Q: So, say you have a note that goes til the end of a beat, and then a note right at the top of the next beat (like a quarter note on beat 1, then a quarter note on beat 2).. Wouldn't that mean that, technically, that first note shouldn't be released until the exact same moment that the 2nd note is played? If you have to lift up from the 1st note to play the 2nd note, then wouldn't you be cutting the duration of the the quarter note slightly short just for that little tiny moment between the notes? Is that little moment so negligible that I shouldn't even think about that? And then, the natural sustain of the instrument/sound could effect that as well? Like sometimes it would be impossible to sustain the first note until the exact moment the 2nd note is played (like if you're playing 2 fretted notes on the same string of a guitar or bass that are farther apart than what you can reach without moving your hand)... If I want to have 2 instruments play the same line, would it be more accurate to think of that 1st quarter note as, like a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth rest (or maybe even an eighth note, dotted sixteenth and a 32nd rest) so that the release of the notes happen at the exact same time? I've never really thought about this before, but now that I am thinking about it, I'm confusing myself. When I read rhythmic notation I'm usually thinking primarily about where the notes hit, more so than the duration of each note. Like if I had 4 quarter notes, I'd now that each note should be played on the beat, but I'd probably play the 4 quarter notes no different than then if it were written as alternating dotted eighth notes and sixteenth rests (unless it's a really slow tempo) Obviously for something like a quarter note and a quarter rest, I wouldn't play the same way as a half note.. but when you get down to those little itty bitty tiny moments in between the notes, do those essentially not matter rhythmically?
A: if no articulation is written, i think it might be assumed that there is at least a little bit of space before the next note