What is a musical phrase and how to build one?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A musical phrase refers to the structure of a musical canvas. Not everyone knows what it is, so we will try to figure it out.

Everyone knows that human speech is divided into phrases consisting of a couple of words, and in music - a musical phrase consists of two motives. A motive is the simplest construction of several sounds, with one of them being the main one. A phrase of ordinary speech does not have two equally significant syllables, and a musical phrase also does not contain two reference sounds. One of them will still be more important anyway.

Logical stress

For example, say the phrase (literary phrase) "funny story". What syllable would you like to highlight? "Ba" in the first word or "that" in the second? This will mean that this word was important and main for you. If the logical emphasis fell on the word "funny", then you want to convey to the listener the context associated specifically with him. In this case, "history" will be of secondary importance.

How to interpret musicala phrase in music if it has no words? After all, notes can not denote either objects or actions, and so on? Is a musical phrase an empty form without content?

What does the music say?

Music can convey the feelings and emotional state of a person and tell about something. How does it happen? The unit of measurement is the interval (two sounds), which conveys intonation. As it was said, a musical phrase consists of motives. The latter, in turn, are divided into intonations, which are different in music, as in speech. An intonation, or interval, carries one emotion or thought.

For example, the word "go" or "get up" has two syllables, in music it is expressed by the interval "fourth" and indicates a call to action. Therefore, even without words, it will be clear that if you take the bugle and play this interval, then a call to action sounded. And a musical phrase is able to convey already a small development of a person’s internal emotional state. Compared to the entire piece of music, this is like a drop in the ocean.

Music Phrase Properties:

• She starts both on the weak part of the measure, and on the strong one. May end the same way.
• Includes strong, relatively strong and weak metric beats. Usually two-stroke.

How to build a musical phrase?

Music is compared to speech for a reason. Because if you pronounce just a set of individual letters or words, no one will understand the meaning of what was said. Especiallyit will be difficult to capture the emotional coloring. It is the same with music - it is necessary to combine individual notes into one whole. Phrases and sentences first, then periods (there are usually two phrases in a sentence, two eight-bar sentences in a period).

To create a specific image, it is necessary to add touches and dynamic shades to the construction of musical phrases. Strokes are ways of sound extraction. For example, a composer may conceive of a jerky performance or a cohesive one. Dynamics is responsible for the volume.

Musical phrasing

Musical expressiveness is formed by phrasing. It divides the semantic load and artistic intent of the work into phrases and sentences. It is a means of musical expression. One work by different performers can express different feelings in the audience. A talented musician will give vivid emotions, create expressive images, and the playing of another will not cause positive emotions and boredom.

The art of phrasing can be learned. You can develop your taste in music by listening to classical music, and not only piano. At the same time, pay attention to the skill of the performer, how he combines sentences.

Features of sound science can be well felt in vocal works, such as songs, romances, arias. The vocalist leads the musical thought, making pauses for taking breath precisely between phrases. Therefore, it is recommended to start learning a new piece by singing a melody that will help build logical phrases.

Learning romance

It's time for practice. Let's try to perform the phrasing of the romance "I remember a wonderful moment" by the composer M. I. Glinka to the verses of A. S. Pushkin. First, we pay attention to the general tempo of the work - it is moderately fast, where the melody begins, the author asks to sing gently and simply. Please note that the phrase begins because of the measure, so we pronounce the syllable "I" quietly, making a semantic emphasis on the syllable "by", especially since its vowel lasts quite a long time. At the same time, we do not forget that it must be sung gently and simply, with the desire for the syllable "ve". This is the beginning of the measure, so we sing it more vividly than all the other metric beats. On the syllable "nye" the voice should be "removed" a little, since this is the end of the first phrase and at the same time a weak beat of the measure. Congratulations! We have done the phrasing of the first musical phrase.

We sing the second phrase in the same way, but pay attention to small phrasing slurs, which mean that the notes are performed in one breath and unite with each other. There is a grace note on the syllable "vi" - an ornament, a novice singer can omit it, since it presents a certain technical difficulty. In the third phrase, pay attention to the word "fleeting", the composer put a staccato stroke over the notes, so you need to sing abruptly, not forgetting about the tenderness and simplicity of performance. Sing the first part of the romance like this. It turns out that phrasing is not as complicated as it seems at first glance.