Articulations (music)

Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music since at least 1676.

In music, a glissando (; plural: glissandi, abbreviated gliss.) is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, "to glide". In some contexts, it is equivalent to portamento, which is a continuous, seamless glide between notes. In other contexts, it refers to discrete, stepped glides across notes, such as on a piano. Some terms that are similar or equivalent in some contexts are slide, sweep bend, smear, rip (for a loud, violent glissando to the beginning of a note), lip (in jazz terminology, when executed by changing one's embouchure

thumb|200px|Jazz bass walking bass lines are traditionally played with pizzicato; jazz pizzicato technique, shown above, is different from traditional pizzicato technique. thumb|Middle C, pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as 'pinched', and sometimes roughly as 'plucked') is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument:

In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French lié; German gebunden) indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly, such that the transition from note to note is made with no intervening silence. Legato technique is required for slurred performance, but unlike slurring (as that term is interpreted for some instruments), legato does not forbid articulating the notes with a very slight interruption.

thumb|Urlinie in G with fermata on penultimate note. & (compare with penultimate note at )

musical performance technique that affects the transition or continuity on notes

curved line written on the staff to group some notes, used to link notes of the same pitch, add note values and indicate the continuity of a phrase

highlight a musical element by emphasizing its intensity, duration or pitch

In music, portamento (: portamenti; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one note to another. The term originated from the Italian expression ('carriage of the voice'), denoting from the beginning of the 17th century its use in vocal performances and emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used interchangeably with anticipation. It is also applied to one type of glissando on, e.g., slide trombones, as well as to the "glide" function of steel guitars and synthesizers.

type of ligature indicating that the group of notes it comprises should be interpreted legato

In musical notation, tenuto (Italian, past participle of tenere, ), written as a horizontal bar above or below a note, is a direction for the performer to hold or sustain a note for its full length.

thumb

Portato (; Italian past participle of portare, "to carry"), also mezzo-staccato, French notes portées, in music denotes a smooth, pulsing articulation and is often notated by adding dots under slur markings.

Spiccato is a bowing technique for string instruments in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. The term comes from the past participle of the Italian verb spiccare, meaning "to separate". The terms saltando and sautillé describe similar techniques.

string performance technique

ornamentation used in the performance of North and South Indian classical music

right|thumb|Timpani|Kettledrum double cross-beat. So-called because kettledrums were associated with trumpets and borrowed the terms for their rhythms from those for tonguing.