Hi,

Im having my piano exam in 2 weeks, and i was listenning the pieces from the ABRSM G7 CD and I found that in A:1, many notes is played mezzo staccato.... but in the score there is no indication so my teacher asked me to play in legato and make the contrast of short phrases and a long legato phrase...

I checked the composer and seems to be a baroque period composer... does it mean they would play their pieces in a harpsichord or clavichord? so if they play in harpsichord/clavichord, does it mean they can't do anything legato? (every sound is seperated)

So in exam... should i play the notes slightly separated or legato (which is possible for pianoforte nowadays) ?

Thank u

Hi Senioics,

Sorry if this reply is too late to be of any use. I played this piece for my G7. I went through the piece marking out phrasing and for the runs of quavers played each phrase legato (normally 6 quavers, but sometimes three or nine) with a break before the next phrase. For the sections outside of quaver runs, I played most individual quavers stacatto, and most dotted crotchets (left hand) detached but not true short staccato (one, two, off instead of one, two three.). To answer your more general question, yes, it is conventional to detach the second shortest notes in baroque music, which are usually the quavers, even if they are not written in as staccato. You might find this thread illuminating - or merely confusing! Hope this helps.

Don't know if this is any help -- the teaching notes suggest that the dotted crotchet chords in the left hand could be slightly separated, with maybe mixed articulation in the RH.