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1.2.1.4 Ties

A tie connects two adjacent note heads of the same pitch. The tie in effect extends the length of a note.

Note: Ties should not be confused with slurs, which indicate articulation, or phrasing slurs, which indicate musical phrasing. A tie is just a way of extending a note duration, similar to the augmentation dot.

A tie is entered using the tilde symbol ~

     
     e' ~ e'

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Ties are used either when the note crosses a bar line, or when dots cannot be used to denote the rhythm. Ties should also be used when note values cross larger subdivisions of the measure:

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If you need to tie a lot of notes across bar lines, it may be easier to use automatic note splitting (see Automatic note splitting). This mechanism automatically splits long notes, and ties them across bar lines.

When a tie is applied to a chord, all note heads whose pitches match are connected. When no note heads match, no ties will be created. Chords may be partially tied by placing the tie inside the chord.

     
      <c e g> ~ <c e g>
     <c~ e g~ b> <c e g b>

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When a second alternative of a repeat starts with a tied note, you have to repeat the tie. This can be achieved with \repeatTie,

     
     \repeat volta 2 { c g <c e>2 ~ }
     \alternative {{ <c e>2. r4 } {<c e>2\repeatTie d4 c }}

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L.v. ties (laissez vibrer) indicate that notes must not be damped at the end. It is used in notation for piano, harp and other string and percussion instruments. They can be entered using \laissezVibrer:

<c f g>\laissezVibrer

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The vertical placement of ties may be controlled; see Controlling direction.

DELETE THIS ? \tieDown (see example below). \tieNeutral reverts to the default behaviour again.

However, as with other music elements of this kind, there is a convenient shorthand for forcing tie directions. By adding _ or ^ before the tilde, the direction is also set:

          
          c4_~ c c^~ c)
     

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Predefined commands

\tieUp, \tieDown, \tieNeutral, \tieDotted, \tieDashed, \tieSolid.

Selected Snippets

Ties are sometimes used to write out arpeggios. In this case, two tied notes need not be consecutive. This can be achieved by setting the tieWaitForNote property to true. The same feature is also useful, for example, to tie a tremolo to a chord, but in principle, it can also be used for ordinary, consecutive notes:

     
     \set tieWaitForNote = ##t
     \grace { c16[~ e~ g]~ } <c, e g>2
     \repeat tremolo 8 { c32~ c'~ } <c c,>1
     e8~ c~ a~ f~ <e' c a f>2
     \tieUp c8~ a \tieDown \tieDotted g~ c g2

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Ties may be engraved manually by changing the tie-configuration property of the TieColumn object. The first number indicates the distance from the center of the staff in staff-spaces, and the second number indicates the direction (1=up, -1=down).

     
     <c e g>2~ <c e g> |
     \override TieColumn #'tie-configuration =
       #'((0.0 . 1) (-2.0 . 1) (-4.0 . 1))
     <c e g>~ <c e g> |

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See also

Music Glossary: tie,

Snippets: Rhythms

Internals Reference: LaissezVibrerTie LaissezVibrerTieColumn

Example files:

Notation Reference: Automatic note splitting.

Snippets: Rhythms

Internals Reference: Tie.

Known issues and warnings

Switching staves when a tie is active will not produce a slanted tie.

Changing clefs or octavations during a tie is not really well-defined. In these cases, a slur may be preferable.


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