LentheLessons
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Barat Lesson 3 The Phrases Having now addressed some of the more technical issues, let us now look at the beautiful phrases that this piece gives us a chance to express. Much of this is interpretive and subjective, and my thoughts here should serve to help you search out your own message and inflection. There are many different ways to turn a phrase, and you can make the same words say different things. How many different ways can you say the simplest of phrases, "I like spaghetti."? You may also recognize poetic patterns in the metrical make-up of the phrases, with repetition of some phrases underscoring the point, and expansion of others introducing new ideas for further development. Look at measures 2-5 as a call and answer (or echo), with measures 6-9 being a more insistent repetition of the same. Measure 10 begins a 6-measure phrase that has a nice dramatic build with tension-building harmonic underpinnings. You should try "reciting" this phrase many times, like an actor trying to get just the right expression and delivery of a classic line. Practice pacing yourself through this phrase so that you have the greatest energy when you need it. Measures 10-15
Now, you don't have to play it exactly as I did. I may say something different with this phrase next time I perform it anyway! But it is a beautiful phrase, and one worth repeating perhaps a dozen times until you get a good grasp of it and can make it say something to the listener. Measures 17-20 function like 2-5 or 6-9, and set up the fanfare-like Piu vivo of measures 21 & 22, which in turn lead in the extended development section from measures 25-48. If you were taking part in a play, and this passage was your entire part, it would certainly be more than a mere walk-on appearance! Measures
24-48
Strive to formulate phrases that will match your story line through this piece. There are some bold declarations, and also some subtle asides in this music. Remember that one way to get peoples' attention can be to drop your voice to a whisper! Look at these phrases as brush strokes and splashes of color, shadings and hues as paint your own picture. Craft these phrases and paragraphs to portray something special to you that this music brings out. http://www.art-and-artist.co.uk/impressionist/ Phrases are all about communication. We are musicians because we want to communicate. What we are given to communicate is not simply expressed in words or pictures, but rather in momentary sounds that dissipate as quickly as we can produce them. Sound and rhythm, technical facility, range and dynamics are all means that we use to communicate - but they are not ends in and of themselves! In this context I like to think of Louis Armstrong. If he had ever approached a voice teacher for singing lessons, he would almost certainly have been turned away and actively discouraged, perhaps even with a disparaging remark about his voice not even being fit to hawk newspapers on the street corner! And yet that artist went on to communicate to many millions of people with his voice - perhaps despite his vocal technique! (Good - he played the trumpet too, but you get my point, I hope.) He believed in his music, had a message, and a yearning to share that with others. That concludes the lessons for the andante portion of this piece. I hope that the ideas presented here give you cause and motivation to explore the potential of this music in your practice and performance. Click here for some picky critique of a student's phrasing.
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