I'm transcribing liturgical choir music. I want to know is there an articulation that's longer then staccato but shorter then a note without an articulation. I have half notes that needs to be sung shorter but not as short as staccato. How do I need to notate these half notes in this situation? Thanks
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4To get them sung exactly as you want, it may be better to write shorter notes with rests in between. Portato is fine, but open to interpretation. – Tim Feb 2 '18 at 12:43
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At first thought I wanted to do just that. But after thinking it through I came to the conclusion that it will be hard on the users (singers) who read the score. – Nachmen Feb 2 '18 at 12:49
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4It may well be easier, as they'll see just what you want sung - as individuals, or with a conductor. – Tim Feb 2 '18 at 13:07
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It also matters very much what the text is. – chrylis Feb 2 '18 at 18:00
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Portato is notated with both a tenuto bar on the outside and a staccato dot on the inside.
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2Slurs with articulation marks can imply certain technique on certain instruments. The tenuto+staccato mark is more easily recognized as a note length indication without implying technique. – MattPutnam Feb 2 '18 at 17:22
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Okay, very obvious answer: you can simply use the text marking poco staccato. This means, a little bit staccato. However, I actually think the solution suggested in one of the comments, to use shorter note values separated by rests, is the most clear and practical notation.
answered Feb 2 '18 at 12:57
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You can use portato, which is an articulation that is longer than staccato and shorter than legato.
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You can simply google it. There are two ways of notating it. Stacatto dots and legato slurs or with a tenuto marking and a stacatto dot. – Stallmp Feb 2 '18 at 12:10
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If it's only two half notes consecutively what is better tenuto marking with staccato dot or staccato dots with legato slur? – Nachmen Feb 2 '18 at 13:38
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10FYI, one of the major goals of Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow is that when someone does "simply google" something, they arrive here and the complete answer is listed here. Nothing is more frustrating when searching for answers on the internet than doing a search, finding some likely looking hits, and then finding those hits just have dead links or suggestions to do the web search you just did. SE/SO should be the end of the searching, not a stop along the way. Now that I think about it, pintrest hits are probably more frustrating, but only slightly. – Todd Wilcox Feb 2 '18 at 16:35
