(MF) Phrase Lesson

Phrase

A phrase is a short music passage that often consists of four measures forming part of a larger musical structure. It is a musical concept of grouping notes together. A musical phrase can also be described as a unit of musical meter that has a complete musical sense of its own, built from notes combining to form melodies, periods and larger sections of music. They are usually the length in which a singer or instrumentalist can play in one breath.

A musical work is typically made up of a melody that consists of numerous consecutive phrases. There may or may not be notation used signify a phrase. Even when no phrase markings are included in the notation, experienced instrumentalists and singers will add phrasing to melodic lines.

The terms, like sentence, verse, etc. have been adopted into the vocabulary of music from linguistic syntax. Though the analogy between the musical and the linguistic phrase is often made, still the term "is one of the most ambiguous in music....there is no consistency in applying these terms nor can there be...only with melodies of a very simple type, especially those of some dances, can the terms be used with some consistency."

John D. White defines a phrase as, "the smallest musical unit that conveys a more or less complete musical thought. Phrases vary in length and are terminated at a point of full or partial repose, which is called a cadence."(A harmonic/melodic formula to end phrases.) What counts is the sense of completeness we hear in the pitches not the notation on the page. A phrase is not pitches only but also has a rhythmic dimension, and further, each phrase in a work contributes to that work's large rhythmic organization.

In common practice phrases are often (but not always) four bars or measures long culminating in a more or less definite cadence. A phrase will end with a weaker or stronger cadence, depending on the desired effect.

The term "phrasing" refers to an expressive shaping of music, and relates to the shaping of notes in time, tone color, dynamics, and other variables. Phrasing relates to the manner of playing the individual notes of a particular group of consecutive notes and the way they are weighted and shaped relative to one another. Phrasing allows expression of a particular style of music. An example may be an acceleration of a group of notes. A sequence of notes could also be slowed down (ritardando). This shaping of notes is creatively performed by the musician or singer with the aim of expressing (feelings), and can be distinguished by the listener.

Being an expressive activity of creative musicians, the question of how to shape a group of notes cannot be (and is not) exactly specified. Giuseppe Cambini had this to say about violin playing:

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.

Usually, the shaping of notes in time is such that meaning ("affections of the soul") is expressed. In general, particular musical thoughts appear in a group of notes following each other, forming a phrase: a particular part of a melody. These notes belong together and the melodic phrase is then shaped expressively: tension can be built up by accelerating; particular expressive pivot points or emphasis can shaped by holding notes longer (fermata); slowing down can be used to end phrases; rubato, etc.

Phrasing is sometimes also taken to include aspects of musical shaping, other than the timing of melodies, such as articulation and dynamics, etc.

It can also be influenced by lyrics on the song in relation to the piece of musical phrase in sheet music.

Melodies are often described as being made up of phrases. A musical phrase is actually a lot like a grammatical phrase. A phrase in a sentence (for example, "into the deep, dark forest" or "under that heavy book") is a group of words that make sense together and express a definite idea, but the phrase is not a complete sentence by itself. A melodic phrase is a group of notes that make sense together and express a definite melodic "idea", but it takes more than one phrase to make a complete melody.

How do you spot a phrase in a melody? Just as you often pause between the different sections in a sentence (for example, when you say, "wherever you go, there you are"), the melody usually pauses slightly at the end of each phrase. In vocal music, the musical phrases tend to follow the phrases and sentences of the text. For example, listen to the phrases in the melody of "The Riddle Song" and see how they line up with the four sentences in the song.

But even without text, the phrases in a melody can be very clear. Even without words, the notes are still grouped into melodic "ideas". Listen to the first strain of Scott Joplin's "The Easy Winners" to see if you can hear four phrases in the melody.

One way that a composer keeps a piece of music interesting is by varying how strongly the end of each phrase sounds like "the end". Usually, full-stop ends come only at the end of the main sections of the music. By varying aspects of the melody, the rhythm, and the harmony, the composer gives the ends of the other phrases stronger or weaker "ending" feelings. Often, phrases come in definite pairs, with the first phrase feeling very unfinished until it is completed by the second phrase, as if the second phrase were answering a question asked by the first phrase. When phrases come in pairs like this, the first phrase is called the antecedent phrase, and the second is called the consequent phrase. Listen to antecedent and consequent phrases in the tune "Auld Lang Syne".

The rhythm of the first two phrases of "Auld Lang Syne" is the same, but both the melody and the harmony lead the first phrase to feel unfinished until it is answered by the second phrase. Note that both the melody and harmony of the second phrase end on the tonic, the "home" note and chord of the key.

Of course, melodies don't always divide into clear, separated phrases. Often the phrases in a melody will run into each other, cut each other short, or overlap. This is one of the things that keeps a melody interesting.

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