Rules for Expressive Performance

The Rules for Expressive Performance are a set of conventions that advanced musicians “intuitively” follow when performing music with high levels of expressivity. ‘Intuitively’ is here in quotation marks, because such musical choices typically derive from years of instruction from teachers, coaches, and conductors. Many of these rules have to do with contextual decisions surrounding dynamics – when to add or reduce stress (weight / volume) to pitches, when to get louder or softer based on melodic shape or phrase length, etc. Some of the rules have to do with treatment of text, which is unique to vocal/choral settings. Some rules are situational, pertaining to specific style periods or genres of music. This philosophy of teaching performance practice conventions as rules allows the transfer of ideas from one song to another, ideally streamlining the rehearsal process.

RULES FOR EXPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE: 

Rule of Steady Beat (Also known as the Rule of the Long Note)

• Any note longer than one pulse of the steady beat grows or decays (Use critical thinking to decide which way!)

Rule of Melodic Contour

• As notes get higher, sing/play louder. As notes get lower, sing/play softer.

Rule of the Phrase

• Crescendo for the first half of the phrase and Decrescendo for the second half of the phrase

Rule of Metric Stress

• Add stress on the downbeat of each measure, with additional secondary stresses as appropriate

Rule of Slur

• Give weight to the first note of the slur, de-stress all subsequent pitches.

Rule of Dotted Eighth/Sixteenth Pairs

• Specific to some styles – Give space on the dot for articulation

Rule of Appoggiatura and Suspensions

• Give weight to the non-chord tone, relax on the resolution

Rule of Texture

• The voice/instrument  with the melody sings/plays louder.

Rule of Rubato

• When you slow down in the middle of the measure for expressivity, speed back up to keep tempo even.

Voice Specific Rules: 

Rule of Text Stress

• Give weight to the emphasized syllable of words (micro)
• Bring out important words in the phrase (macro)

Rule of Final Consonants

• When followed by a rest, final consonants are played on the rest.
• When no rest, but the final consonant is the end of the phrase, divide the duration of the final syllable in half to place the consonant.

Rule of Final Syllable

• Give final syllables their full value (whether stressed or unstressed as dictated by text stress) so as not to clip the final syllable and gasp for air.

Rule of High Cut-Offs

• Keep mouth open after cut-off

ADDITIONAL RULES: 

• Create any that you think can apply to more than one situation!
• Create a rule specific to a piece
• Create a rule specific to a style period
• Create a rule specific to an instrumental technique
• Create a rule specific to a genre

And finally – the rules are made to be broken! Nothing as subjective as musical artistry can be squeezed into a one-size-fits-all box. These conventions are true most of the time, which makes them worthy of study and application. However, when a rule seems like it doesn’t enhance a performance, and you can point to contextual elements to support your decision, throw it out. Sometimes, you’ll find a musical moment where two of the rules actually contradict each other. (For instance, the Rule of Melodic Contour says to get louder as the pitches rise, but if the pitches are rising at the end of a phrase, then the rule of Phrasing says to get softer. You’ll have to employ critical thinking to make a choice about which rule better serves the music – how fun and musical!