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Topic: Playing back tenuto (Read 4728 times) previous topic - next topic

Playing back tenuto

Of all Performances styles used by NWC, only legato, tenuto and staccato affect the play back of the song they are in.

It seems that legato and tenuto play notes longer (up to the full duration of the note) and staccato shorter (ideally, a 50% of the note duration, but I’ve noticed that most of the time it’s closer to a 25%). A legato playback can also be achieved in NWC on notes affected by a slur or a tenuto mark (a dash above a note) and a staccato playback on notes with a staccato mark (a point above or below the note).

But I’m puzzled about NWC rendering of the tenuto mark and style, especially by its lack of practical difference with legato.

I’m not a trained musician (well, I should better state that I’m not a musician at all) and I’m not certain about what I’m saying but I think that a note played tenuto should be played without decay but not longer.

Normally players don’t maintain the same strength during the full duration of a note. In attack time the note is played stronger and then the sound gets weakened towars the end. A tenuto marking instructs the player to maintain the same force during the full duration of the note, but without being prolonged and glued to the next note. That is, a clear separation between notes is very important in a tenuto performance.

In my music book, a German one in fact, the dash over the note is not called tenuto but détaché (a French word which means separated) and the accompanying description insists more on the separation between notes than on the prolongation of the sound. To me, then, this means that tenuto (or détaché, if they are the same thing) is a kind of long staccato, where the note is played a bit shorter than the normal style, to stress the separation with the next one.

Therefore, my ideal playback duration series for a note in different performance styles would be:

- legato: 100% of the note time,
- normal: 90%,
- tenuto: 80%,
- staccato: 50%,
- martelé (a single quote above or below the note, not in NWC): 25%.

Are those values sensible for a trained musician or does this reverts to a misunderstanding out of my own ignorance?

I hope there is not a clash between American and European musical culture in this tenuto matter, and I would like to hear to your reactions for my own musical enlightement.

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #1 –
Your on the right track, but performing music is more than just the mathematical interpretation of note durations. The actual use of these styles vary by composer, the time period (Baroque, etc.) and the tempo. For example, in very slow tempos, the tenuto generally implies an oh-so-slight ritard, creating an almost imperceptible anticipation towards the next beat. This is a good example of why midi playback has difficulty recreating the nuance of human performance.
A tenuto on a long note, such as a half or whole note, would imply as you suggest - to remind the performer to hold the note for the full duration. Whether it is played without decay would still depend on the interpretation, or other dynamics.
Other considerations include the instrument itself. Attacks and decays on a woodwind cannot be duplicated with a pipe organ.
Okay, enough!

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #2 –
We are back in the sequencer v notation processor conflict. NWC generally doesn't lean towards note by note modifications of performance style. For my part I'm still more than satisfied by much of the current version's features - just getting the program(me) to play the notes as written seems equally important (n-tuplets and sequential time signatures for instance).

Having said that, allowing global modification of the performance style definitions on a per-file basis would go some way towards resolving conflicts between different periods and performing traditions.

I'd also like to add one more symbol to Ramón's list:

Staccatissimo (circumflex above note) = short duration + increase in dynamic level.

Bob

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #3 –
"...allowing global modification of the performance style definitions on a per-file basis..."

Oh! Thanks for expressing it so well! I would like to find this feature in a future NWC release.

But my main concern remains: Is it a reasonable musical practice to have tenuto and legato as synonims? There are accepted synonims as decrescendo and diminuendo or ritardando and rallentando, but can we assume the same for tenuto and legato?

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #4 –
My interpretation is that Tenuto applies on a note by note basis i.e. if a note is marked tenuto you should hold this note somewhat longer than normal - maybe even adding a bit of rubato and delaying the start of the note that follows. Legato applies to the transition between notes i.e. the transitions should be smoother than normal. Indeed, both legato and tenuto could apply at the same time.

For a clarinet player (me for example) legato would indicate: don't tongue between notes or, if you do, use "la" tonguing rather than the normal "de" or "tuh" tonguing. Whereas, a note marked tenuto might quite legitimately be given a smart smack with a "tih" sort of tonguing.

Having read the last paragraph, how about this? Legato relates to note attack (less), tenuto relates to note decay (longer).

Stephen Randall

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #5 –
Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. It clarifies somewhat the matter to me.

Not being a clarinet player myself, I only grasp a bit what you say. I've read before about the "tuh", "la", "de" tonguings and I think I understand in general terms your example, but not in detail.

But your last sentence is most helpful. Thanks again for taking the trouble to answer my question.

Ramón Pajares

Re: Playing back tenuto

Reply #6 –
Well said by Stephen. Rubato - "to borrow time", borrowed from the next beat or measure, without interrupting the flow, as a fermata would. From a woodwind players point of view, If you merely indicated "legato", I would play the notes as smoothly as possible,in one breath, but still give each note some delicate attack. A slur across the notes would tell me to attack only the first note in the sequence.
As I alluded to in the earlier reply, a piano or organ must attack each note, so only duration can be used to achieve the desired effect.