Slurred Staccatos Options

[ymapazagain]

Well...i'm kinda nervous posting this after reading the "What Question Would You Post To Make Yourself Look Useless As A Teacher" thread...haha

But anyway...

In the Grade 2 B-2 piece (allegro moderato) there are quite a few notes which are staccato but are also under a phrase. Miraculously I have never encountered this before!!!

How should these notes be played? Thinking of the second last bar (I think...i'm trying to picture the page as I don't have the book with me) there are two notes played at once. Is one note staccato and the other connected? This would make sense, however I am still unsure in situations where there is only one note at a time.

I hope I have made that clear!

Thanks in advance!

[maggiemay]

slurred staccato generally means play semi-staccato.

(should cautiously (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) add that of course there are many degrees or shades of staccato, and to some extend it depends on context / speed etc how staccato you feel is semi -)

[jenny]

slurred staccato generally means play semi-staccato.

(should cautiously (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) add that of course there are many degrees or shades of staccato, and to some extend it depends on context / speed etc how staccato you feel is semi -)

Yes, semi-staccato. Students encountering this for the first time sometimes think it's a mistake! They wonder how it can be both staccato and legato at the same time.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Czerny]

I believe it's called mezzo staccato. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) Another weird combination is when you see a tenuto mark combined with a staccato dot. Or staccato combined with what looks like a tie (used, oddly, in some very elementary duets by Fanny Waterman).

[Holz Gedeckt]

I believe it's called mezzo staccato. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) Another weird combination is when you see a tenuto mark combined with a staccato dot. Or staccato combined with what looks like a tie (used, oddly, in some very elementary duets by Fanny Waterman).

Yes, indeed it is. I think one of our string players could perhaps also inform us that it is spiccato - which is something to do with just using one bow motion, I believe. But, yes, it's to be played semi staccato, the notes meaning to be played for approximately three-quarters of their length.

[maggiemay]

it's to be played semi staccato, the notes meaning to be played for approximately three-quarters of their length.

if I may put my pedant's hat on for a moment ...

mezzo?/ three-quarters?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[sbhoa]

if I can put my pedant's hat on for a moment ...

mezzo?/ three-quarters?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Would dotted mezzo be better?

[Clari Nicki1]

if I can put my pedant's hat on for a moment ...

mezzo?/ three-quarters?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Would dotted mezzo be better?

Now that would be confusing!!!!!

[Czerny]

it's to be played semi staccato, the notes meaning to be played for approximately three-quarters of their length.

if I may put my pedant's hat on for a moment ...

mezzo?/ three-quarters?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

It's not the note that's mezzo, though, it's the staccato, and three quarters is halfway between a whole (the full value) and a half (staccato).

[Holz Gedeckt]

it's to be played semi staccato, the notes meaning to be played for approximately three-quarters of their length.

if I may put my pedant's hat on for a moment ...

mezzo?/ three-quarters?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

It's not the note that's mezzo, though, it's the staccato, and three quarters is halfway between a whole (the full value) and a half (staccato).

Precisely! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Misterioso]

I think one of our string players could perhaps also inform us that it is spiccato - which is something to do with just using one bow motion, I believe.

No, it's not spiccato. Spiccato means staccato playing but with the bow lifted from the string between notes. Of course it could be played in one bow, but just as often isn't.

[Cadence]

Don't forget though, that at the time Reinecke was writing (which is the grade 2, B2 piece originally referred to) it was common practice to use staccato under a slur as a standard/accepted way of indicating an expressive emphasis. This usually meant it was required to be performed with a certain amount of rubato and probably with a slight ritenuto. It occurs from Mozart, Beethoven (a lot!) and even Chopin employed staccato dots under slurs to specifically indicate a ritenuto.

As the dotted slurred staccatos only occur in the B2 piece in the final bar and 5 bars before the end, I would say that it is clearly asking for rubato and expressive emphasis. - I would probably play them with a tad more pressure/a bit of extra weight, the first note leaning (time wise) into the second, but they would be also be slightly detached from the next group.

[snatchingthepiano]

I've been taught that slurred staccato notes means non-legato.

[owainsutton]

Such a notation for a string instrument indicates the notes are to be played with successive bows in one direction, but depending on the context this could involve one of a number of different bowing actions, from slow deliberate lifted up bows, through to a ricochet down-bow action (think William Tell - down-down-up, down-down-up,...). Worth being aware of, as it can crop up in Grade 5 theory questions.

[maledictis]

I've always referred to them as "detached notes" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)