Behold! The mighty tenuto!

Language of origin/root: Italian, tenere meaning to hold.

I’m starting this series with tenuto because I went three decades without truly knowing what this small but transformative line atop or beneath a note really did: I thought of it as a kind of accent. It was taught to me as such. Numerous teachers and conductors referred to it as a “stress” on a note, usually manufactured by gently leaning on the bow in the course of a stroke. But what it actually means is more nuanced, though the rule of thumb (at least in an orchestral setting) is: don’t argue semantics with your conductor. If she wants a stress there, add one. Mark your part in such a way that you remember!

Tenuto is especially prescient for string players: depending on one’s natural tendencies, tenuto is asking us to do something that takes real attention: hold a note to its fullest-to-bursting length. Often times, it is natural, especially for folks learning the fundamentals, to unknowingly add gaps between notes.

This habit has its origins in good reason: the little gap gets wedged in there to make sure the hands are synchronized, or to shift attention from one thing to another, to have a moment to read a note on the page. Over time, it becomes normative. Heck, I’ve had students listen to themselves and not be able to hear the little pauses they’re adding until I record them and play the video back!

Keeping with the glass only partially filled idea from the image above, think about pouring, over-filling, a note with time, love, and care. It should feel like this looks:

So, tenuto exists on a continuum. Below is a non-exhaustive graphic I whipped up. It’s got my copyright because lord almighty people will steal ANYTHING but consider it more of a back-of-the-napkin sketch than a treatise on a complex subject.

Notice I didn’t say staccato was short. There is a definite end, that’s all. But more on that in another post. 😉

The best way to understand tenuto playing is to hear it. I’m not going to make a video for this post because in about 10 hours, I head to the airport for a trip back home to Los Angeles, and I don’t have the energy for more than some words, a little packing, and a couple hours of fitful sleep.

The YouTube demonstration I like the best is this guy, who says it means “hold back”, but we’re going to grant him clemency for using a slightly dubious turn of phrase because his demonstration is SO good.

To practice your tenuto single bow technique (it’s different when we see tenuto in the context of slurred notes, again…a topic for another post), set your metronome to something between 70-100, depending on your comfort level. Each click represents a quarter note, and at first, we’re trying to play a series of whole notes totally connected to each other. 4 clicks per note, and to make sure you’re really sustaining until the last moment, count out loud and only change bow direction when your mouth makes the shape for the word “one”, not sometime between “four” and “one”. Then play for 2 beats with the same idea. Change bows when you hear the third click, not before. Tenuto is the opposite of anticipation. Finally, one note per click. Really fill that out.

Last, find a favorite piece of solo repertoire, one where you have the sheet music or score handy, and find some tenuto markings.⍭ Then listen to several artists play that passage and answer:

• Are they playing the tenuto passage as written?
• How does this passage compare to other similar sections?
• What effect does tenuto have on the emotional impact of a passage?
• If you’re watching a video of a performance, what does the bow technique look like? Watch violin/violists AND cellists/bassists to get a rounded view of the answer.

Thanks for stopping by. More soon, but for tonight: it’s triple checking my packing list and making sure Henri is all snug in the case…without the endpin. That goes in the checked bag so as to not scare TSA.

⍭ Note I have scrupulously avoided the plural of tenuto because nothing sounds non-crazy: tenutos? Sounds like a brand of tortilla chips targeted at classical musicians. Tenuti? Is that a comet making a near earth pass next year? Tenutae? Sounds like insect parts. I hate it.