So Confused With Tenuto And Marcato Options

[heartsong]

If there is a dash below or above a note like that of a minus sign, is that a tenuto sign or marcato? Thank you so much for any help!

[DaisyChain]

The dash generally means that the note is tenuto, and needs to be given it's full count (and sometimes longer to add atmosphere to the piece). Marcato notes are stressed or accented notes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[rosflute]

a dash implies a heavy emphasis throughout the note (unlike the small arrow which indicates an emphasis/attack only at the start of the note). This is a form of marcato and does not indicate that any extra lengthening of the note is necessary.
Tenuto on the other hand always indicates that extra length should be added to the note - it is a mini pause - and is indicated with ten

[Halka]

I'm not a teacher but I had cause to look this up recently! "Tenuto" marks mean different things in different contexts - per AB Guide to Music Theory Part 1 at page 85.

[maggiemay]

If you go back to the root of each word, tenuto comes from the verb ' to hold' and marcato from the verb 'to mark'.

However I find even tutor books sometimes seem to interchange the two. And I know from past experience that teachers and performers disagree on their usage.

I regard tenuto as a held note with a little added importance - although not as much as an accent. Maybe a slight ' lean' on the note.

[sarah123]

-Not a teacher-

My understanding was that tenuto meant play the note to its full value (although not more than the full value), while marcato meant accented.

So they're both ways of emphasising particular notes: you can either make them longer than surrounding notes or you can make them louder!

[heartsong]

Thank you for all your reply! But I am still confused! I don't mean to ask about the meanings of tenuto and marcato as I can easily look them up in a music dictionary. I am confused when I see a "dash" symbol above or below a notehead. Does the "dash" symbol imply a tenuto sign or does it imply a marcato sign? I know what a tenuto sign and a marcato sign mean, but when I see a "dash" , is this dash a tenuto symbol or is it a marcato symbol or can it be both, depending on the context ?

Thank you so much for taking time to help me with my query! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[ben_walker446]

Tenuto is a dash and marcato is a flipped around >

[sarah123]

Thank you for all your reply! But I am still confused! I don't mean to ask about the meanings of tenuto and marcato as I can easily look them up in a music dictionary. I am confused when I see a "dash" symbol above or below a notehead. Does the "dash" symbol imply a tenuto sign or does it imply a marcato sign? I know what a tenuto sign and a marcato sign mean, but when I see a "dash" , is this dash a tenuto symbol or is it a marcato symbol or can it be both, depending on the context ?

Thank you so much for taking time to help me with my query! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

I think it can be both depending on the context. So far, the ones I've seen in recorder music have always been tenuto, but in piano music they've generally been marcato I think.

EDIT: Dolmetsch agrees with Ben, so maybe my piano teacher has been getting it wrong. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[Lucid]

Thank you for all your reply! But I am still confused! I don't mean to ask about the meanings of tenuto and marcato as I can easily look them up in a music dictionary. I am confused when I see a "dash" symbol above or below a notehead. Does the "dash" symbol imply a tenuto sign or does it imply a marcato sign? I know what a tenuto sign and a marcato sign mean, but when I see a "dash" , is this dash a tenuto symbol or is it a marcato symbol or can it be both, depending on the context ?

Thank you so much for taking time to help me with my query! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

It's a tenuto - I've always been taught that.

Lucid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

EDIT: Here's a pretty useful link, although I do agree that things can be interpreted differently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulation_(music)

[ben_walker446]

EDIT: Dolmetsch agrees with Ben, so maybe my piano teacher has been getting it wrong. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

I've done a lot of research on articulation lately and the different types as I wrote a 3,000 word essay on the use of it in saxophone performance. So I hope i'm correct otherwise my whole essay is wrong lol

[Misterioso]

The AB Guide to Music Theory says:

A horizontal dash above or below a note may indicate tenuto.....although this sign has come to be used primarily as an indication of pressure or emphasis - which, in practice, entails a slight degree of separation between notes so marked.

[heartsong]

Thanks once again for the reply! Has anyone of you read the book "For All Piano Teachers" by Cora B. Ahrens and G.D. Atkinson? (one of ABRSM recommended text for diploma exam) I was confused because it mentions under the chapter "Tone Production" /Various Types of Staccato that Marcato is indicated by ... the symbol of a dash over a notehead is drawn. What also puzzles me is that it states that the tones are slightly separated and each may be given some emotional emphasis.

If a dash means tenuto, then this book has gotten it wrong? (it prints a note with a dash above it and states that this indicates marcato)

Or could it be that the book is right after all?

Thanks so much for all your help!

[sarah123]

Thanks once again for the reply! Has anyone of you read the book "For All Piano Teachers" by Cora B. Ahrens and G.D. Atkinson? (one of ABRSM recommended text for diploma exam) I was confused because it mentions under the chapter "Tone Production" /Various Types of Staccato that Marcato is indicated by ... the symbol of a dash over a notehead is drawn. What also puzzles me is that it states that the tones are slightly separated and each may be given some emotional emphasis.

If a dash means tenuto, then this book has gotten it wrong? (it prints a note with a dash above it and states that this indicates marcato)

Or could it be that the book is right after all?

Thanks so much for all your help!

I'm starting to think that maybe piano is the exception to the rule.

[Czerny]

Tenuto on the other hand always indicates that extra length should be added to the note - it is a mini pause - and is indicated with ten

It doesn't always indicate that extra length should be added as it's sometimes used in conjunction with a staccato mark. Also I'd be inclined to say that more often than not it indicates that the note should be given its full value, rather an any extra duration.

I've always been given to understand that there is no hard and fast definition of what tenuto indicates. For some instruments and in some instances it means to hold on the note for its full length while for others, it means a 'leaning' on the note for emphasis (but not an accent); that said, is there really any difference between those anyway!

I don't really think that emphasis and length are the same thing at all, especially on the piano where the emphasis can only come at the beginning and anything from a breve to a hemidemisemiquaver can have a varying degree of emphasis or attack.