- A tie is a curved line drawn between the note heads of two notes of the same pitch:
- It indicates that the second note should not be re-sounded, but the note should be
continuous from the first to the second.
- Why do we need ties - why not just write a longer note?
- If you want a note to continue sounding across a bar line:
Hear it
- I have included the beats as a drum sound in the midi file to show how you would count this.
- But the note doesn't have to be long to be tied over a bar line:
Hear it
- In this case, you would count "4" and then "1" while the note still sounds.
- A tie is also often used to go across a half-bar, or beat boundary:
Hear it
- The grouping of the quavers (with the beams), and the use of the tie, all assists sight-singing - it is easier to see where the beats are.
- Also to create notes of a length that cannot be written using a single note:
Hear it
- Ties are often used to create syncopation
- This is where the note is sounded "off" the beat (usually before it):
Hear it
- This might look complicated, but if you start counting slowly, it is not difficult.
- There are other curved lines in music that might look like ties, but may not be ties:
- A tie only ever goes between two notes of the same pitch;
- If you see a curved line between notes of different pitches, or over more than two notes, it is not a tie;
- This is called a slur, and (in vocal music) indicates either:
- that the notes are to be sung to one syllable of the words (we will cover these in word underlay);
- or that the notes are to be sung smoothly (in one breath):
