I know that a phrase is a "musical sentence", basically it's a short musical idea that has a beginning and an ending, but my question is how is a phrase in music notation played compared to something in musical notation that doesn't have a phrase marking? I know i'm not confusing slurs with phrases (although both can be combined), but I'm just wondering how specifically on guitar it is played.
Steve-0
What makes a phrase a phrase doesn't have to do with the way it's played but with the function it takes on in the music itself.
You can identify a phrase in a number of ways, but the easiest is that it will have a natural break between one part of the music and the next. Even if there's no rest or any mark on the score, you can 'feel' that it's where that bit of music ends before going on to the next.
Often a phrase ends with the tonic, subdominate or dominate. It almost never ends with a submediant, mediant, or leading tone.
You'll often find that a phrase ends where you naturally give your left hand a bit of rest, or are required to move to a new position or a new set of notes.
So you don't play it differently, it's just something that's naturally there in the music when it's played properly . . . if that makes sense.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
That makes complete sense now, I was pretty sure that it was just a matter of the way music is organised i just wanted to make sure, thanks alot.
Steve-0
...that doesn't have a phrase marking...
I've never heard of a phrase marking (or noticed one). What does it look like?
~Sam
I wondered if he meant the little curvy line over a phrase that means it's to be played legato?
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I wondered if he meant the little curvy line over a phrase that means it's to be played legato?
No, legato lines are above a phrase... I actually have seen pieces where there has been a line under the phrase to indicate a phrase (or maybe it is a legato and i'm just confused).
Steve-0
The curve is for legato/slur. Sometimes there are straight lines below or above individual notes to indicate sustaining them longer...Not sure.
~Sam
Curves are legato, and they can written above or below the notes. A straight lines over a note is called a marcato - it means you a) hold the note for its full value, and b) you stress it. It's a special type of accent mark.
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i thought that was a Tenuto.. (hi Tom, long time no see)
yeesh - you're catching all my mistakes today, Alex!
Yes, the line is a tenuto. The marcato is a wedge-shaped symbol
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