Marcato
Marking each note clearly — not the same as playing louder
Related
Marcato comes from the Italian marcare, "to mark"; the usual account traces it to Germanic markōn, "to mark a boundary". It asks that notes be marked out one by one: a clear onset and a clear edge between them.
It describes clarity of outline, not speed, and not louder sound. A page can say piano marcato — quiet, yet every note distinct. The usual mistake is to treat marcato as "more volume, strike down" — real marcato lives in the timing of the onset and the shape of the attack; it also differs from an accent sign, which marks one note, while marcato is a continuing manner.
Read deeper → deciso
Sources
- marcato 的奏法含义与词源，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Marcato"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.