Musical interpretation is first and foremost a question of shaping a melody or the melodic line of a setting. Music, like any language, follows its own set of rules and a sufficient knowledge and familiarity with musical ‘grammar&rsquo, is therefore an essential prerequisite of any convincing interpretation.The internationally renowned performer and teacher Peter-Lukas Graf explains in great detail the parameters that have to be taken into account for a successful interpretation: rhythm, metre, agogics, articulation, phrasing, ornamentation and implied polyphony, etc. Numerous examples from the flute repertoire of the 17th–20th century serve as models from which he derives the ‘rules&rsquo, appropriate for an interpretation in keeping with each period. &ndash, These rules are not intended to be dogmatic but instead should stimulate the players to form their own opinion.

About 'rules' - Preface - Golden rules for the interpreter - The structure and analysis of melody - Notes on the execution of ornamentation in the 17th and 18th centuries - Ornamentation in the 19th and 20th centuries - Phrasing - Rhythm - Accents - Dynamics - Tempo - Metre - Flexibility of rhythm/rubato - Shaping the musical phrase - Conclusion - Bibliography - Index - Musical examples