Staccato and Legato

Dynamics and Articulation

In this next section, we'll have a look at dynamics and articulation.

Understanding Dynamics

• Dynamics describe how loud or how soft the music is.
• Articulation tells us how to approach the note in a specific way.

Just like changing the way our voice sounds can help us express ourselves more fully, using this idea in music, articulation can do the same.

• If I want to sound soothing and calm, I might speak with connected words slowly and softly.
• Or if I want to sound angry, I might scream.

Musical Articulation Examples

Let's explore a couple of examples of our musical articulation.

Staccato Notes

• Staccato is an Italian word that refers to notes that are detached or crisp.
• It's depicted by a dot underneath or on top of a note on the musical stave.

Be really careful not to confuse this with a dot on the side of a note, as that has more to do with the note value.

Legato Notes

Next, let's look at legato notes.

• You can think of legato as the opposite of staccato because it makes notes smooth and connected.
• Legato notes are joined by a curved line that looks quite a lot like a tied note.

The difference is:

• A tie goes between two or more notes that are the same.
• A legato slur, as it's called, goes between several notes that are different, depicting that you should make them nice and smooth and connected.

Practice Activities

Next, we'll play some articulation games to practice:

• Using your ear to hear the difference between staccato (short, detached notes) and legato (smooth and connected notes).