Beginner's Corner: Staccato vs. Legato

The way you press the piano keys changes how the notes sound. Notes can stop short or slide into the next one. Articulation is how musicians describe the way a group of notes is played. Here are a few common types of articulation.

Legato
Legato means tied together in Italian. Legato playing is smooth, without any breaks as you go from one note to the next. To do this, don't let your finger lift up from one note until you press the next one. To tell you to play legato, composers write a curved line above the notes, called a slur.

Accent
An accent tells musicians to add extra emphasis to a note. The accented note should sound stronger than the notes around it. It gets a stronger attack or start to the note. In written music, an accent looks like a sideways v.

Staccato
Staccato is the opposite of legato. Each staccato note is short and bouncy. To play staccato, your fingers touch the key for a short time with a grabbing motion. The hand and arm help the fingers bounce right back up, just like jumping on a trampoline. To show staccato in music, composers write dots above or below the notes.