Hello everyone,

I was going to ask my teacher this but I won't see him till next week and I'm really desparate to know the answer!!

I'm teaching the piece 'The Moth' in the ABRSM G2 piano book in which the left hand chords in bars 9,13 and 15 have staccato markings but also a slur. This doesn't make much sense to me - surely that's contradictory??!

So my question is how to play them - personally I would play them staccato as it seems more appropriate for the piece - but what is the intention of the composer here?

Many thanks to anyone who can enlighten me :-)

It's mezzo-staccato. Black + white = grey. Staccato + slur = less staccato than "normal" staccato!

Very well put

Thanks!

So it's a heavier style staccato then?

Seems a bit odd in light of the piece evoking a fluttering moth!!

Well, perhaps it's meant to indicate that it shouldn't be really bouncy staccato, but slightly detached. I notice that they are all crotchets which have this effect, rather than the quavers which are "proper" staccato in the RH.

I believe that I would hold on to the crotchets slightly longer than I would if they were marked as straight staccato, I would consider that it was simply meant not to be legato.

That always confuses me, and I come across it very often in clarinet music.......

It is a confusing one this. Hope this makes sense, you need to think of it as more legato than staccato, but with a little air in between the notes. I seem to remember that the staccato dot actually officially means to play the note for half it`s given length (I may be wrong). In that case, the legato marking indicates to hold the note a little longer than that. I think it`s easier demonstrated than explained though. If you really want an idea of it then listen to a recording of a good example of it in , say, Schumann, Schubert, one of that crowd, while following the score. Hope that helps.

You could always get a copy of the CD for the Grade 2 pieces to see what they are expecting you to do.
I think the advise here though is good.