Tenuto

{{Short description|Musical direction and notation}} {{Image frame|content=<score> { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { a4-- b-- c2-- }

} </score>|width=120|caption=Three notes with tenuto marks}}

In musical notation, '''''tenuto''''' (Italian, past participle of ''tenere'', {{gloss|to hold}}), written as a horizontal bar above or below a note, is a direction for the performer to hold or sustain a note for its full length.<ref>{{cite book |first=Willi |last=Apel |editor=Don Randel |title=The New Harvard Dictionary of Music |year=1986 |isbn=0-674-61525-5 |page=840 |url=https://archive.org/details/newharvarddictio00rand |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Its precise interpretation can be somewhat contextual in practice, especially when combined with dynamic directions affecting loudness. In that case, it can mean either ''accent the note in question by holding it to its full length (or longer, with slight rubato)'', or ''play the note slightly louder''. In other words, the ''tenuto'' mark may alter the length of a note at the same time a dynamic mark adjusts its volume. Either way, the tenuto marking indicates that a note should receive some degree of emphasis.<ref>{{cite book| first1=Tom |last1=Gerou |first2=Linda |last2=Lusk |title=Essential Dictionary of Music Notation | year=1996 |page=31 |publisher=Alfred Publishing Co., Inc |isbn=0-88284-730-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialdiction0000gero/ |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Tenuto is one of the earliest directions to appear in music notation. Notker of St. Gall (c. 840–912) discusses the use of the letter ''t'' in plainsong notation as meaning ''trahere vel '''tenere''' debere'' ("one must carry or '''hold'''") in one of his letters.

The mark's meaning may also be affected when it appears in conjunction with other durational articulations. When it appears with a staccato dot, it means non legato<ref>{{cite book|first=Kurt |last=Stone |title=Music Notation in the Twentieth Century |year=1980 |isbn=0-393-95053-0 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. |url=https://archive.org/details/musicnotationint0000ston_h3s0 |url-access=registration}}</ref> or detached.

==Notation== ''Tenuto'' is notated three ways:

#The word ''tenuto'' written above the passage to be played ''tenuto''. #The abbreviation ''ten.'' written above the note or passage to be played, ''tenuto''. #A horizontal line, roughly the length of a notehead, placed immediately above or below the note to be played ''tenuto''.

::<score> { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \key c \major \time 7/4 c4-- d-- e-- f-- g-- a-- b-- c2--

} }</score> ::For clarity, the horizontal line may be slightly further apart from the note under a ''tenuto'', so as to not confuse it with a line of the stave.

==See also== *Modern musical symbols

==References== <references/> *David Fallows, "Tenuto." ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy. (Accessed 15 May 2006) [http://www.grovemusic.com]

Category:Articulations (music) Category:Italian words and phrases Category:Rhythm and meter