Mastering form sense unlocks doors to musicality at a much higher level.
It’s just as important to develop a sense for common phrase lengths as it is to develop a sense of tempo and meter.
Musicians are universally good at feeling the meter; in other words, they’re good at feeling how long a bar lasts and where the beginnings of bars are. Young musicians are less good at innately feeling phrasing and recognizing where phrases start and end. But in my experience, acquiring that sense gives a massive lift to your ability to make music.
It’s not just that can you better shape phrases for musicality when you feel the phrase length. Your time gets better; your ability to nail entrances and cutoffs gets better; even your time gets better.
For many of my students, thinking of form from this large-structure perspective has never occurred to them; I’m certain it’s true for your students as well.