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If the answer is yes then why use legato articulation? surely the absence of staccato articulation implies legato?

armani
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    There's plenty of 'grey area' between legato and staccato. A lot of it down to the player's interpretations. And even staccato has its own varieties. I realise sheet music is black and white, but staccato/legato just isn't. – Tim Aug 08 '21 at 10:13

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It depends quite on the instrument and the style of music, but legato rarely is the correct choice when not explicitly specified. The normal execution style tends to be somewhere between portato and leggiero. The idea is to play without particularly emphasising a note onset (like with a pronounced pause before it) nor mask it (like by running the previous note into it). For wind instruments (and coloratura singing) one usually ends the previous note slightly before the onset of the next and uses the inertia of the wind generation for giving the next note a good onset, something that is particularly useful for instruments that tend to need more pressure for starting a note than for sustaining it.

However, when lyrical phrases are involved, there tends to be a stronger connection leaning towards legato within melodic phrases. The differences are quite more conspicuous for instruments capable of continuous tone (bowed strings, winds, brass, organs, free reeds...) than for percussive instruments (plucked strings, piano, celesta...).