What does it mean to 'play musically'? As a student I was told, "well, the intonation and rhythm are fine, but it could be more musical". On other occasions I was admonished to "play with more feeling". I was embarrassed not to know what the teacher meant. I wanted to be a good musician, but had no idea what musicality really entailed. Students need to know, in concrete terms, what they can do to improve interpretive abilities. Does 'musicality' include specifics of tempo, rhythm, tone quality, etc., or is it some ephemeral quality with which one is born? Does it include a respect for the composer's wishes and stylistic environment, or is it a subjective wallowing in one's own emotional morass? I would like to propose that we, as teachers, can offer many specific suggestions to our students which will help them to "play musically".

Phrasing. Most teachers are referring to some degree of phrasing with or without rubato when they admonish a student to be 'more musical'. Phrasing can certainly be taught, especially when the student is shown the parallels to the spoken phrase, and declamatory delivery. Just as a fine actor projects the meaning of the sentences of the playwright with various pitch contours, so does the string player project the meaning of the musical phrases of the composer. Where does the phrase begin and end? Which note or notes are to be stressed as the high points of that phrase? Where is the point of arrival? Does the phrase contain any interior smaller phrases, as embedded phrases or clauses in a sentence? Are there secondary ideas which should be delineated clearly? Is the phrase a declarative one, receding dynamically as it completes? ("Today is a lovely day.") Or is it a question, requiring an increasing dynamic at the end, just as the human voice goes up in a questioning manner ("Is today a lovely day?"). Shadings and gradations of tone are the key to musical delivery of the phrase.

Rubato. Just as important as dynamic gradations are speed gradations. Rubato is a difficult subject to teach, because words and descriptions are often inadequate. Perhaps this is why many teachers resort to vague admonitions. The most charming explanation came from Chopin, who said:

Fancy a tree with its branches swayed by the wind; the stem represents the steady time, the moving leaves are the melodic inflections. This is what is meant by Tempo and Tempo rubato.

Rubato (Italian, 'robbed'), in contrast to ritardando, is not changing the tempo, it is a much more subtle phenomenon. If we 'rob' time in one part of the phrase by slowing down (however slightly), we must be good musical citizens and 'give back' the time by accelerating in another place, in order that the overall pulse and basic time completion occur as they would without any rubato. The final concurrence does not have to take place at a bar line (which is, after all, only a notational convenience) but rather at the point in the phrase where the tempo steadies and regulates itself naturally. I believe this is what we partly mean by 'playing musically'. 'Musical' is natural. It is natural, because the underlying large scale pulse and 'swing' of the music are not distorted.

The question of how much rubato also serves as the indicator of taste in any performer. Too little rubato, and the performance becomes mechanical. Too much rubato and the performance is exaggerated, corny. If too much time is taken inappropriately, the musical momentum of the composition is difficult (if not impossible) to recapture.

The responsibility of the accompanist, be it pianist, other members of the string quartet, or conductor, is to keep the regularity of the beat while the soloist performs the melodic material tempo rubato. Spohr cautioned: "the accompaniment has to continue its steady, regular course". Of course, some personalities are better adapted than others to play this important role of pulse provider. In the middle ages, the 'tactus (beat) giver' was chosen for the placid nature of his personality. Today we require that any performer is flexible enough to perform both roles, free soloist and steady accompanist.

When teaching rubato, demonstration is the only successful method. Students must listen to and try playing a number of different possible rubati in a given phrase, possibilities demonstrated by the teacher and also those demonstrated by other artists on recordings. When I was a student, 'comparative listening' to different recordings and live performances was a great educational adventure. Attending a concert to hear the repertoire I was studying was an invaluable learning experience. It was a prime developer of my aesthetic taste, if only to hear what should not be done in a given phrase.

Bowing and tone quality. For string players, playing musically includes choosing appropriate bow strokes and tone quality. It is not necessary to have extensive experience in 'authentic performance practice' to teach basic rules of stylistic differences between composers. In general, music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries should be performed with a clear, centered tone, vibrato always under control, bowing which emphasizes the slurs within the phrase, and dynamics of moderate levels. Heavily accented bow strokes are inappropriate, as is a harsh, 'pecky' spiccato. Written and implied ritardandi should be moderate. In contrast, in music of the Romantic era, the string student can learn to play with a richer, thicker sound, more intense vibrato, smoother legato expressions of the phrase, greater dynamic range (louder fortes, softer pianos). Ritardandi may be larger and longer. Finally, in music of the Impressionistic and Contemporary period, differences in timbre such as sul ponticello and sul tasto can be practiced and developed to show stylistic aplomb. Varieties of pizzicato (different angles of approach, points of contact, different fingers) and even varieties of vibrato can be explored by the student under the teacher's tutelage, opening new worlds of interpretation.

Stylistic concerns. If students show interest in pursuing the subject of performance practice, they should be encouraged. There is a wealth of written information on style available to performers now, and numerous touring groups demonstrate the exciting possibilities of authentic instruments and historic interpretation. However, one does not have to have a Doctorate in Musicology to teach the student to play a Baroque trill beginning with the appogiatura (note above the main note) and on the beat. This, too, is 'playing musically'. I disagree with the words of Leopold Auer, who, in his book Violin Playing as I Teach It, said:

Tradition in reality weighs down the living spirit of the present with the dead formalism of the past. . .The violinists of today are rightly just as individual, each in his own way, as were those of the past. Let them express themselves, and not fetter their playing with rules that have lost their meaning... Beauty we must have, tradition we can dispense with."

It seems to me that the first responsibility of the performer is to recreate as much as possible the music as the composer originally conceived it. The performer is a re-creator, not a creator. To look back at the music of the eighteenth century through the rosy haze of the nineteenth century is to be anti-musical. To muck up the clarity of texture of Baroque and Classic works with Romantic vibrato, slides and totally legato bowing is anti-musical. The teacher's responsibility is to educate the student in these matters, along with encouraging the individuality of expression inherent in each player.

Self-analysis. Perhaps the best tool for teaching a student to play musically is the tape recorder (or camcorder). A student forced to listen back to his or her performance will discover a multitude of details which need improvement. But, along with the intonation and rhythm, he or she will hear the overall impression of the performance and its effect on the listener. Is it compelling? Does it hold attention? Does it feel natural, or are there places where the momentum is interrupted, the emphasis exaggerated? Is the tone beautiful, the vibrato smooth from note to note and appropriate? Does the music come alive through an imaginative application of phrasing, rubato, bowing, tone quality, and appropriate stylistic concerns? All these elements combine to create the vitality of expression which is the ultimate musicality.