Questions tagged [articulation]

The technique which affects the transition or continuity on a single note or between multiple notes.

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2 votes
4 answers
111 views

Duration of a note in Moldau score

Let's consider the piano version of Moldau/Vltava from Smetana, the first two measures for example: What should be the duration of the blue circled notes, as expressed in units of an eighth note: ...
0 votes
1 answer
50 views

Sputtery tonging on Trombone when playing music

For some reason, whenever I play a piece of music (in this case, H. Vincent's 'Air for Baritone/Cornet'), I find that my tonging is very stutters and rough between notes, yet if I play one note, low ...
0 votes
3 answers
108 views

Is this professional pianist respecting the score of Dance of the Fairy Dragée

As one could see from the score of Dance of the Fairy Dragée, tranposed for piano, this is only starting at measure 5th than the staccato begins. But if we listen to this professional pianist (who ...
1 vote
2 answers
98 views

What is the difference between these articulations?

What is the difference in playing between accent (the little right pointing arrow,) staccato (the little dot,) marcato (the little hat,) accent-staccato (the little right-pointing arrow with the ...
3 votes
2 answers
58 views

How to indicate articulation on only one volte of a repeat?

A source I’m transcribing has a piece of music repeated, with an articulation applied only once. E.g., A B C D | A B E F | G F E D | A B C D | A B E> F | or, using Lilypond notation, \fixed c' { ...
7 votes
3 answers
988 views

On piano, can one tell aurally whether a slur is written or not?

If you hear a piece on the piano, can you objectively tell where the slurs are written? Sometimes it feels hard to tell the difference when there are slurs or not written in a passage. Is there an ...
1 vote
2 answers
190 views

What do triangle above or below the note mean? [duplicate]

I was practicing some piano music (Ein Spanier Fur Elise to be exact) and I got to a bit in the music where the sheet music showed triangle above/below the note. They could be either just below, just ...
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2 votes
1 answer
151 views

What does one dot under a note mean? [duplicate]

I’m not sure what this notation (dots under notes)means exactly. I am practicing both pieces for an audition to enter orchestra. Help would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you would like to let me ...
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0 votes
1 answer
72 views

Attack and Release articulation in Orchestral category of Kontakt Factory Library 2

I've been playing around with the new Kontakt Factory Library 2 that came with Kontakt 7. I noticed that the Strings, Brass, and Woodwind instruments are missing the Attack and Release knobs. How do I ...
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1 vote
4 answers
161 views

Term meaning "unintended overlaps between notes" in piano playing

What is the proper or usual term that names the following problem in piano playing? Problem: The finger, after striking a note, does not release the key on time but overstays (typically by about 50 ...
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3 votes
1 answer
140 views

How to notate late attack/almost a grace note

I'm transcribing a piano piece. There is a short note that should be attacked slightly later than notated, but should not be played fully as a grace note—rather somewhere in between. (Even playing by ...
6 votes
2 answers
476 views

Difference between fz, sz and f

What is exactly the difference between f (forte) and fz (forzato) ? I thought for long time that fz is similar to sf (sforzando), i.e. that it's a punctual dynamic that works only at the moment where ...
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2 votes
1 answer
197 views

Duration of articulations (e.g. staccato, tenuto) for piano

QUESTION Staccatissimo, staccato, mezzo-staccato, portato, non-legato, tenuto, legato.* For piano, what would be a (rough) numerical representation of these articulations' gap duration for note ...
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9 votes
2 answers
339 views

Is there a word for when you scoop to the same note?

I'm a vocalist who's done different kinds of ensembles over the years, and I often have this instinct to scoop to (rearticulate? emphasize?) a repeated note if the other voices change to make a ...
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5 votes
1 answer
581 views

What do '4eCe' and '2eCe' mean in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole?

May I know what does '4eCe' & '2eCe' mean in this context? *I got this sheet music from imslp.
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4 votes
2 answers
181 views

the difference between SF and an accent mark [duplicate]

what is the difference between these two? I know Sf is a dynamic, but what if it is already in a forte section? and with sf do you play every note following as sf until another dynamic change or do ...
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2 votes
3 answers
417 views

is there an instrument that plays all notes for the same volume profile (over time) regardless of pitch

So you know how when playing a stringed instrument a low note will always play longer than a high note. Here is a good question about it - When we press a piano key, why does a high pitch note not run ...
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4 votes
4 answers
529 views

Notation of staccato rhythm

I'm notating a line for bass and effectively want the 1st and 4th semiquaver of a beat played staccato. I've thought of four ways of notating this that I think would effectively sound the same if ...
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2 votes
2 answers
127 views

Staccato crotchet or quaver and rest, or staccato quaver and rest [duplicate]

What is the difference in the execution of these 3 rhythmic notations? A crotchet with staccato, a quaver note followed by a quaver rest, and a quaver note with staccato followed by a quaver rest
6 votes
2 answers
832 views

Trill notation with a wavy line

There are 2 trill notations: 'tr' and 'tr' followed by a wavy line. What exactly is the difference and when is one used over the other?
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7 votes
2 answers
345 views

Should staccatissimo be observed in Bach's Fugue in D Minor in WTC 1 BWV 851

I am using the "Edition Peters" and there are notes which have a staccatissimo sign under some notes. Should these be observed? It seems to me that it disrupts the overall tonal quality of ...
11 votes
3 answers
814 views

Multiple staccato dots on minim with tremolo repeat in Lilypond

I'm writing a piano reduction of Gustav Mahler's 4th Symphony (to help study the score and practice music notation, but mainly just for kicks 'n' grins) using GNU LilyPond. (Yes, I know, I'm totally ...
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5 votes
2 answers
736 views

Are slurs on a score for piano as well?

With piano I dont really see/hear the point yet of having slurs because of its sound. I find it difficult to play more legato than is normal. Please can someone enlighten me. Are slurs for piano ...
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5 votes
2 answers
222 views

How Do I Play and Understand the Note Structure in Jimbo's Lullaby, Debussy (Bar 9 Piano)

How Do I Play This Section of Jimbo's Lullaby (Piano)? Novice (Self Studying) Music Theory and Piano In the segment of the piece shown below (measures 9–13), which notes and dyads do I play on which ...
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6 votes
1 answer
448 views

Trombone - meaning of "do not clip notes"

I'm studying with the Alessi & Bowman version of Arban's method for trombone and euphonium. Quite often, for instance when studying slurs, grace notes and arpeggios, one advice is to not clip a ...
22 votes
5 answers
2k views

Notation - when to use staccato vs rests

I'm arranging a piece of music I wrote for string quartet, and I'm not sure what the most practical way of notating the following rhythm is. I'm self taught and rarely use written music, so I'm not ...
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is this upside down square fermata?

I was wondering what this marking means, it looks like an upside-down square fermata or an upside-down down bow marking with a dot. I found it in a piece for cello by Nadia Boulanger.
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15 votes
2 answers
3k views

Slurs within slurs

How do I play the slurs with in the larger slur? Can you play this two ways? One big slur or individual slurs?
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3 votes
3 answers
706 views

Why is legato articulation needed

Can someone clarify why the legato articulation is needed in notation? Staccato 'shortens' the duration but surely the default is legato? How can a note be played more legato?
2 votes
1 answer
119 views

Is it possible to combine accent and tremolo in notation?

I want to have a strings part with tremolo, like used for example on the beginning of the 4th movement in Beethoven's 6th Symphony. But I also want the beginning of every such note to be accented. In ...
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18 votes
3 answers
931 views

How does one maintain voice integrity when longer and shorter notes of the same pitch occur in two voices

Here is an excerpt from Bach's BWV 796, measures 8–9. (Unfortunately, ABCjs renders the ties in exactly the wrong direction!) X:1 T:Sinfonia No. 10 in G Major, BWV 796 M:3/4 C:J.S. Bach %%staves [(1 ...
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4 votes
1 answer
188 views

Brass triple tonguing sylables' order. Why "TA TA KA" instead of "TA KA TA"?

I see in all videos on youtube, people say to say "ta ta ka" instead of "ta ka ta" for triple tonging. However, in my mind I always thought it was "Ta ka ta" and so it ...
1 vote
3 answers
459 views

What is the name of this bowing technique for strings?

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Playing_Techniques-Right_Hand/Violin-Ricochet It is basically playing all 4 strings consecutively creating an "undulation". HOWEVER, not in the staccato slurred ...
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0 votes
1 answer
68 views

Articulation for shortening a note/silence [duplicate]

I want to ask is there an articulation that is opposite from 'Fermata'. In other words I don't want to change the time signature? What I want the particular note/silence should go faster then the ...
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2 votes
3 answers
271 views

Playing legato while staccato in Rachmaninoff's "Etude-Tableaux Op. 33"

In Rachmaninoff's 'Étude-Tableaux Op.33 No.4 in D-minor' there are plenty of places where you are supposed to play staccato while playing legato in the left hand (for example, measures 32-34 below). ...
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15 votes
2 answers
1k views

Mystery bowing notation

A cellist friend asked if I had come across this coloured in cross marking (hourglass?) in bar 35 and it has me stumped. (Beethoven Sonatina, so you can discount any crazy new music articulation.) ...
1 vote
0 answers
62 views

Logic Pro X 10.5.1...Certain articulations won't make sound?

I'm trying to do a trumpet fall articulation, and it shows up as registering even in the piano roll, but when I play it, it's silent. What's going on?
2 votes
1 answer
525 views

Writing dynamics separately with Lilypond

I've recently been engraving more and more with Lilypond, and I stumbled upon a .ly file on Mutopia (public domain scores engraved with Lilypond) where the dynamics and articulations are written ...
1 vote
3 answers
218 views

How exactly is this measure in Chopin's etude supposed to be played?

How am I supposed to play the staccato in the following section? I also don't understand when composers write 8th on bottom and then a 16th on top. Why do composers do this?
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5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Two dots below a note in the Bass Clef

I’ve come across some sheet music that has notes (Bass Clef) with 2 dots immediately below the note, as per the image below (right in the middle of the page): What does this notation mean?
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

I don't recognize the symbol on top of this note. What is it, and how does it affect the note?

This is a picture of the note and the symbol. It's part of a blues trombone solo. I would like to know what the symbol is and how I should play it.
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6 votes
3 answers
555 views

What is this notation in Debussy's "Engulfed Cathedral"?

In light of the recent portato question at What do the dots and lines underneath these chords mean?, what did Debussy mean by the tied portato on the third quarter note of the second measure of ...
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7 votes
2 answers
9k views

What do these triangles above and below the staff mean?

The image above is taken from sheet music of The Dreamy Fish by Erik Satie, I'm not completely sure what those triangles mean. Looking them up, they look closest to sforzando symbol, but that one ...
3 votes
1 answer
505 views

Double and Triple Tonguing Syllables?

Brass and Woodwind players use specific syllables like ta-ka-ta for triple tonguing... I would like to know: What are the most common used syllables for double and triple tonguing? Are they ...
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4 votes
1 answer
159 views

How to transition between notes in Bansuri

Ok, at this point, I am teaching myself Bansuri (A Scale) by playing simple tunes 10-15 min a day (totally swamped nowadays) Playing Om Jai Jagdish Hare it quite straightforward (plus I am familiar ...
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3 votes
1 answer
142 views

Random articulation in sheet music

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. ...
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5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Attack on first notes on trumpet

I realized that when starting a note on trumpet, It always, especially with lower notes like low C (Bb) to start making the sound it comes a stream of air first. I wonder how I can do to start the ...
2 votes
1 answer
690 views

Saxophone articulation - interpreting symbols

I have a number of pieces that feature the following articulation symbols (highlighted in red; last bar of Andy Firth's "The Bullfrog Bounce"): I've asked my teacher how to play them, but his ...
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8 votes
6 answers
6k views

Isn't a tenuto marking redundant?

If a tenuto mark means to "hold for the entire value of the note" as it's often defined, isn't this redundant? Aren't we expected to hold notes for their entire value anyway? So what is a tenuto ...
1 vote
3 answers
3k views

What terms are there for changes in tempo?

I know that there are many terms that can be used to talk about the tempo of a piece of music but what words are there for change in tempo? The only ones that I can think of are: Accelerando ...