Slur (music)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Slur (music)

A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation

Musical notation

Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written Modern musical symbols....
indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. This implies legato

Legato

In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence....
articulation, and in music for bow

Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
ed string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s, it also indicates the notes should be played in one bow; and in music for wind instrument

Wind instrument

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator....
s, that the notes should be played without using the tongue to rearticulate each note (see tonguing

Tonguing

Tonguing is when a musician playing a wind instrument uses the tongue on the reed or mouthpiece to enunciate different notes. A silent "tu" is made when the tongue strikes the reed or roof of the mouth causing a slight breach in the air flow through the instrument....
). In guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
music, the slur indicates that the notes should be played without plucking the individual strings, i.e.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Slur (music)'

Start a new discussion about 'Slur (music)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation

Musical notation

Legato

Bow (music)

String instrument

Wind instrument

Tonguing

Guitar

Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note....
).

A slur is denoted with a curved line generally placed over the notes if the stems point downward, and under them if the stems point upwards:

When two instruments written on the same staff

Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch , or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments....
both have slurred phrases with the same note values (e.g., clarinets playing in thirds) it is customary to have two sets of slurs, though in some scores just one set is used and it is understood to apply to both of the instruments.

The slur is not to be confused with two other similar musical symbols. The tie

Tie (music)

In Musical notation, a tie is a curved line connecting the heads of two notes of the same Pitch , indicating that they are to be played as a single note with a duration equal to the sum of the individual notes' note values....
is a curved line that links two notes of the same pitch to show that their durations are to be added together. The ligature

Ligature (music)

In music notation, a ligature is a graphic symbol that represents two or more notes that are written and sung in a single gesture, and on a single syllable, primarily in use ca....
or phrase mark is a curved line that extends over a passage which is visually indistinguishable from the slur, and indicates that the passage is to be interpreted as a single phrase.