1:26 - Dynamic Phrasing In Greensleeves
1:54 - Dynamic Shapes within an individual phrase
2:29 - Scarborough Fair
2:38 - The Force theme
2:46 - Ode to Joy
3:10 - Melodic elements or movements that get dynamic attention
6:16 - Tip: make music away from your DAW
8:40 - How Phrases join together (in traditional Western music)
10:20 - The functions of the difference phrases in an 8-bar melody
11:36 - Dynamic Shaping over a Multi-phrase Sequence
14:48 - Mapping out the Dynamic Phrasing for an Entire Melody (with longs)
22:45 - Dynamic Phrasing in a completed piece ("The Upward Call")
30:45 - Mapping out the Dynamic Phrasing for an Entire Melody ("Carol of the Bells" with shorts)
33:38 - Your Assignment

Phrasing and Dynamics 

A musical phrase is a short musical statement with something of a beginning, middle, and end, and typically of a length that could be sung in a single breath.  

 

Think of it like a musical version of a sentence, or part of a sentence. Dynamically,  it has ups and downs, it has moment of emphasis or accent, it has upward or downward inflections and louder and softer moments. A sentence might have a few parts in it that are separated by commas, which have their own dynamic arcs but also work together to form the arc of the entire sentence. Musical phrases can link together in a similar way.  

 

(Musical phrases having sentence-like pace and meter makes sense because much of our musical tradition comes from songs, which have sentences in them, and naturally need breaks to breathe.) 

 

Dynamics in individual Phrases 

 

First, we'll  look at the dynamics of an individual phrase. Each phrase will typically have something of it's own little dynamic arc, even when it is part of a larger idea. If the phrase is sung or played on, say a string instrument, it will commonly start semi-softly, build to a higher dynamic, and then come down somewhat before the rest, where we breathe, making something of a bell-curve dynamic shape.  

 

Within that something-of-a-bell-curve-shape, the dynamic direction can take make turns, just like in a sentence. Dynamics over follow melodic motion, like intervallic jumps (Somewhere over the Rainbow), like upward or downward runs (Carol of the bells, Ode to Joy), melodic turns (like in the Force theme) or this might ebb and flow around accented notes.  In a sing like "Happy Birthday", words that have emphasis on certain syllables will get musical accents on those syllables. "Happy  BIRTHday" has a duh-duh-DUH-duh emphasis right in the words, so it's natural for that ACCENT on "BIRTH" to get a musical accent on that note. 

 

In other words, the dynamic flow will often follow, or emphasize, points of interest in a melody.  You know, the stuff worth highlighting with some dynamic contrast! And NORMALLY, if you sing or hum the melody (try it now!), you will likely find yourself doing some of this dynamic phrasing AUTOMATICALLY or naturally, just as you would when you read a sentence from a book. TRY singing the pentatonic scale. Can you do it statically? 

 

 

This is because LOUD and SOFT--though they are vehicles for expression--are not the point of expression, *Enjoyment* is. *Feeling* is. If it *Feels* very nice than it probably IS nice.  

 

TIP: it's really easy to become divorced from FEELING the music you are writing in a DAW. It becomes computer programming and can become very heartless work indeed. So here's a SUGGESTION: step away from your computer and make your music in whatever way is most natural to you. Imagine it in your head. Hum it, sing it. Play it on your violin, guitar, piano, or whatever. Connect the idea you are working on with your most natural way of making and feeling music for you. Enjoy it for a bit. 
 
THEN, take note (literally, if you need to) of what you were doing dynamically. Where was it getting more or less intense? Speeding up, slowing down? Now you know how you want it expressed. Take these notes/impressions back to your DAW and use that as your dynamic template.  

 

Dynamic Arcs that Span Multiple Phrases 

Now, often times there will be larger dynamic phrases that are made up of smaller ones. How can you stitch these together in a cohesive way?  

 

A super common song/melody structure in western music is an 8-16-bar melody with 4 mini-phrases. It's common for a phrase to be around 2-4 bars long, as this is a natural length for a single breath. Of course, it doesn't HAVE to be, especially for an instrument with no breath used, but these are common.  

 

The function of these four phrases is commonly, something like:  (1) CORE melodic phrase/motif/hook. Then it is (2) restated, maybe with a variation. This reinforces the initial idea it, gives the listener time to enjoy it. Then we break away from the original idea with  a (3) DIFFERENT idea, then we "come home" with (4) a reiteration of the original thought, but one that is a little more resolve-y. If the first phrase asks a question, this one will try to answer it, often by resolving to the tonic.   

 

Happy birthday  

First phrase  (idea stated)
*rest*

Second phrase (idea repeated with variation)
*rest*

Third phrase (climactic, most different phrase) 
*rest* (usually)

Fourth phrase(revisits and answers initial phrase by bringing thing back down to the tonic)

The entire song has four little arcs, but it grows from 1-3, then return back down in phrase 4. So the arc of all 4 makes a single arc. Arcs with an arc. Arc-ception.  

 

The DIFFERENT phrase (v3 a lot of the time) is often where the most emotional turmoil or climax is, so this is COMMONLY the dynamic PINNACLE of the melody.   

 

Ode to Joy 

Longer phrases (4-bars each… OOF!), but there are four of them (with similar structure- v1, repeat in v2, v3 is the different one, v4 revisits original idea but brings it home--literally, to the tonic).  

 

Star Wars (Force theme) 
SAME Idea. 4 mini-arcs, each one building to phrase 3, the different phrase, and then coming back home in phrase 4.  

  

You do not HAVE to follow this 4-bar dynamic but it can at least get you started with some ideas. At any rate, when you are linking several phrases together, ask yourself: what is the overall dynamic direction that ties these phrases into a larger phrase? 

 

EXPRESSING SOME CLASSIC MELODIES WITH VELOCITY AND AUTOMATION 

 

As we briefly discussed, there are basically two types of instruments: percussive hits and continuous note generation, i.e. piano and voice. So we are going to explore dynamics with both options.  

 

The VI analog is basically, shorts and longs. You generally use velocity to control the dynamics of shorts, and CC automation to control the dynamics of LONGS.  

 

With VI - there are two fundamental ways to control/program these instrument types: VELOCITY (how hard you hit the note) and AUTOMATION.  

 

CAROL OF THE BELLS (velocity) 

SCARBOROUGH FAIR (automation)