Basic Phrase and Sentence

If any simple four-line folk tune, be hummed through, it will be felt to fall definitely into two halves; these are musical Sentences. If one of these sentences be now hummed it will be felt to fall again into two halves; these are musical Phrases. The normal length of a phrase is four measures. Although it can be more or less, depending on what's being said and who is saying it.

The following tune Planxty Irwin has in the first part two phrases, bar 1 and 2 then another phrase, 3 and 4... the two phrases are repeated and conclude on bar 8. In the second section there are two answering phrases and then the original phrase is repeated again.

The tune also repeats after every 8 bars.

D whistle Planxty Irwin (O'Carolan)

Another way of phrasing a tune is with breathing places; for example breathing in different places can give another rhythmical slant to a tune. Below is an example of changing the breath marks to give the tune a slight difference.

These breathing places are a matter of preference and listening to plenty of players is a good way of hearing these differences. A fairly new site where there are sound clips of traditional Irish players and transcriptions of their tunes is at Brother Steve's site. I recommend this site for anyone truly interested in hearing quality traditional players.

On this clip it is played firstly with the breath marks at the boxed comma's (between the third and fourth beat and dropping the note underneath). The second time using the second beat of the bar.

D whistle Cup of Tea Reel