VIOLA & VIOLIN

Ms. Bernice Ooi from the Royal Swedish Orchestra - "shaping graceful phrasing within the rhythmic challenges"! 

"Art of Phrasing: Viola - Legato in rhythmic melodies" 

Ms. Bernice Ooi from the Royal Swedish Orchestra - on phrasing with off-the-string bow techniques (tips for Mozart's Symphony No. 39). 

A simple double stop?  ...on STEROIDS! 

Hillary Hahn - Reflective (short, tips) Masterclass: Phrasing Technique! 

...amazing PHRASING!

@SharonC -

Interesting video - Thanx! 

Here's a wonderful tutorial from Mia Marine, where she discusses accents and the phrasing for common "16th Note Swedish Polskas" like her beautiful, "Farängladagen" (Travel Day of the Angels).  'Agogic' - notes are stretched beyond their time value. 

Mia Marine plays a 5-string fiddle!  She is a famous musician, composer & teacher.

...in Gm, time for me to learn this one.

- Emily

@Katie L 

I'm sorry, but IMHO Mary V is a bit too vague.

She talks a lot about lightening the pressure on the bow - but doesn't say when you should do that or how lightening the bow or changing speed at different places within a bow stroke can be effective. 

IMHO saying, "loosen yourself up from the tempo", "think about the sound that's happening", "go up & down with the music", "refresh your ears", etc.. - all tell me nothing about how to actually go about phrasing a piece of music. 

Reading "Phrases" & "Sub-phrases" in music (and literature) is all about the interpretation of TIME, using ACCENTS, with overlapping aspects of DYNAMICS & TIMBRE.   

When reading aloud, we change the pitch of our voice, change from soft to loud, vary speed and punctuate with silence or a breath, etc... all to engage our listeners. 

Music is similar, the end of a phrase can be a 'rest', but gets it's resolved/finished feeling from the functions of it's last couple of notes, the last couple of Chords - making one of several kinds of CADENCE. 

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HEAR THE MUSIC PLAYED, then you can probably hear the end of a phrase without knowing any Music Theory. 

Traditional Folk Music has specific phrasing traits associated with each Genre, but there's still room for expression.  Most learn from watching/listening to get acquainted so much the 'the norm' becomes apparent.  Most times there is NO guidance from any sheet music.

Classical Music is known for using a whole slew of markings, symbols and words to annotate phrasing, including; rests, slurs, ties, pizzacato, many for dynamics, etc...!  These are laid out by the composer or arranger, and (I believe) any interpretation lies with the conductor when playing in an orchestra.

Two VERY important terms - 'Rubato' can be a type of 'Agogic Accent' - when describing stretching a note, then cutting the time of the next, to make up for it and the freedom to do it at your will (there's also another type of Rubato).  There are 2 other types of Agogic Accents - 'Rhythmic Placement', playing a note slightly early/late for effect and also just having one long note, while others are short & even. 

"The Rule of Rubato" by Vi Wickham. 

There is a more common, freer form of 'Rubato' - from Hello Music Theory:

What Is Rubato In Music? A Complete Guide

The modern or more commonly understood type of tempo rubato, as seen with composers like Liszt, is more flexible in that it stretches and contracts time, speeding up and slowing down without reference to the marked time of the score.

Both the melody and the accompaniment are stretched and shortened to achieve the desired effect.

The more modern form of rubato, used with exquisite taste and sensitivity, is ethereal in quality, whereas used to excess, it destroys the fabric of the music to the detriment of the performance.

...you don't need to know guitar to understand this article & video!  

Agogic Accents

Btw, I have found that traditional Nordic tunes typically use an Agogic Accent at the end. 

There are other types of Accents!  Musical Accents: DYNAMIC (loud/soft), TONIC (low/high pitch), TIMBRE (tone color difference, like 4th finger vs open string, or sound of different instruments), and BOWING PATTERNS.

If you know the basics of Meter & Time Signatures, skip to 7 minutes into the video.

Meter and Musical Accents

Inflections, Accents, Ornaments - are all important means of expressing traditional folk music as well as interest when improvising - they are part of PHRASING! 

- Emily

@Fiddlerman -

THANKS TO YOU!  🤗 

For me, it ALL began HERE: 

Fiddlerman said:

Phrasing can make your performance special. To phrase is to do with music exactly the same thing you do when you tell a story or communicate language expressively. Use dynamics and expressions to convey your feelings about a piece of music. Some of the ways of phrasing are moving tempos forward or slowing down, making crescendo’s (getting louder) or diminuendo’s (getting softer) show direction or emphasize certain vital notes. Very often the traditional way to phrase in music is to get louder as you go up and softer as you go down in the scale but this is not a rule. Singing the piece in your head as you play helps understand how it should be played.
Exaggerate dynamics and make every single note count. Sometimes we feel as though we are playing dynamics but in order for others to hear them, we need to do much more. 

@SharonC -

Thanks - I agree with you about exaggerating. 

Think my Grandmother knew the secret - she was overly dramatic & I loved it. 😊