Legato

Common card · No. 259121

In music performance and notation, legato ([leˈɡaːto]; 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. Standard notation indicates legato either with the word legato, or by a slur (a curved line) under notes that form one legato group. The latter notation is differentiated from a tie in that the notes have different pitches. Legato, like staccato, is a kind of articulation. There is an intermediate non-legato articulation called portato (also mezzo staccato or sometimes non-legato).

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