Arpeggiato: meaning and use in music

Arpeggiato means arpeggiated: sound the notes of the chord in succession rather than exactly together; write the word in full.

IT arpeggiato harp technique common Support my free tools

Music symbols

  • Arpeggio (rolled chord): music notation symbol placed just before the note.
    Arpeggio (rolled chord)
  • Arpeggio downwards: music notation symbol placed just before the note.
    Arpeggio downwards

How is arpeggiato played?

Break the marked chord into its component notes in the direction and timing shown by the arpeggio sign, arrow or surrounding style. In contemporary harp notation chords are normally unbroken unless an arpeggio sign precedes them, and an unarrowed harp arpeggio normally rises; a downward spread should be shown explicitly. The instruction applies to a chord attack and does not by itself create a free glissando across an unspecified range.

In context

Arpeggiato is the Italian instruction to play a chord as an arpeggio, with its pitches entering successively rather than simultaneously. Direction, speed and whether the pattern continues must be read from the notation and context. The candidate arp. did not receive three independent direct expansions of this exact headword, so arpeggiato remains written out.

Music theory and score context

See also

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