Staccato Piano Playing Technique

Staccato, in the Italian word, means detached. In music, it is a form of musical articulation that signifies an unconnected note. If you look closely at a music sheet, you will see staccato as a dot, placed above the notes.

However, do not be confused of a dotted note from a dot that indicates articulation, as they are completely different. Staccato doesn’t alter the rhythm of the music.

In fact, it even makes the sound smoother. Staccato also helps indicate whether a note should be played short or detached.

Staccato piano playing technique is easy but requires constant practice. To do this, place your right hand over the piano. Your hand should be curved as if you are holding a tennis ball.

The thumb should touch a key on the outside edge while the finger tip must touch the other keys. When you do this, it is important to know the proper hand position. Knowing the right positions of the hands and fingers will help you feel at ease with staccato piano playing.

An ordinary staccato can be played very quickly with hands on standard position and the fingers moving vertically as it lifts. At first, lift your fingers higher to feel the circular motion because the movements are in circular.

The reason for this is that the bottom of a staccato is circular, causing your fingers to take a curved path and bounce upwards. In addition, your hands and fingers should be loose in staccato piano playing to create a soft touch.

There are four ways to play it. The first one is the finger action, which can be played by lifting your fingers vertically. Another one is with hand action. You can do this by tapping the hand when you get frustrated in playing staccato.

Similar to hand action, another way to play is to use a forearm motion. The difference of forearm to hand action is that it utilizes the forearm and hands together. And lastly, full shoulder arm hand movement is to be played for various piano chords.

A great example of learning this technique is via the pieces of J S Bach. You can use some of these pieces because they have a detached style. The pieces of J S Bach can neither be long or short. To know how to play them, you can ask your teacher to show them to you. Listen to recordings as well so that you can get acquainted with how the song sounds when you learn how to play piano.

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