(RE)PHRASING—SHAPING MUSIC WITH MODERN INSTRUMENTS

This four-year research project (2022-2026) aims to demonstrate how the affordances of modern musical instruments influence phrasing and expand our understanding of how they affect the approach to shaping musical ideas.

Phrasing is the performer's musical language, strongly linked to how well one masters one's instrument and ability to communicate musical ideas and interpretations. Instrumentalists have seen technical developments and innovations over hundreds of years, leading to the instruments we use today. Modern orchestral instruments are often very different from their historical predecessors, especially evident with woodwind instruments. The development has generally been toward more evenness through the registers, larger volume, and projection. Modern playing methodology is also highly focused on evening out the instrument's idiosyncrasies, aiming to make all notes through the registers have the same shape. But what happens when everything sounds the same? This project will address what new knowledge related to phrasing on modern instruments—whether material, methodological, or a combination of the two—can contribute to the development of my field.