Expression & tempo
Phrase
A phrase is a complete musical thought, typically four or eight bars ending in a cadence, and it is the unit that shapes how music is performed.
Phrases have direction: a point of arrival where tension is highest, and a resolution. Playing every note at equal weight, which is the default for a student concentrating on accuracy, produces a technically correct performance that sounds like nothing. Finding the phrase's peak and shaping the dynamic toward and away from it is where interpretation begins.
Phrase marks in a score look like long slurs, and on a string instrument this creates a real ambiguity: is the curve a bowing instruction or a phrasing one? Generally, curves spanning more notes than one bow could manage are phrase marks. Editions vary, and reading which is meant is an ordinary part of preparing a part.
Related terms
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