Articulation

Articulation defines how notes should be played to be more or less distinguishable from each other. The most commonly used articulations are staccato and legato. 

Staccato is marked with a dot over a notehead and indicates that the duration of the note should be considerably shorted. “Staccato” in English means “disconnected”.

Figure: Staccato

Legato indicates that a note should be endured as long as possible i.e. without making an audible pause between it and a next note. Because of this, it is said that legato notes run into each other. “Legato” in English means “connected”. A legato can be written using tenuto or a slur. Tenuto operates on a single note and is marked with a hyphen over a notehead. “Tenuto” in English means “holding”. 

Figure: Tenuto

A slur operates on the sequence of notes. All notes under a slur are played legato. However, if a slur marks a phrase, the last note should be slightly shortened in its duration. This is analogous to a singer taking breath at the end of a phrase and preparing for the next one. It is important that a singer does not take breath in the middle of a phrase because that would break the flow of the music. The next figure shows an example of two slurs in an upper staff of a piano grand staff at the beginning of Chopin’s Prelude No. 7 in A major.

Figure: Slurs

Portato is somewhere between staccato and legato. It indicates that a note should be slightly shortened. “Portato” in English means “carrying”. Portato can be written in two ways: as staccato under a slur or as staccato and tenuto together. 

Figure: Portato, written in two ways