| Just to give the thread an interesting start, I have always been told that staccato pertained mostly to the start of the note, requiring a light, bouncy articulation that would actually make the note feel shorter, and not a concious attention to shortening the duration of the note. In long strings of staccato notes, the attack itself creates the shortness or feeling therof, especially at faster tempos. Some consideration should be given to the length of the note, they are not ment to sound full length, but they're not clipped or choked off either. This advice is excepted (yes I spelled it right) in a few cases: Isolated staccato notes (end of phrases) should be shortened and certain composers (Stravinsky, Shostakovich etc) require very secco or dry staccato where the note is indeed very short.
The line over the note was explained as tenuto, NOT legato, which implied full length, but with weight, and a very slight break (distinct articulation...for anyone who does math think point discontinuity), wheras legato indicates sustained, full length notes with very smooth, almost slurred transitions.
the > accent is a weight accent with a full length note. The weight comes partially from the air and partially from a harder articulation depending on context.
The ^ or marcato is a hard accent with an abbreviated note. Notes should be hit with the tongue and then released leaving space between neighbors.
While I have been exposed to various, contradicting opinions from conductors, teachers and fellow musicians, the above represent my definitions as a synthesis of those ideas. They seem to work well in general. I have noticed a pattern of difference of interpretations between band and orchestra conductors, the above are more at home in an orchestra. In (my) band, all of the above mean short with varying strength of attack, and tenuto is identical to what I said above. |