I have played a few Hal Leonard charts recently and I have noticed on some of them a random articulation mark somewhere in the piece where it would be of no consequence and doesn't seem to make sense. The examples I have seen include a tenuto in the middle of a line of crochets, and an accent on a quaver which leads on to a more significant note. It was easy to dismiss the first one as an accident or something I didn't really understand, but I did wonder if there was something more behind it, a feeling which was reinforced by the second occurrence.
This brought up a few questions for me.
Is this an anti-plagiarism measure of some sort, and if so how is it supposed work and is it a common practice? If not, is it intentional for another purpose? Also, should I play with the 'artificial' articulation?
Examples:
- Bass line in bar 60, beat 4 here: Youtube link
- Something like this in the bass line to "The Girl From Ipanema" (this was about the 4th iteration of the same harmony [ostinato?]):