Audio Library volume 6 “phrasing”

by Françoise Lombard

THE PEDAGOGICAL GUIDE is included
in the purchase of the volume.

It contains explanations and suggestions for the pedagogical development of each musical track.

TRACK 4 EDUCATIONAL CONTENT from the guide

The previous tracks in this volume present phrases whose lengths are of 2 – 4 – 8 measures. This track, in 2/4, also presents phrases of 3 measures. The structure of the phrasing is as follows:

3 measures twice, 2 measures twice, 4 measures once;

3 measures twice, 2 measures twice, 4 measures twice.

Before doing any work at all which refers to “counting” measures, the teacher must allow him/herself and the students time to listen to the music and feel the beginning, the length and the end of each phrase instinctively.

– Clap softly the last note of each phrase. Do the same by clapping on your body:

1. choose two different spots on your body as a point of departure and a point of arrival, and draw clearly the phrasing between one spot and the next.
2. choose a departure point and the teacher, or a child calls the arrival spot. Make your arm and hand travel with the shape of the phrasing. Alternate right and left arm.

– Travel with a friend and change the friend at the beginning of the next phrase. More experienced students could “travel” with a friend who is not necessarily beside them, fostering eye contact.

– In pairs : A is walking, designing with his/her steps a path on the floor; B follows this path during the next phrase. Or B goes the opposite way.

– Sculptures in a garden: on the spot, isolate one or two parts of the body (as directed by the teacher); move alternatively one and then the other part, changing with the phrasing. Students may then choose two different parts themselves, moving these parts freely with the music.

– After changing its shape on the spot, the sculpture may move in space when the music suggests it. There are some phrasings that can be interpreted differently by the students: in this case, if one follows the articulation of the melody, some phrases will be felt as twice as short. But if one listens to the base line, the phrases can be heard as longer. 

– The conductor (solo) and the orchestra (tutti) move in place simultaneously: the conductor shows a direction for each phrase with his/her arms, and the group moves with the whole body or with an isolated part of the body in the direction indicated by the conductor.

 8 years and up

This material is intended to promote the learning of music through body movement, but it does not constitute a professional “music and movement” training. Therefore, its use does not authorise one to use the title of Dalcroze teacher. However, the experimentation of the Library could inspire and motivate a person to pursue a more advanced training of Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, with the option of obtaining, after several years of study, professional recognition.

Improvisations : Françoise Lombard 
© Les Éditions Adragante, Canada

Recording : Michel Comeau, Northmount Studio, Montreal
Mastering : TrueSound Louis Morneau
Cover photos : David Tucker    © ICDS
Cover photos : Michel Comeau    © Dalcroze Canada
Cover graphic design : Michel Comeau

Phrasing is the art of conducting a musical discourse. Like the phrasing of spoken language which conveys thought, musical phrasing has an inflection, a movement, an articulation, a breath, a dynamic and a direction that expresses an intention. It is learned intuitively, by ear, and integrated long before the acquisition of reading. Its presence is essential to communicate and understand the meaning of music.

Body movement and the use of space allow us to feel the phrasing, to become aware of it and to express it clearly and globally. The experience of phrasing, once inscribed in the body, leads to an intimate understanding of the music. This is then transposed naturally and in a lively and expressive way into one’s singing or instrumental playing.