Slur shoulder offset

Slur shoulders affect the angles of the curves of slurs as they taper towards an endpoint, because the tapered ends often approach noteheads at a steeper angle than that of a slur’s arch.

Increasing the shoulder offset makes the onset of the curve shallower, whereas decreasing the shoulder offset makes the onset steeper. The shoulder offset must therefore be balanced with the height of the slur in order to achieve the ideal curved shape.

Figure 1. A long slur with default shoulder offset of 1/5
Figure 2. A long slur with increased shoulder offset of 1.5
Figure 3. A long slur with decreased shoulder offset of 1/2

You can change the project-wide settings for the shoulder offset of slurs and the shoulder offset of flat slurs by changing the values of the following options, which you can find by clicking Advanced Options in the Design section of the Slurs page in Engraving Options.

  • Offset shoulders by fraction of half length of short slur

  • Offset shoulders by fraction of half length of long slur

  • Offset shoulders by fraction of half length of flat slur

You can adjust the shoulders of individual slurs in Engrave mode.