Staccato (stacc.): meaning and use in music

How is staccato played?

Release each marked note early enough to create audible separation before the next event, while judging the amount from tempo, style, instrument and phrase. A modern dot is a common graphic sign, whereas stacc. is the text abbreviation; they are related notation channels, not the same object. Strings may use stopped or lifted bow gestures, winds and brass may shape attack and release with tongue and air, and keyboard players lift the key early, but no single action is universal. Staccato is more detached than portato and less extreme than staccatissimo as a broad teaching continuum, while historical dots and dashes before the mid-nineteenth century require edition-specific care. Its contrasting quality is legato connection.

How does staccato sound?

Each note sounds crisp, short and clearly separated, with audible air between successive notes.

In context

Treccani, historical Riemann/Reissmann/Dommer entries and Musicca independently expand stacc. as staccato. Treccani and notation manuals also separate the written word from dots, strokes and other graphical signs. Staccato is a foundational articulation throughout the repertoire rather than one composer’s signature, and neither its abbreviation nor its dot fixes one percentage of sounding duration.

Equivalent terms

• FR détaché
• FR piqué
• DE gestoßen
• DE staccato
• EN staccato