Welcome back to our exploration of rhythm and meter. In our last lesson, we examined the internal stress patterns of 4/4 and 3/4 time, establishing how the hierarchy of beats forms the backbone of a groove. We focused on placing rhythmic elements within the confines of a single measure. Now, we'll address a fundamental question: how do we sustain a sound across those very boundaries?
This lesson introduces the tie, a simple but powerful notational device. Our goal is to define what a tie is and, more importantly, to understand its practical application in creating notes that extend across beats and measures. This concept is indispensable for programming the fluid basslines, long atmospheric pads, and syncopated melodic phrases that are staples of electronic music.
What is a Tie?
At its core, a tie is a notational instruction to combine the durations of two notes into one continuous sound. Let's establish a precise definition.
Notating Rhythm – Open Music Theory - VIVA's Pressbooks
The textbook Open Music Theory provides a clear, formal definition of ties and distinguishes them from a similar-looking symbol, the slur.
Please read the paragraph beginning with the definition of a tie. Pay close attention to the two key rules: the notes must have the same pitch, and the second note is not rearticulated (played again). Then, read the final paragraph that explains the difference between a tie and a slur.
As the text explains, a tie is a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch. The sound of the first note is simply held for the combined duration of both notes. A slur, while visually similar, connects notes of different pitches and indicates they should be played smoothly (legato) but are still articulated as separate notes.
This may seem straightforward, but the concept of "not re-articulating" is the most critical part. Let's watch a short video that demonstrates this principle.
How to read TIES in music | EASY to understand
This video from Five Minute Mozart, "How to read TIES in music," provides a great visual and auditory introduction.
Watch the first segment, from the beginning to the first example. The video explains that the rhythmic values are combined to form one longer duration. Notice how when the notes are played, the tied note is a single, sustained sound, not two separate attacks.
The Purpose of a Tie: Crossing Boundaries
This brings us to the "why." If a tie just makes a note longer, why not just use a single note of a longer value? For example, why tie two quarter notes together instead of just writing a half note?
The answer lies in the rigid structure of musical meter that we discussed in the previous lesson. A measure has a fixed capacity defined by its time signature. Ties are the tool that allows us to write durations that don't fit neatly within those predefined containers or that need to cross the most important boundary of all: the bar line.
The following resource provides a concise FAQ that addresses this question directly.
Tied Notes — How to Count, Play & Practice | Tunable
The FAQ section from the Tunable app's guide on tied notes perfectly summarizes their necessity.
Please read the answer to the question "Why not just write a longer note instead of tying?".
As the text highlights, there are three primary reasons for using a tie:
- To sustain a note across a bar line. This is the most common and important use. A measure of 4/4 time can only contain four beats. If you want a note to start on beat 4 and last for two full beats, it's impossible to notate this with a single half note, as that would violate the measure's capacity. Instead, you write a quarter note on beat 4 and tie it to a quarter note on beat 1 of the following measure.
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To sustain a note across a strong beat within a measure. Sometimes, for clarity, a note is tied across a major beat division within a bar. For example, in 4/4 time, beat 3 is a point of relative strength. A note starting on beat 2 and lasting for 2.5 beats might be written as a half note tied to an eighth note. This makes the rhythmic relationship to the underlying pulse easier to read than if it were written as, say, a dotted half note starting on an off-beat.
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To create durations that no single note value can represent. There is no single note symbol for a duration of, for instance, five sixteenth notes. To achieve this, you could tie a quarter note (worth four sixteenths) to a sixteenth note.
Let's watch a demonstration of the most important function: tying a note across a measure line.
How to read TIES in music | EASY to understand
Returning to the "How to read TIES in music" video, the presenter now explains this exact scenario.
Watch the section explaining how to extend a note past a measure line. This visualizes the problem and solution we just discussed.
Ties in the Piano Roll Editor
In your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), you won't be drawing curved lines. The concept of a tie is represented much more directly. A tied note in traditional notation is simply a single, longer MIDI note in a piano roll editor.
Where traditional notation is forced to use a tie to connect two measures, the piano roll simply allows the note event to extend visually from one measure into the next. The underlying principle is identical: a single note-on message is triggered, and it is not released until the full, extended duration has passed.
This is a key point where your experience with programming might provide a useful analogy. Think of a measure as a fixed-size data buffer or a discrete time step in a simulation. A tie is essentially a mechanism for handling an event whose lifetime exceeds a single time step, ensuring its state (in this case, "note is playing") persists into the next step without being re-initialized.
Let's watch one more very short video that summarizes the concept nicely.
The video "Rhythms: The Fundamentals" by Brad Harrison Music contains a very brief but effective summary.
Watch the clip from the definition of a tie. It succinctly states that ties connect notes of the same pitch to make them longer, both "inside the bar or over the bar line."
By understanding ties, you can now program sounds that are not constrained by the measure, creating the long, evolving basslines, drones, and pads that are essential for building texture and atmosphere in the genres you're interested in.
Conclusion
In this lesson, we have defined the musical tie and explored its function as a critical tool for creating rhythmic continuity. While its appearance in traditional notation and a DAW's piano roll differs, its purpose remains the same: to create a single, sustained sound that can cross the rigid structural boundaries of beats and measures.
Key Takeaways:
- A tie is a curved line that connects two or more notes of the same pitch.
- The fundamental instruction of a tie is to combine the notes' durations into a single, sustained sound without re-articulating the tied-to notes.
- Ties are necessary to notate durations that cross bar lines or other strong beat divisions, or to create rhythms for which no single note symbol exists.
- In a DAW's piano roll, a tie is represented simply by extending the length of a single MIDI note across beat or measure boundaries.
In our previous lesson, we placed notes on the beat. In this lesson, we learned how to hold them across beats. In our next lesson, we will explore syncopation, the art of rhythmically displacing notes off the beat. Ties are a foundational component of syncopation, as they allow us to create rhythms that begin before a beat and hold through it, creating the push-and-pull feel that drives so much of modern music.