1.First Musical Phrasing - Legato
The Italian word "Legato" (literally meaning tied together) indicates that musical
notes should be played or sung smoothly. In other words when you play legato
there should be no silence as you move from note to note.
Legato means also that you have to perform a musical line in a graceful, connected style, as opposed to staccato. Legato is often indicated by a slur drawn over the effected notes or as a line over the notes which are meant to be performed in this manner.
The accurate way to perform this musical phrasing of on the piano is by pressing a finger, then pressing on the next finger and while the second finger is half way pressed on the piano key, you lift the first finger up.
The slur has two purposes in musical pieces. The first one indicates that a musical phrase should be played in a legatomanner and the second purpose is to state the beginning and the ending of a musical line.
So if you happen two see two identical notes (Like to C's one after the other) in the middle of a slur you could wonder how you're supposed to play them legato.
You must lift your finger in order to allow the second key to be heard again so how can you connect them without a pause?
The answer is that you have to imagine the line as a whole and keep the first note pressed on the key as long as you can before you lift it and move to the next key.
One shouldn't however mix playing legato with TIED NOTES
When notes on the SAME LINE or SPACE are joined by a curved line,
we call them TIED NOTES.
The key is held down for the COMBINED VALUES OF BOTH NOTES.
When we're asked to play Legatissimo we're supposed to perform a
certain musical phrasing of a passage in an exceedingly smooth and connected manner more so than
legato.
Legatissimo is often played in ballads in order to create a warm and intimate expression in the melody.
The accurate way to play the Legatissimo musical phrasing on the piano is by dropping a finger down, then dropping the next finger, keeping them both pressed for a slice of a moment before lifting first finger up (and not half way of the piano key like legato.)
Legato means also that you have to perform a musical line in a graceful, connected style, as opposed to staccato. Legato is often indicated by a slur drawn over the effected notes or as a line over the notes which are meant to be performed in this manner.
The accurate way to perform this musical phrasing of on the piano is by pressing a finger, then pressing on the next finger and while the second finger is half way pressed on the piano key, you lift the first finger up.
The slur has two purposes in musical pieces. The first one indicates that a musical phrase should be played in a legatomanner and the second purpose is to state the beginning and the ending of a musical line.
So if you happen two see two identical notes (Like to C's one after the other) in the middle of a slur you could wonder how you're supposed to play them legato.
You must lift your finger in order to allow the second key to be heard again so how can you connect them without a pause?
The answer is that you have to imagine the line as a whole and keep the first note pressed on the key as long as you can before you lift it and move to the next key.
One shouldn't however mix playing legato with TIED NOTES
When notes on the SAME LINE or SPACE are joined by a curved line,
we call them TIED NOTES.The key is held down for the COMBINED VALUES OF BOTH NOTES.
2. Playing Legatissimo
Legatissimo is often played in ballads in order to create a warm and intimate expression in the melody.
The accurate way to play the Legatissimo musical phrasing on the piano is by dropping a finger down, then dropping the next finger, keeping them both pressed for a slice of a moment before lifting first finger up (and not half way of the piano key like legato.)
Notice that in both cases the thumb will always be 
When we descend we keep the same fingering order. You can see the
order of the ascending scale in the example above. However if you read
this exercise from right to left you'll be playing the order of the
descending scale.
