Articulation

Performed by an instrument called an articulator. It mimicks the movements of the jaws. E.g. Whipmix articulator, Denar articulator.
Used by dentists to articulate study models of their patient's teeth in the correct relationship - ie the relationship between the upper jaw, the lower jaw and the jaw joint.
Impressions of the patient's teeth are taken and study models made of them. These study models are then mounted on the articulator with dental plaster. The correct position of the models, or casts, are determined by a wax bite record.

It is used so that the dentist can play with the arrangement of your teeth with out your cheeks, lips, throat and tongue out of the way.

In music notation, articulation are marks used to describe how sharply or smoothly notes are played. While a quarter note may last for a single beat, for instance, articulation may be used to indicate that it should be played short and clipped or long with no pause between it and the following note.

Different types of articulation include the following:

• accent (play stronger and heavier)
• slur (several notes played smoothly together)
• tenuto (hold for the full beat)
• staccato (hold for half the beat)
• mezzo staccato (hold for three-fourths of the beat)
• staccatissimo (hold for one-fourth of the beat)
• breath mark (take a breath)

Ar*tic`u*la"tion (#), n. [Cf. F. articulation, fr. L. articulatio.]

1. Anat.

A joint or juncture between bones in the skeleton.

⇒ Articulations may be immovable, when the bones are directly united (synarthrosis), or slightly movable, when they are united intervening substance (amphiarthrosis), or they may be more or less freely movable, when the articular surfaces are covered with synovial membranes, as in complete joints (diarthrosis). The last (diarthrosis) includes hinge joints, admitting motion in one plane only (ginglymus), ball and socket joints (enarthrosis), pivot and rotation joints, etc.

2. Bot. (a)

The connection of the parts of a plant by joints, as in pods.

(b)

One of the nodes or joints, as in cane and maize.

(c)

One of the parts intercepted between the joints; also, a subdivision into parts at regular or irregular intervals as a result of serial intermission in growth, as in the cane, grasses, etc.

Lindley.

3.

The act of putting together with a joint or joints; any meeting of parts in a joint.

4.

The state of being jointed; connection of parts.

[R.]

That definiteness and articulation of imagery. Coleridge.

5.

The utterance of the elementary sounds of a language by the appropriate movements of the organs, as in pronunciation; as, a distinct articulation.

6.

A sound made by the vocal organs; an articulate utterance or an elementary sound, esp. a consonant.

 

© Webster 1913.