Music Learning 101!

Articulations, a thread:

Articulation in music is how a note or section of music should be played! They determine the sound of a note and are usually structured in a way to signal the start or end of a piece!
There are several different types of articulation. This thread will cover the more common ones.

Just like with dynamics, articulations are typically notated within the score. They often manifest as markings either above or below the notes.

Ex: Far right.

Articulations are varied and are many in number. Many of them are nearly imperceptible to observe, unless you are looking directly at the sheet music. Thus, for the purpose of this thread, I will only include the kind that can be more easily heard without reading!

Legato: Smooth and connected.

The notes in a passage are tied together, so as to give the effect of one unified line.

Staccato: Short and detached. The opposite of legato. The notes in a passage are separated and played/sung short!

Staccatissimo: VERY short and detached.

Spiccato: a type of staccato, but for string players!! This differs from staccato in that whenever the bow strikes the string, there is a little bounce! Hence the nickname, "bouncy bow"

Accent: Notes with accent marks are played with more force to emphasize a note! Notice the emphasis "Battle", "JOSHua" and "JERIco".

Marcato: Marked. It's a type of accent that usually applies to a whole passage! There's a bit of separation between the notes and a little what musicians like to call "decay".

Fermata: This means that the note should be held longer than its original value. One can assume that a "big" final note has a fermata. You hold it as long as the conductor wants!

Glissando: A slide(or Glide) either up or down between two notes!

Here's a vocal example. Patti loves her some of these.

We'll stop here! As stated previously, these are only a few examples of articulations in music! As you can see, articulations are integral in the way we hear a certain sound. It can affect timbre, pitch, and even rhythm!

Like dynamics, articulations are a means of expression that can aid a composer or performer in illustrating a musical idea! There are no universal standards for articulations. While many works have a standardized approach, articulations are very much up to the will of the user!

This one was rather short, but I hope you enjoyed it and learned something! Have a great day!!

Here's one of my favorite examples of Staccato!