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You Can Blame Mozart That Legato Notes Can Be Played Staccato
How can you make a note be long and short simultaneously? How can legato notes be played staccato? Mozart created a mixed staccato/legato notation to use in his piano pieces, and it still confuses musicians to this day. Read more to answer the question, “how can legato notes be played staccato?”
This post uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the article.
How Legato Notes Can Be Played Staccato: Exploring the Notation
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
How can legato notes be played staccato? Gardener Read (in his handbook Music Notation) explains, “When [staccato] marks are combined with slurs, the result is more psychological that actual. That is, the combination suggests a quality of sound, rather than indicating it exactly” (269).
Look at the music example above, the first bar shows the notated version while the second bar shows how you’d play it. You can see that the staccato dots do create a break between each note. However, you’ll play the breaks lazily, more like sixteenth note rests than true staccato.
The example below gives another common use of the notation. Bar 1 shows a slur leading into a staccato dot. Bar 2 shows you how it would be played. Basically, you’d play the notes legato right into the F note. However, the F will be shortened to a true staccato length.
In other words, the staccato in the second example will have more “bounce” than you’d use while performing the first example. So, yes, legato notes can be played staccato… ish. What you might think of as semi-staccato.
Concluding Thoughts to “How Can Legato Notes Be Played Staccato?”
If you felt confused when you first saw legato and staccato combined, don’t think you’ve been the only one who’s felt this way. Generally, this notation makes people’s eyes cross.
However, once the notation has been explained, it’s easy to see how legato notes can be played staccato-ish. Have fun playing!
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© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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