Slurs
Slurs are shortened versions of phrase marks which join 2 notes of different pitch. (Re-
member, this is different to the ties we talked about in the chapter on Duration because
ties connect 2 notes of the same pitch).
The slur means that the 1st note should be emphasized slightly and played smoothly (le-
gato) into the 2nd note. The second note should be played slightly quieter than the 1st
note and shortened slightly. So, the following phrase....
....should sound....
Pause
Conversely to the staccato mark which tells the performer to shorten the note, the pause
(or fermata) tells the performer to hold the note for a longer period of time than written. So,
the following extract....
would actually sound something like....
Note: If more than one instrument is playing at once then pause marks would be put above
each instrumentʼs music. Alternatively, the phrase General Pause (G.P.) could be written.