Basics
Touch & articulation: legato and staccato
Connecting notes smoothly versus playing them crisp and detached.
2 min read
How you connect or separate notes changes the whole mood of a melody. The two fundamental touches in piano playing are legato (smooth) and staccato (short and detached).
Legato: walking with your fingers
Legato means "tied together". To play legato, do not lift the first finger until the next finger has pressed its key — like walking where one foot touches the ground before the other lifts.
Staccato: light and bouncy
Staccato is marked with a small dot above or below the note. Play the key crisply and bounce off immediately, like touching a warm drop of water.
Tip: Practise the C major scale twice: once with smooth legato, and once with bouncy staccato. Notice how different the same notes feel.
Try the scale warm-up →