In musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together") indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence. Legato technique is required for slurred A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. This implies legato articulation, and in music for bowed string instruments, it also indicates the notes should be played in one bow; and in music for wind instruments, that the notes should be played without using the tongue performance, but unlike slurring (as that term is interpreted for some instruments), legato does not forbid rearticulation. In standard notation legato is indicated either with the word legato itself, or by a slur (a curved line) under the notes that are to be joined in one legato group. Legato, like staccato Staccato is a form of musical articulation, signifying an unconnected note, which is short and detached. It has been used in musical notation since the early 18th century.[citation needed] Staccato is derived from the Italian word staccare meaning to detach. It may also originate from the Old French word estachier, which comes from the latin, is a kind of articulation In music, articulation refers to the direction or performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on single note or between multiple notes or sounds. There is an intermediate articulation called either mezzo staccato or non-legato.
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Classical stringed instruments
In music for classical stringed instruments, legato is an articulation which often refers to notes played with a full bow In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones, that are played with the shortest silence, often barely perceptible, between notes. This may be achieved through controlled wrist movements of the bowing hand, often masked or enhanced with vibrato Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato can be characterised by the amount of pitch variation and speed with which the pitch is varied ("speed of vibrato"). Such a legato style of playing may also be associated with the use of portamento Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" (carriage of the voice), denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by instruments such as the violin, and is sometimes used interchangeably with anticipation. It is also applied to one type.
Guitar
In guitar playing The guitar is a plucked string instrument, played either with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number but sometimes more, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings (apart from classical guitar) legato usually refers to fast notes, such as hammer-ons Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off. Passages in which a large proportion of the notes are performed as hammer-ons and pull-offs instead of being plucked or picked in and pull-offs A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note. Use of legato technique with electric guitar will generally require playing notes that are close and on the same string, following the first note with others that are played by the techniques just mentioned. Many guitar virtuosos are well-versed in this technique, as it allows for rapid and also "clean" runs. Multiple hammer-ons and pull-offs together are sometimes also referred to colloquially as "rolls," a reference to the fluid sound of the technique. A rapid series of hammer-ons and pull-offs between a single pair of notes is called a trill. When playing legato on guitar, it is common for the musician to play more notes within a beat than the stated timing, i.e. playing 5 (a quintuplet A multiple birth occurs when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. Different names for multiple births are used, depending on the number of offspring. Common multiples are two and three, known as twins and triplets. These and other multiple births occur to varying degrees in most animal species, although the term is most) or 7 (a septuplet) notes against a quarter-note instead of the usual even number or triplet. This gives the passage an unusual timing and when played slowly an unusual sound. However, this is less noticeable by ear when played fast, as legato usually is. There is a fine line between what is legato and what is two hand finger tapping, in some cases making the two techniques harder to distinguish by ear. Generally, legato is used to add a more fluid, smooth sound to the passage being played.
Synthesizers
In synthesizers A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that uses filters and tone generators to create waveforms which are then processed to generate sound. Synthesizers can closely reproduce the sound of some instruments, but many keyboard players use them for their characteristic sound legato is a type of monophonic operation. In contrast to the typical monophonic mode where every new note rearticulates the sound by restarting the envelope generators A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that utilizes multiple sound generators to create complex waveforms that can be combined into countless sonic variations through various waveform synthesis techniques, in legato mode the envelopes are not retriggered if the new note is played "legato" (with the previous note still depressed). This causes the initial transient Transience means passing with time or is the state of being brief and short-lived. Something which has the property of transience is said to be transient, or often simply a transient or transient state from the attack and decay phases to sound only once, and the envelopes to remain at sustain stage for the whole sequence of notes until the final note is released.
Vocal music
In classical Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period singing, legato can be defined as a string of sustained vowels with minimal interruption from consonants. A good, smooth legato line is still a necessity for any successful classical singer. It was a key characteristic of the bel canto Bel canto (Italian, "beautiful singing"), along with a number of similar constructions ("bellezze del canto"/"bell’arte del canto"), is an Italian opera term. It has several different meanings and is subject to a wide array of interpretations style of vocalism that prevailed among voice teachers and singers during the 18th century and the first four decades of the 19th century.
There are other, unorthodox viewpoints. For example Kendra Colton, a faculty member of the Voice Department at Oberlin Conservatory, believes in separating phrases into two or three word units, and adding large separatory articulations between each unit, and before any word starting with a vowel.
Sources
Elementary Rudiments of Music, by Barbara Wharram, Revised Edition edited by Kathleen Wood, Publisher: Frederick Harris Music, 2005
Audio examples
See also
- Slur (music) A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. This implies legato articulation, and in music for bowed string instruments, it also indicates the notes should be played in one bow; and in music for wind instruments, that the notes should be played without using the tongue
- Staccato Staccato is a form of musical articulation, signifying an unconnected note, which is short and detached. It has been used in musical notation since the early 18th century.[citation needed] Staccato is derived from the Italian word staccare meaning to detach. It may also originate from the Old French word estachier, which comes from the latin
- Portato Portato in music denotes slurred staccato and is notated by adding a slur to staccato notes
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