Staccato
Play the note short and detached — not necessarily fast
Related
Staccato means playing a note short and detached, marked by a dot above or below the notehead. It specifies a gap between notes, not a speed: a slow staccato can be unhurried, and only a fast one sounds "jumpy".
Instruments realise it differently: strings with a short bow, winds with a tongue stroke, piano with the speed of key release. The usual mistake is to equate staccato with "jumping" — jump is one effect, not the definition; the definition is silence between notes.
Read deeper → Articulation Marks
Sources
- 断奏记号的演奏含义与不同乐器上的实现，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Articulation" 与通行乐理教材；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.