# Multiple sounds all lumped under staccato



## caters

I have seen staccato in a lot of pieces. And I have heard a ton of different ways of playing stacatto.

For example here is staccato that is notated but not played at the very beginning phrase of this movement:






I myself articulate all the staccatos I see including this phrase ending staccato as a clear cut staccato, I don't play any of them tenuto. Not even half the value tenuto. I keep it a clear cut staccato.






Here, the half note staccatos are held for full value, maybe even longer but the quarter note staccatos are the clear cut staccato that I usually hear and that I always play when there is no pedal marking.






And here is the pedaled staccato. I still articulate this and I can't really tell it apart from a very fast non-legato.

I also find that at super fast speeds, there is a blur between staccato and legato. Like the staccato is so fast that it can sound as though the phrase is not staccato at all. This can happen when the tempo is really fast but more often it is an Allegro piece and there is a passage of staccato 32nd notes and I don't hear a staccato at all.

Why does a single articulation give so many different interpretations from "sounds legato" to "this is definitely stacatto" to "Wait, why is it notated stacatto if it isn't played that way"?


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