SOME PHRASING TIPS
- Updated
It is NOT enough just to play what's WRITTEN on the
page! Once we can do that we NEED to have some IDEA of
what to DO with it all! A PHRASE is a musical
SENTENCE. And like a Shakespearean ACTOR, a musician
has the POWER to change the MEANING of EACH sentence
by choosing WHERE the PEAKS will occur... by choosing
which WORDS are emphasized! To do this
THROUGHOUT a performance, the audience perceives
DIRECTION, DRAMA, MUSICALITY, SHAPES, BREATHING,
SINCERITY and hopeful experiences INSPIRATION,
REDEMPTION or CATHARSIS! The following RULES OF PHRASING
are but a FEW of MANY possible SETS to help you REALIZE this.
a2. In an effort to give music a sense of DIRECTION
or SHAPE,
music must ALTERNATE between growing INTENSITY and relaxing
CALMER. Rather like if you HELD YOUR BREATH for a
few seconds, you'd become aware of a GROWING URGENCY
which, once you BREATHED again would immediately
turn to an EQUAL measure of RELIEF! The TRUE artist
must PACE themselves carefully as each movement is
DESIGNED to BUILD and relax in a SERIES of waves that build to
its ultimate peak ONLY NEAR the end!
a3. Each phrase has a PRIMARY PEAK of tension which
should be brought to the attention of the listener.
Each phrase will ALSO have a SECONDARY PEAK, usually
near its END as it it WINDS to completion. Usually
this last peak is the final dominant chord... its resolution being ANTI-CLIMACTIC.
a4. The PEAKS of any phrase are often the most
HARMONICALLY DISTANT from the tonic.
a25. The most DISSONANT harmony of a phrase is
often the most INTERESTING: STRESS this! (w/ exceptions)
Another very SIMPLE way to produce interesting
phrasing is to follow the TOPOLOGY of the MELODY. MANY
traditional melodies work their way UP the SCALE to a
peak, then fall GENTLY back down!
a27. Discover where and when the composer is leading
you (and audience) - help make it sound GENUINE and SPONTANEOUS; like a
STORY you JUST made up or like an IMPROVISATION.
a32. TAPER the ends of phrases to help them feel
COMPLETED (unless it is a BUILDING phrase).
a43. Look for any HIDDEN PICK-UPS; they help the
music move FORWARD. Bring them out.
a51. Phrase WITH the leading voice once you’ve
discovered in rehearsal how THEY are phrasing.
a63. Think about what makes music affect us
EMOTIONALLY like
it does. What makes it more EFFECTIVE? What makes
it boring?
a67. The study of HARMONY, even just the very basics,
will increase your understanding of why
and how music
works. For example, I 64 chords set up cadences and dominant
7th chords make us YEARN for resolution. Diminished
7th chords make us feel UNSETTLED and CONFUSED
momentarily. PLAGEL cadences (IV - I, AM-EN) make us feel
AT PEACE. BORROWED VI and borrowed III chords add a sense of
great FREEDOM (borrowed as in borrowed from
another key). Deceptive cadences (V - VI) are big
SURPRISES because they DENY us the resolution we expected. It
is a lot
of FUN discovering WHY harmony makes us feel the
way it does. Stress LEADING tones (thirds) and
the very dissonant seventh of a V7
chord! And DE-EMPHASIZE (unweight, taper) resolutions
as ANTI-CLIMACTIC (a given, boring)!
a68. In a melodic phrase, whenever you encounter
a long note say between a dotted quarter and a whole
note, try shaping it subtlety with by subito p crescendo
to give it DIRECTION. (I call it a recrescendo!)
s71. In slow movements, one has time to shape almost
EVERY NOTE. But in general, we should concentrate
on finding an artful SHAPE for each bowstroke.
s74. Avoid the "stringism" in 6/8 time
of playing a run of 8thnotes with heavier DOWNBOWS than
upbows so that accidental HEMIOLAS don't result. Lean on the "PULSE
notes" rather than the downbows!
sb75. To insure a more beautiful, SINGING tone at
the BEGINNING of a phrase, start vibrating BEFORE you start drawing the bow.
asb79. Always look for "the most MUSICAL thing
to do"! Sometimes that means not playing AT
ALL!
(see b53)
a85. When you are just LISTENING to music, CLOSE your
eyes and look for the INNER RHYTHMS within the harmonic structure.
Ask yourself what makes this performance MORE musical
or LESS musical than another's. Look for PATTERNS.
Focus on the PULSE of the music; esp. where
it holds BACK or pushes FORWARD. Think about the
TEMPO (speed)
of the music. Does it make you want to MOVE or
DANCE?
Why might a conductor or soloist want to stretch one
ritardando LONGER than another?
a86. HARMONIC RHYTHM is the rhythm of the harmonic
CHANGES. It has recurring PATTERNS to it that DEFINE
the style, tempo and MOOD. Often it is either one
level FASTER or SLOWER than the general pulse of the
music. PICKUPS call attention to the harmonic rhythm
and also help articulate their degree of INTENSITY.
asb88. Let's always try to GO BEYOND just playing
the notes, dynamics and such details! Let's figure
out WHAT works and WHY! Let's distinguish between
IMPORTANT notes and phrases and unimportant ones.
Find YOUR important note in a phrase and make it
OBVIOUS to your audience! Life's too SHORT not to!
111. Many phrases may be completed simply by
TAPERING and CLIPPING (shortening)
the last note. You may even take a BREATH (quick
INHALE or SNIFF) like a singer or wind player. This is
just how you would speak a COMMA in a written
sentence. To make a small phrase WITHOUT taking
a breath, just clip the last note. When you feel that these
notes belong to THIS line and those notes belong to
ANOTHER (such as in unaccompanied Bach suites), shorten the last
note of the first phrase.
115. When phrasing, esp. in softer dynamics, one
merely has to THINK the hairpins for the audience to
perceive the subtlety. Or only to FEEL the tension in
their stomach, or to increase their VIBRATO SPEED at
the peak.
125. When searching for the most
musical thing to do, music seems to consist
of ARCS WITHIN ARCS. (Pablo Casals called them RAINBOWS.) Within each measure, there is
ONE loudest note (in the context of building or
relaxing). Within each TWO bars there is one loudest
note. Within each FOUR bars, within each PHRASE, each
PERIOD, DOUBLE period, modulation, transition,
thematic section, exposition, development,
and recapitulation in turn, etc... There is ALWAYS a relatively
climactic POINT. The music BUILDS upon itself then
SUBSIDES and builds AGAIN until it reaches some kind of "most
inevitable climactic point" in the movement
like a DAM bursting open. We must LOOK for these and
make them OBVIOUS to our audience!
128. To VIBRATE on almost every note is to come much
closer to SINGING, which is one of our goals. If you listen
to Pablo Casals, you find that he could vibrate (and
thus sing) on even the SMALLEST notes! It brings the
notes to LIFE. You must cultivate a VARIETY of vibrato
SPEEDS and WIDTHS... just like a singer. In fact, you
should PLAY for a singer sometime!
134. Begin to listen and THINK in terms of phrasing
structures. About 75% of "traditional" classical
music is built in 4-bar and 8-bar phrases. So it is a
RELIEF when a new or unusual cycle comes, even if only momentarily.
(diminution of the harmonic rhythm?) Sometimes we have
RESTS in multiples of 4 and 8 bars. Here is a
perfect opportunity to THINK (count) not just one
BAR at a time but in terms of one PHRASE at a time.
139. Bring out CHROMATIC LINES in pre- 20th century
music. They are most UNUSUAL thus most interesting.
145. Explore the role of SEQUENCE in music! They play an essential part in
DEVELOPING the
"plot" or "travel" of melodies
and form. Sequences are short REPEATED HALF-phrases
(2-4 bars) that go UP (building) or DOWN (relaxing) harmonically in diatonic "steps",
like in a scale. They repeat once or twice and the
LAST repetition most often LEADS OUT of the "loop" verbatim or by a slight
TWIST of harmony that moves us along to the NEXT
phrase. Musically we need to make these steps
stand out, as with a slight BREATH or similar
PHRASING to mark each step.
150. To help us FIND the most important notes of
any phrase, we can SIMPLIFY it. Play
the phrase in question VERY softly to yourself (sotto
voce even), EXCEPT FOR those
notes which STAND OUT to you as having IMPORTANCE.
You will discover that the IMPORTANT ones will be
BEGGING for emphasis with this technique! Trial and error is the best way to explore these possibilities.
s21. Some QUICK passages for strings and woodwinds
have a SCALE or SOME interesting pattern HIDDEN within
it. Bring this out!
a22. Find the harmony that gives impetus or energy
to the phrase. This is USUALLY in the MIDDLE of
the phrase. But it could build all the way to the
END... as
in a building phrase! Or it can UNWIND from the very
START of a phrase (as in a RELAXING phrase). Don't
forget to watch for that SECONDARY peak!
a29. When you have "moving" notes (even
if only two notes as in passing notes),
bring them out if they are in COUNTERPOINT to the melody. Usually
those playing the FASTEST note values
should play out.
a57. In cadences dominant chords should receive more
weight than the tonic chord. Unless a cadence is DECEPTIVE,
the resolution itself is anticlimactic; therefore,
RELAX (unweight) it!
136. The conductor is TRYING to follow the soloist; so
should WE! Eliminate the MIDDLEMAN and LISTEN and
ADJUST to the soloist DIRECTLY like it's a DUET
between you and them. If we can't easily HEAR the soloist then we are
too LOUD!
122. Sometime when you are listening to music in
private, try DANCING, MOVING, or just swaying to the
music
so that you begin to feel its underlying harmonic
rhythm, DIRECTION and STRESSES. Movement can be very
INSTRUCTIVE! You might
find, like I do, that music flows more NATURALLY when you
SWAY while playing. Your movement should be SUBTLE as not to
DISTRACT from the performance. Perhaps IMAGINE
yourself dancing! SYNCH with the conductor or soloist!
BORROW the SPIRIT of their movements! MEMORIZE passages
(or a bar or two) to watch how THEY feel the music
and try to feel it WITH them! Get your eyes OFF the
NOTES and CHECK IN with the LEADERS as much as
possible!
In fact, LISTENING is perhaps the single BEST way
to become AWARE of phrasing's role in performance! You
must push ASIDE your focus on YOUR part and look for
the BIGGER picture. HOW does the music WORK? What can
you BRING OUT to make it more EFFECTIVE? What can you
play LESS to make it more effective?
Phrasing gives the musician an opportunity to weave
SINCERITY into their performance. Because in the
course of SHAPING phrases, the artist can't HELP but
to breathe their OWN SELF into the music. Then the
music may GIVE UP one of its SECRETS to the players.
Then in turn the players open themselves up MORE to
the music until at SOME point in the performance the
musicians will REALIZE they are AT ONE and
ALIVE with the music! It's the CRAZIEST feeling!
And the AUDIENCE longs to SHARE in this! So,
when you PLAY, BREATHE THE MUSIC!
