Edit - Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

I always felt that unless told otherwise, a piece should be played legato. Sort of default. Staccato generally has marks to tell, so, if in doubt, play legato.

Tim
– Tim

2026-04-29 15:39:45 +00:00
Commented yesterday
@Tim why then are there marks for legato?

phoog
– phoog

2026-04-29 15:56:51 +00:00
Commented yesterday
Good question. But are they there at the start of every piece that is legato?

Tim
– Tim

2026-04-29 16:16:53 +00:00
Commented yesterday
@Tim That's just a very wrong assumption, then; at least in that it will vary a lot based on instrument and the piece being played. Some music does lend itself to a natural legato approach, but the default should be full value notes with (tempo/rhythm permitting) a very slight articulation between each - basically non legato or maybe undifferentiated tenuto. And, also, composers did not always feel it necessary to write down what would be obvious to anybody who has sufficient stylistic awareness of the music in question!

AlexJ
– AlexJ

2026-05-01 03:54:19 +00:00
Commented 7 hours ago
@AlexJ - disagree to some degree. Can't think of an instrument which cannot play legato, and playing with slight articulation? Sorry. Non-legato and tenuto are both on the way to staccato, and if one listened to a player playing as you describe, they're be thinking why aren't those notes joined together? So not wrong, certainly not very wrong. Maybe this is the basis for a question from you?

Tim
– Tim

2026-05-01 06:06:29 +00:00
Commented 5 hours ago

Add a comment |

Correct minor typos or mistakes
Clarify meaning without changing it
Add related resources or links
Always respect the author’s intent
Don’t use edits to reply to the author

create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~
```
like so
```
add language identifier to highlight code
```python
def function(foo):
print(foo)
```
put returns between paragraphs
for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
_italic_ or **bold**
quote by placing > at start of line
to make links (use https whenever possible)

<https://example.com>

[example](https://example.com)

<a href="https://example.com">example</a>

formatting help »
answering help »