A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation (that is, with legato articulation). 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.
The example below shows two measures in with a slur for each measure:
:<score sound="1">
\relative c {
\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin"
\key e \minor \time 6/8
e16( dis e fis g b, c d e gis, a b)
c( e, f g! a c, d e f g a b)
}</score>
Performance
thumb|upright=1.3|[[G run in G major variation contains slurs indicating both hammer-ons and a pull-offFile:G run in G.mid]]
Slurs mean different things for different instruments:
- For bowed string instruments, the notes should be played in one bow stroke.
- For plucked string instruments, such as guitars, the notes should be played without plucking the individual strings (hammer-ons and pull-offs).
- For wind instruments, the notes should be played without re-articulating each note (tonguing), except for the slide trombone (and other instruments that control the pitch with a slide), on which only certain kinds of combinations can be played with no tongue without making a glissandothus "legato tonguing" is employed.
- For vocal music, slurs are usually used to mark notes which are sung to a single syllable (melisma).
A slur can be extended over many notes, sometimes encompassing several bars. In extreme cases, composers are known to write slurs which are near-impossible to achieve; in that case the composer wishes to emphasise that the notes should be performed with as much legato as possible.
See also
- Tie (music)a similar symbol which combines adjacent notes of the same pitch into a single longer note
- Musical phrasing
References
es:Legato