Some of my compositions are a series of instructions for the musicians to go through a process within a certain space. End that section and go to the next section, with a transition. A number of my pieces follow that process. As opposed to smooth transitions, it's ritual, like theater. Fade to black.
Scene comes up.
There's a sequence of dialog, a sequence of interaction that takes place and completes itself before you go into the next section. Often times, the different sections of my compositions like Melvin Truss or this other requiem piece I wrote for my brother, are indeterminate in length because you're trying to reach a level of completeness and wholeness in the course of the particular section. Some of my pieces have specific notes or themes written, like Melvin Truss , but in some of my pieces, such as a piece called Waters , I describe textures and instructions of how individual players are supposed to lay in each section. In Waters there's a chant at the end that brings it together. Probably one of the more consistent threads in my compositions that are written out is they have a ritual theater approach and they also incorporate improvisation because you don't know how it's going to come out.