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positioned at the horizontal center of noteheads. The other convention is to place the ends of

ties between noteheads, ideally positioned at the vertical center of noteheads.

A tie outside noteheads A tie between noteheads

For both conventions, Dorico Elements automatically positions the ends of ties as close as

possible to the notes that they join while avoiding collisions with other notations.

The vertical placement of ties is also automatically adjusted in Dorico Elements so that neither of

the end points of ties, nor the apex of tie curves, starts or ends on a staff line. If this happens, it

can cause the shape of ties to appear distorted, which makes the music harder to read.

To avoid this, Dorico Elements changes the vertical position of ties slightly, and makes small

changes to the curvature of ties. These changes are small, but the placement of ties is subtly

different depending on the position of notes relative to staff lines.

A tie outside noteheads

When transposed one note down, the tie appears

with a steeper curve to avoid reaching its apex on

the staff line.

A tie between noteheads, with the ends slightly

above the vertical center of the noteheads to avoid

the tie appearing too close to the staff line at its

ends or apex.

When transposed up, the ends of the tie are now

positioned at the vertical center of the notehead, as

there is no staff line with which it could collide.

Wherever possible, clef changes should not be positioned in the middle of tie chains. Changing

the clef changes the position of the tied note on the staff, which could easily cause a performer

to misread the tie as a slur and play two different notes.

Ties can look distorted when they are very short, and can be overlooked. You can change the

minimum length of ties when they are within a single system on the Ties page in Engrave >

Engraving Options.

NOTE

Slurs must not be confused with ties, which look supercially similar, but instead join notes of the

same pitch to indicate that they are played as a single note. In that sense, ties are part of

rhythmic notation, while slurs are considered articulation.