Four distinct movement qualities in music: a performer's guide
Alexandra Pierce · Contemporary Music Review · 1997
Beat, melody, the cadential tonic, phrase and climax, are all musical features which reflect movement qualities. The performer needs to sense the movement in these features. Beat is pendular, like swinging the arms and legs in walking; it is a succession of components centered on a momentary metric accent. Melodic contour is like the gestures accompanying speech; it is a sustained and curvilinear line, not a series of notes, and its life derives from the body's flexibility. The cadential tonic reflects a balanced, energized stillness, rather than a merely passive state; it is like standing comfortably upright, not like flopping in a chair. It is movement in stillness. Phrase and climax are characterized by an upward-and-outward elastic movement, resembling a breath. It has a “stretchy” quality, like a deliberate muscular action. If we sense each of these kinetic qualities in performing, we may observe our habits and alter them for the better.