Text & Phrasing

Phrasing--Musical (continued)

Many composers do not indicate any phrasing, leaving the choice of phrasing to the performer. In some music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, adding phrase marks might be appropriate. Although phrase marks (slurs) are not used in hymns, two- or four-measure phrases are usually understood to be present.

However, adding phrase marks (slurs) in earlier music such as the example to the right imposes a later concept of phrasing. This concept implies that a phrase embodies a legato line. Applying this concept to early music is currently considered by most to be inappropriate. In this case, small commas to indicate the breaking of a line would be a more appropriate mark than a slur.

Index Screen