---
title: "Articulation: Staccato, Accent, Tenuto and Legato · Piakno"
description: "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."
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---

# Articulation

> 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.

Also called Articulation marks

## 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.

> Staccato does not mean faster or louder. The beat stays exactly where it was; only the sound is shorter, with silence filling the rest of the note’s time.

## Common questions

### 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.

## The course works through this in:

- [Lesson 34 · Accent, tenuto, staccato, marcato: four small marks by the notehead](https://piakno.com/course/piano-foundations/lesson/34)

## Related entries

- [Dynamics](https://piakno.com/theory/dynamics)
- [Note values](https://piakno.com/theory/note-values)
- [Music notation symbols](https://piakno.com/theory/music-symbols)

- [Music theory reference](https://piakno.com/theory)