Phrase Music
with Confidence

You can phrase music with confidence provided you know what a phrase means! In the title’s context phrase marks are a means of punctuating music through the use of slurs (a curved line over or under a group of notes).

A wind player will attempt to play a slur in one breath. A sadistic composer will give a hated woodwind or brass player long phrases. A nice composer will be more sensible, of course. A string player will attempt to bow all of the slurred notes in one bowing. Pianists look at slurs as a suggestion of playing smoothly (legato).

A phrase length, on the other hand, is the length of a musical idea. A four bar phrase length is usually part of a longer melody. For more on phrasing, consult the all-in-one book for composer and pianists called Ready, Set, Compose!

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