Phrase (music)

Phrases vary in length and are terminated at a point of full or partial repose, which is called a cadence.

"[12] In common practice phrases are often four bars or measures long[13] culminating in a more or less definite cadence.

However, the absolute span of the phrase (the term in today's use is coined by the German theorist Hugo Riemann[15]) is as contestable as its pendant in language, where there can be even one-word-phrases (like "Stop!"

Thus no strict line can be drawn between the terms of the 'phrase', the 'motiv' or even the separate tone (as a one-tone-, one-chord- or one-noise-expression).

[18][non-primary source needed] Techniques include overlap, lead-in, extension, expansion, reinterpretation and elision.