In musical notation, the Italian word staccato (literally detached, plural staccatos or staccati) indicates that notes are separated in a detached and distinctly separate manner, with silence making up the latter part of the time allocated to each note. See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use In Music, the term note has two primary meanings 1 a sign used in Musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a Sound; [1] The rhythm is not affected. Notes identified as staccato are often played or sung abruptly and short. They are usually denoted by a dot over the head of the note when the stem is downward, or by a dot below the head of the note when the stem is upward:

Sometimes in the Classical period (the piano works of Mozart, for example) some sort of an accent mark might be used instead, which leads to uncertainty as to what the composer intended. The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1810 In Music, an accent is an emphasis placed on a particular note, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark. Accentuation and staccato effects at times go hand in hand, but scarcely so in most modern works.

Playing staccato is the opposite of playing legato. In Musical notation the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together" indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly A staccato passage for strings does not necessarily have to be pizzicato, though pizzicato itself might be thought of as a kind of staccato effect. Pizzicato (ˌpɪtsɪˈkɑːtoʊ is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a String instrument. For example, Leroy Anderson's Jazz Legato/Jazz Pizzicato. Leroy Anderson ( June 29 1908 – May 18 1975) was an American Composer of short light concert pieces many of which were There is an intermediate articulation called either mezzo staccato or non-legato.

External links

• Basic Music Theory Neil V. Hawes, organist and choirmaster of St. Mary's Church, Osterley

Audio examples

See also

• Staccatissimo
• Legato
• Portato
• Slur (music)
• Staccato - video example of staccato playing