Musical phrasing

A musician accomplishes this by interpreting the music—from memory or sheet music—by altering tone, tempo, dynamics, articulation, inflection, and other characteristics.

[3]Giuseppe Cambini—a composer, violinist, and music teacher of the Classical period—had this to say about bowed string instruments, specifically violin, phrasing: The bow can express the affections of the soul: but besides there being no signs that indicate them, such signs, even were one to invent them, would become so numerous that the music, already too full of indications, would become a formless mass to the eyes, almost impossible to decipher.

The intuitive school uses a verbal model, equating the function of phrasing with that of punctuation in language.

For example, Webern’s Klangfarbenmelodie-styled orchestral arrangement of Ricercar from Bach’s Musical offering demonstrates Webern’s analytical phrasing of the theme, which is quite subjective on the one hand but, on the other hand, logically consistent: The first note of the countersubject (C) is deliberately detached from the theme, as shown by the change from brass to strings.

The notes which follow the B natural may therefore be considered as not attributed to the theme but as a codetta (quite unevident interpretation!).

Thus Webern's interpretation implies two contrasting episodes distinguished within the theme: the first phrase (trombone) and the descending chromatic succession.

Interpretations in form of orchestral arrangements (instruments can be conditional) provide both the structure and indicate the way of execution.

Departing from Webern’s example, Tangian proposes not only phrasing/interpretation notation but also a model of performance, where the segments are selected both intuitively and analytically and are shown by tempo envelopes, dynamics and specific instrumental techniques.