Playing Musically

Carrying out a good phrasing plan is essential to musical hymn playing, but there is more:

Repeated-Note Treatment

Remember that a phrase is a musical thought; it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A phrase is cohesive--it flows from left to right. Anything that tends to disrupt that flow, except for intentional phrase breaks, detracts from musical hymn playing.

A choppy treatment of repeated notes can disrupt the flow of the phrase. Try one or more of the following ideas to soften the impact of repeated notes:

• Make the break between them smaller.
• Tie one or more of them.
• Tie in the bass instead of an inner part.

Example 1: Choppy repeated-note treatment
Example 2: Flowing repeated-note treatment