Phrasing is the performer's ability to group sounds meaningfully into phrases and sentences, giving music a natural “breath” and logic. Just as in speech we set off thoughts with pauses, stresses, and intonation, a musician “speaks” a melody, emphasising its points of meaning and its boundaries.
Good phrasing shows where a phrase begins, grows to a climax, and ends, and where to “breathe.” It turns a sequence of notes into a living, meaningful musical narrative. Poor phrasing makes even technically flawless playing meaningless and monotonous. Phrasing is inseparably linked to articulation, dynamics, and agogics (rubato) — all of which together are true interpretation. It is one of the subtlest and most important facets of the art of performance.
