Grade One Music Theory - Lesson 8: Tied Notes
Ties
In music theory, a tie is a small, curved line which connects two notes of the same pitch . The time values of tied notes are added together - you only play the note once.
A tie looks exactly like a slur - but a slur connects two notes of a different pitch and tells the player to play the two notes smoothly. Be careful not to confuse ties and slurs! The first F is a tied note, the second F is slurred:
Some Examples of Tied Notes
A minim (half note) and a quaver (eighth note) tied together, making a tied note of 2 and a half beats.
Two crotchets (quarter notes) tied together across a barline. We hold the tied note for 2 beats.
Positioning Ties
Ties are usually written on the opposite side of a musical note to its stem. In the examples that we just looked at, the A's have their stems up, so the tie is placed underneath the notes. The Fs are stems down, so the tie is drawn above the notes.
Ties and Barlines
Ties can cross barlines. Sometimes a tied note is needed at the end of a line or a page and another tied note is needed at the beginning of the next. When this happens, we draw half the tie at the end of the first line, and the other half at the beginning of the next line, like this:
The C at the end of this line has the first half of the tie...
and the C at the beginning of the next line has the other half of the tie.
Ties and Accidentals
An accidental placed on the first of two tied notes also applies to the second tied note, even if the two notes are separated by a barline.
The second note is also F sharp.
Sometimes you might see an accidental in brackets on the second note. This is called a "courtesy" accidental - it's only there to make it clear what the note is supposed to be. This often happens when a tie is broken over two lines.
Ties and Beams
We don't normally put both ties and beams onto notes. We usually break the beam over two tied notes.
This is the wrong way to do it:
We need to break the beam over the two middle notes, like this:
