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3.1.3 Ties and slurs

Ties  
Slurs  
Phrasing slurs  
Warnings: slurs vs. ties  
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Ties

Music Glossary: tie.

A tie is created by appending a tilde ‘~’ to the first of the two notes being tied. 

\relative { g'4~ g c2~ | c4~ c8 a~ a2 | }

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When the pitch does not change, as is always the case with tied notes, subsequent pitches may be omitted, specifying just the bare duration: 

\relative { g'4~ 4 c2~ | 4~ 8 a~ 2 | }

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This shorthand may be useful in other places where the rhythm changes with an unchanging pitch, but remember that a bare pitch followed by a space and a bare duration will be interpreted as a single note. In other words, ‘c4 a 8 8’ would be interpreted as ‘c4 a8 a8’, not as ‘c4 a4 a8 a8’. Write ‘c4 a4 8 8’ instead.

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Slurs

Music Glossary: slur.

A slur is a curve drawn across many notes. The starting note and ending note are marked with ‘(’ and ‘)’, respectively. Note that ‘(’ comes after the first note of the slur. 

\relative { d''4( c16) cis( d e c cis d) e( d4) }

[image of music]

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Phrasing slurs

Music Glossary: slur, phrasing.

Slurs to indicate longer phrasing can be entered with \( and \). You can have both slurs and phrasing slurs at the same time. 

\relative { g'4\( g8( a) b( c) b4\) }

[image of music]


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Warnings: slurs vs. ties

Music Glossary: articulation, slur, tie.

A slur looks like a tie, but it has a different meaning. A tie simply makes the first note longer, and can only be used on pairs of notes with the same pitch. Slurs indicate the articulation of notes, and can be used on larger groups of notes. Slurs and ties can be nested. 

\relative { c''4(~ c8 d~ 4 e) }

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See also

Notation Reference: Ties, Slurs, Phrasing slurs.

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