About articulations

Musical articulations, or expressions, define how certain notes “sound”, i. e. how they are sung or performed on a given instrument. They allow you to specify that a string instrument is bowed (not plucked), a trumpet muted (not played open), and so on. Articulations also define the relative volume of notes (to play some notes louder or softer than the others) or changes in pitch (create a tremolo).

Articulations can be divided into “Directions” and “Attributes”.

• Directions are valid for all notes from the insert position on, until another direction is scored. This means, they are applied not to single notes, but to a continuous range of notes, or even an entire piece of music.

  An example for a direction is pizzicato, which means that the string instrument is plucked.

• Attributes belong to single notes. They are only applied to the notes for which they are scored.

  Examples for this are accents, where a note is played with an emphasis, and staccato, where a note is played shorter.