0:14
Before we figure out how to physical conduct a
phrase, we first have to know how a phrase goes.
Make sure that our physical conducting,
reflects our interpretation, and not vice versa.
We don't want to say well what a beautiful gesture, I'll make the music go like that.
So once we figure out how we want the music to sound.
Then we can make sure that our physical gestures reflect that.
A nice way to start conducting in phrases, with phrases, is to use
some of the same techniques that
we use for conducting crescendos and decrescendos.
So, for example, for a 4 measure phrase or a 2 measure phrase.
We might just show a gentle crescendo this way.
And a gentle decrescendo that way.
Same technique, palm up, goes out and up.
And then palm sort of flips over, and comes back and in.
So it might be,
[MUSIC]
We can do the same thing but keep the palm up the entire way through, so it might be
[MUSIC].
We're just gently tracing the shape of that phrase.
We can involve our right hand of course.
Now what we eventually want is true independence, so our right hand can go.
[MUSIC]
2:22
But in general we want to, try to avoid just beating
while we're using our left hand for showing expression and phrases.
because then it's just mirroring.
And one way to practice that, is just as we were doing, a few minutes ago.
Is dropping the right hand, and just trying the
left hand independently and then introduce the right hand.
And it's something you have to practice slowly and eventually
you'll get that jitteriness, that elevator effect out of it.
We can also use the right hand to show phrasing.
2:49
And it does, in some ways, the same thing as the left hand
does except it would probably show more of a pattern as it does it.
So we might go,.
[MUSIC]
So as it gets stronger, I'm making more space, I'm pushing out
and up, and as it recedes, we get smaller, and into the body.
And some folks don't like the, the pushing out gesture.
They think that this 3D is not readable by a
large group, and you can experiment that for, for yourself.
So it might just get bigger as the phrase gets stronger.
And then, just gets smaller, and come maybe slightly closer to the body.
And they can mirror each other this way.
A few things to avoid, again, are just beating time all
the way through, because it's not showing a phrase at that point.
One example, I would say where it can use the
beat is to show and indicate the end of a phrase.
I often call that just landing on the phrase.
So we might say at the middle of this gesture.
In the middle of this phase, we were just singing.
[MUSIC]
You notice how I almost placed the middle
of that phrase on that downbeat, and it can
be a good way to shape the phrase in your head, to plan out, okay, where's it go?
It starts here,
[MUSIC]
There and then comes back.
And then lands there, then goes again.
And then lands at that spot after.
Just that's not the words to the tune, of course.
But if you can shape your phrase that way and know, okay, it's going to here.
And then you can make the gesture, imitate that.
And that's a good exercise to do in your score study anyway, to
figure out where the phrase begins, and then where does it go to.
Not just where it begins, but, the beginning and
ending point, and then our gesture just imitates that.
A few other things to think about, and in
terms of more subtlety is, it's often a good idea,
or at least a good exercise, to almost make
a graph of where you think that phrase should be.
It's a good way to get more subtlety in what your
left hand and right hand are doing in terms of phrasing.
To sing the melody, or listen to the melody, or play the melody,
and as you do it, trace almost on paper energy of the phrase.So,
[MUSIC]
Then it might get stronger.
[MUSIC]
And then once you trace that out, then all your
left hand is going to do is just mimic that shape.
[MUSIC]
5:44
And that have some elegance and shape to
them, that reflect what the phrase is doing.
Switching directions is going to be key here, because we can't keep going up.
And that's okay, if you keep going up, and you run, just retake
as if there was a bow, and start the phrase again, or change directions.
And that's where you can show beats, in terms of changing directions, on
[MUSIC]
So that's where I'm able to show beats on expressive parts in the rhythm.
6:17
A few other strategies in terms of just basic
phrasing issues, are our left hand sustain gesture is a
really handy one for showing phrases, and this is especially
true on showing things that go over the bar line.
Bar lines, as we've talked about in other videos, are often the
enemy of phrasing, because they look like a visual chopping off of sound.
And so, we might go,
[MUSIC]
That bar line can destroy that.
And so we want to encourage groups to play over that
bottom line to carry the phrase for longer periods of time.
And this gesture,
[MUSIC]
Just something as simple of that, and for us moving just
every so slightly can help carry them over the bottom line.
So can our right hand, so instead of giving a
very clear four of B3 what ever the meter is.
[MUSIC]
You notice I'm not doing
[MUSIC]
That active click and that energy on four will encourage
folks to use that bar line to chop up the sound.
But if I just float over it,
[MUSIC]
Floating over that bar line and placing the phrase to continue on
to the next down beat is a good way to do it.
A lot of this just takes practice, but make sure you figure out
what you want first, and then we can translate it into a physical gesture.
Dr. Evan FeldmanAssociate Professor & Wind Ensemble Conductor
