Staccato

What it means

Staccato comes from staccare, “to detach,” and calls for the notes to be played short and separated from one another. The note sounds for about half its notated value; the rest becomes a rest. The total duration remains unchanged in doing so — a staccato shortens the note, not the bar.

Within the spectrum of articulation, staccato lies close to the edge: only staccatissimo is shorter, less separated are non legato, portato, and finally legato. How short a staccato actually turns out depends on tempo, style, and instrument — in a slow movement the note sounds longer than in a fast one, although the same sign stands there.

The marking says nothing about volume. A staccato in piano is soft and short.

In the notation

It is indicated by a dot above or below the notehead, on the side away from the stem. This dot is to be distinguished from the augmentation dot, which stands to the right of the notehead. Dots under a slur do not mean staccato but portato. A dot together with an accent or wedge calls for a note that is short and accented at the same time.

Musical use

Detached playing gives music lightness and sharpness. It shapes dance-like movements, scherzos, and accompanying figures that are to be springy, and serves, in polyphonic movements, to bring out thematic entries. The alternation between bound and detached sections belongs among the most important means of shaping altogether; often it lies at the actual difference of character between two themes.

Staccato is notated with dots above or below the notes.

Performance practice

Adapt the brevity to the tempo, instead of taking it mechanically: in slow movements the note may sound longer. Avoid emphasis — short does not mean loud. Take care that the notes still sound despite the brevity and that the phrase keeps a direction. On the piano check the pedal, with string players the point of contact, with wind players the tonguing: everywhere the technique decides whether the short note still has substance.