary

32.  Modulate during the transition to inform listeners that something of substance must now occur

33.  Bore them to death with A so they beg for B

34.  Convince the audience that A is a prelude to B

35.  B is really an extension or coda to A (i.e. play with the respective values of A and B)

36.  Intersplice A and B (Stravinsky) as in juggling them at the same time

37.  One voice of A actually becomes B

38.  An over-arching umbrella idea that encompasses both A and B

39.  Grapes into wine - B becomes the resolution of A

40.  Change for a dollar as A becomes B (i.e. different view of the same thing)

41.  Present many ideas in A and one of them becomes B

42.  Grow B from A

43.  Graft B to A (i.e. some aspect of A becomes B)

44.  Somehow musically describe B before it enters so it arrives naturally

45.  Have B become the point of arrival for A (Tchaikovsky)

46.  B is A in a different guise

47.  No transitions can work too, only not as rule.

48.

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50.  If all else fails: –Try reversing A and B to see what happens. –Try using a new A or B theme

Death and the Maiden  the-maiden3.htm the-maiden3.htm

Brahms  intermezzo-op118-no2.htm intermezzo-op118-no2.htm