Staccato

In musical notation, staccato indicates that notes are played in a detached manner with their lengths shortened, that is a short silence should be between the notes. Usually notated by a dot over the note:

The opposite term is legato.

Music samples

• The above music played without staccato (Vorbis format, 15 KB, 2 seconds)
• The same music, but played staccato (Vorbis format, 15 KB, 2 seconds)