What is the difference between staccato and legato?

They are opposites. Legato joins each note to the next with no break; staccato shortens each note so a small silence follows it. Music often moves between the two, phrase by phrase.

How short is a staccato note?

There is no fixed length. A rule of thumb is about half the written value, shorter in a fast, light passage and longer in a slow one; the music around it decides.

What does a line over a note mean?

It is a tenuto: hold the note for its full value and give it a little weight. In a passage of staccato notes, a tenuto marks the one note that is held.

Articulation: Staccato, Accent, Tenuto and Legato

Articulation marks say how a note is touched and released: staccato (a dot) short, tenuto (a line) full length, accent (>) stressed, marcato (^) strongly stressed. A slur over a group of notes means legato.

The four marks by the note head

Staccato, tenuto, accent and marcato, one note each.

Mark	Name	How to play it
·	Staccato	Short and detached: let the key go early
–	Tenuto	Held for its full length, often with a little weight
>	Accent	Struck louder than the notes around it
^	Marcato	A stronger accent, short and emphatic

The marks sit on the side of the head away from the stem, which keeps a staccato dot from being read as the dot that lengthens a note. They can combine: dots under a slur, or a dot with a line, ask for portato (also called mezzo staccato), slightly separated, with each note leaned on.

Legato and the slur

Legato means connected: each key is held until the next one sounds, so there is no gap between the notes. A slur, a curve over or under a group of notes, asks for exactly that, and the end of a slur is a small breath, the hand lifting before the next group.

Five notes under one slur, played legato with no gap.

The same five notes staccato: each one short, with air between.

What is the difference between a slur and a tie?

A tie looks like a slur but joins two notes of the same pitch: the second is not played again, and its length is added to the first. A slur joins different pitches and changes only how they connect. If the curve links two identical notes side by side, it is a tie.