Slurs

Slurs are tapered, curved lines that join notes to indicate legato articulation and phrasing.

Depending on the context and the instrument to which they apply, slurs can have additional meanings to simply marking phrases. For example, for wind players, a slur indicates that all the notes in the phrase are played in the same breath and without re-tonguing or re-articulating any notes. For string players, a slur indicates that all the notes in the phrase are played legato and under one bow. For singers, slurs indicate that more than one note is sung to the same syllable.

Figure 1. Slurs both above and below the staff, including a cross-staff slur

Dorico Pro automatically determines the appropriate endpoint position and curvature direction for slurs based on the notes within their ranges, but you can change this manually. You can also input any number of nested slurs.

Note

Slurs must not be confused with ties, which look superficially similar, but instead join notes of the same pitch to indicate that they are played as a single note. In that sense, ties are part of rhythmic notation, while slurs are considered articulation.