articulation markings

[musicus]

I know this is a bit off topic for this forum, but I'd be curious to hear your take
on the articulation for the attached Prokofiev score from Op.31 (Tales...grandma), since some of you have shown expertise in this area.
On the first example, does he mean short, staccato on the LH chords? If so, would
it have been better written as 8th notes? In the second example, he marks "con Ped" on
the initial chords. Interpretation? Does he mean pedal each quarter or what? Thanks!

[N Grossingink]

The staccato quarters should be separated, not short. Prokofiev was a virtuoso pianist and if he had wanted staccato eighths he would have written them. His notation is very clear as to what he wants. con Ped. in this instance means to pedal where necessary. If you're in doubt regarding the pedaling maybe it's time to take some lessons from a competent teacher.

Here is a video performance of the piece. If you look closely you can see the spots where the pianist uses the pedal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzrDfkEkXiU

[John Ruggero]

Great questions.

Tales of a Grandmother no. 4: A staccato dot is actually a notational convenience to eliminate a lot of unneeded rests and means: play the note at half its normal value. (Unfortunately, the staccato dot is misinterpreted by many pianists to mean: play the note as short as possible.) In this case, as in so many, it makes the music look more continuous not to have eighth rests separating the notes. If he had written eighth notes rests, many pianists would have exaggerated the separations by shortening the notes too much. So Prokofiev selected the best notation.

Tales of a Grandfmother no. 1: the con Ped. means that the pedal is to be used despite all the staccato indications, which might suggest otherwise. How it is to be used is left up to the judgment and taste of the player. He is assuming that the pianist is a mature musician who can make such a judgment. Composers use this indication when the pedaling is very intricate and hard to notate, and might even be disregarded depending on the acoustical environment and other factors.

The staccato dot was also used by 18th and early 19th century composers to mean a mild accent on a note, since a specific marking for this didn't exist at the time. So if you ever see a staccato dot over say a single 16th note in the midst of a bunch of other 16th notes, its a good bet that is what that means. You can see such markings in Beethoven's op. 2 no. 2 last movement, for example.

[musicus]

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I tend to agree with you that the dots under the quarter notes makes the score less cluttered than with lots of eighth rests. On the other hand, I received the opposite advice here when I used similar notation. The objection was that my notation was confusing, and I can admit that it might have been. So the choice is, more rests (which clarifies the intent) or less rests (which might be neater to look at but might be confusing). Regarding my question about "con Ped" I also agree with you that it is open to interpretation of the player. My take is that normally there wouldn't be pedal here(compare with similar section in Pete and the Wolf) but on the other hand it's a grandmother in this case and perhaps Prkv wanted a heavier sound than pure staccato. Just speculating.

Great questions.

Tales of a Grandmother no. 4: A staccato dot is actually a notational convenience to eliminate a lot of unneeded rests and means: play the note at half its normal value. (Unfortunately, the staccato dot is misinterpreted by many pianists to mean: play the note as short as possible.) In this case, as in so many, it makes the music look more continuous not to have eighth rests separating the notes. If he had written eighth notes rests, many pianists would have exaggerated the separations by shortening the notes too much. So Prokofiev selected the best notation.

Tales of a Grandfmother no. 1: the con Ped. means that the pedal is to be used despite all the staccato indications, which might suggest otherwise. How it is to be used is left up to the judgment and taste of the player. He is assuming that the pianist is a mature musician who can make such a judgment. Composers use this indication when the pedaling is very intricate and hard to notate, and might even be disregarded depending on the acoustical environment and other factors.

The staccato dot was also used by 18th and early 19th century composers to mean a mild accent on a note, since a specific marking for this didn't exist at the time. So if you ever see a staccato dot over say a single 16th note in the midst of a bunch of other 16th notes, its a good bet that is what that means. You can see such markings in Beethoven's op. 2 no. 2 last movement, for example.

[John Ruggero]

Tradition also plays an important part in making decisions concerning music notation. Some things are "always done" in a certain way, so musicians come to expect to see them that way. That might explain some of the apparent discrepancies in the information that you have received here.

Questions like the ones you just asked often come up at Notat.io You might consider posting over there as well as here for even more input.

[musicus]

Thanks John.

Tradition also plays an important part in making decisions concerning music notation. Some things are "always done" in a certain way, so musicians come to expect to see them that way. That might explain some of the apparent discrepancies in the information that you have received here.

Questions like the ones you just asked often come up at Notat.io You might consider posting over there as well as here for even more input.