unit Five: Basic articulation, expression, and tempo markings
Articulation is the way that notes are tongued and their duration. Usually, articulation is altered by changing whether or not a note is tongued or how it is tongued for wind instruments.
Types of Articulations:
Types of Articulations:
- Staccato: little dot placed on a note which means the note is to be played shorter so as to create space before the next note. It DOES NOT mean clip the note short and ugly. It does mean that the note should have space. For wind instruments, rather than stopping the note with the tongue, stop the note by stopping your air flow sooner.
- Stacatissimo: Shorter than a staccato
- Marcato(martelato): The "tepee" or "v" placed on a note that means it should be played short and accented (with more force at the beginning of the note).
- Normal Accent (normal): Beginning of note should be accented and the note should be held for full duration.
- Tenuto: Line placed on a note which means the note is to be held for full duration. The articulation on legato notes should be light and legato notes should sound connected.
- Slur: This is a line connecting two or more different notes which means that the notes should not be tongued as they change. Basically, the airflow should stay continuous and all the notes should sound connected.
It is important to note that articulation is not the same in each piece of music and varies with style, the era in which the piece was written, and other factors. Articulation can also be combined. For instance, a tenuto can be place with a tenuto accent to emphasize that the note be played full, or a staccato can be placed with a marcato accent to emphasize the separation of notes.
Expression markings include both dynamic markings and markings that state how notes are to be interpreted.
Common dynamic markings:
Common dynamic markings:
- Crescendo and Decrescendo: Abbreviated cresc. and decresc., or signified by a sideways v opening right (cresc) or opening left (decresc). Crescendo means to become louder and decrescendo means to become softer.
- pp,p,mp,mf,f,ff: Pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo (very soft, soft, medium soft, medium loud, loud, very loud).
- Marcato: Play the notes short and accented; often used in march style.
- Legato: Play notes smooth and connected.
- Expressivo: Expressively
- Dolce: Sweetly
- Piu: more
- Meno: less
Tempo markings indicate the speed at which a piece of music is to be played. Below is a list of basic tempo markings:
- Largo: Broadly
- Adagio: Slow, stately
- Andante: Walking pace
- Moderato: Moderately
- Allegro: Fast
- Vivace: Lively, fast
- Presto: Very fast