This article is about expression in music performance. For the unit of musical metre, see Phrase (music theory).
Musical phrasing is the method by which a musician shapes a sequence of notes in a passage of music to allow expression, much like when speaking English a phrase may be written identically but may be spoken differently, and is named for the interpretation of small units of time known as phrases (half of a period). A musician accomplishes this by interpreting the music—from memory or sheet music—by altering tone, tempo, dynamics, articulation, inflection, and other characteristics. Phrasing can emphasise a concept in the music or a message in the lyrics, or it can digress from the composer's intention, aspects of which are commonly indicated in musical notation called phrase marks or phrase markings. For example, accelerating the tempo or prolonging a note may add tension.
A phrase is a substantial musical thought, which ends with a musical punctuation called a cadence. Phrases are created in music through an interaction of melody, harmony, and rhythm.[3]
Giuseppe Cambini—a composer, violinist, and music teacher of the Classical period—had this to say about bowed string instruments, specifically violin, phrasing:
The bow can express the affections of the soul: but besides there being no signs that indicate them, such signs, even were one to invent them, would become so numerous that the music, already too full of indications, would become a formless mass to the eyes, almost impossible to decipher. I should consider myself fortunate if I could only get a student to hear, through a small number of examples, the difference between bad and mediocre, mediocre and good, and good and excellent, in the diversity of expressions that one may give to the same passage.[4]
— "Nouvelle Méthode théorique et pratique pour le violon". Paris, Naderman (c. 1803)
^Newman, William S. (1995). Beethoven on Beethoven: Playing His Piano Music His Way, p.170-71. ISBN 0-393-30719-0.
^White, John D. (1976). The Analysis of Music, p. 44. ISBN 0-13-033233-X.
^Benward, Bruce & Saker, Marilyn (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.89. Seventh Edition. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
^"Nouvelle Méthode théorique et pratique pour le violon" by Giuseppe Cambini (ref)
Musicalphrasing is the method by which a musician shapes a sequence of notes in a passage of music to allow expression, much like when speaking English...
as opposed to musical composition. Musical technique Musical phrasing Network musical performance, a real-time interaction over a computer network that...
not be a foreground melody. Melodies often consist of one or more musicalphrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a composition in various...
a higher plane and realise its intrinsic value." - Igor Stravinsky Musicalphrasing Tempo rubato Scruton, Roger. "Expression". Grove Music Online. Oxford...
Articulations can be combined with one another and may appear in conjunction with phrasing marks (above). Any of these markings may be placed either above or below...
and musicalphrasing are nearly universal to all instruments. To improve their technique, musicians often practice ear training. For example, musical intervals...
and motives, and differential geometry as a basis for a theory of musicalphrasing, tempo, and intonation. Albert Einstein - Accomplished pianist and...
Anacruses may involve fine details such as rhythm and phrasing or may involve wider features such as musical form (such as when used repeatedly). Very often...
coordinated labor movements. The musical elements of these songs involved a call-and-response structure and included repetitive phrasing and improvisation which...
broken into smaller units called phrases, which express a musical idea but lack sufficient weight to stand alone. Musical form unfolds over time through...
framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musicalphrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and...
accelerando, rallentando, or expressive musicalphrasing such as rubato. Even such highly rhythmical musical forms as samba, if performed in a culturally...
patterns or pulses, steady drones, consonant harmony, and reiteration of musicalphrases or smaller units. It may include features such as phase shifting, resulting...
d'Arezzo, who had taken them from the first syllables of the first six musicalphrases of a Gregorian chant melody Ut queant laxis, whose successive lines...
use of leitmotifs—musicalphrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme...
Avaz. Furthermore an acute sense for musical timing, the rhythmic flow of vocal music, affective musicalphrasing, and poetic delivery enabled her to express...
The Lick is a lick (a stock musicalphrase) that has been used on numerous jazz and pop records and is part of several classical compositions, to the point...
three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive song, which has repeated musicalphrases, has frequently been referred to in poetry. The song thrush breeds...