View source for 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 language|Italian]], past participle of ''tenere'', "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|Notker of St. Gall]] (c. 840&ndash;912) discusses the use of the letter ''t'' in [[plainsong]] notation as meaning ''trahere vel '''tenere''' debere'' 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>

==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]]

{{Musical notation|state=uncollapsed}}