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Tied Notes

22 July, 2019 - 10:18
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A dotted half lasts as long as a half note plus a quarter note. The same length may be written as a half note and a quarter note tied together. Tied notes are written with a curved line connecting two notes that are on the same line or the same space in the staff. Notes of any length may be tied together, and more than two notes may be tied together. The sound they stand for will be a single note that is the length of all the tied notes added together. This is another way to make a great variety of note lengths. Tied notes are also the only way to write a sound that starts in one measure and ends in a different measure.

Note: Ties may look like slurs, but they are not the same; a slur connects to notes with different pitches and is a type of articulation.
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Figure 1.61 Ties
When these eight notes are played as written, only five distinct notes are heard: one note the length of two whole notes; then a dotted half note; then another note the same length as the dotted half note; then a quarter note; then a note the same length as a whole note plus a quarter note.