Sometimes melody notes may be tied together by a sign that looks like this:?

?????

?THE TIE SIGN (Curved Line)

The curved line is drawn under two notes.? Any two succeeding notes of the same name may be joined together by a TIE.? Note that G in one bar could only be tied to G in the next bar.? G could not be tied to A or to any other note of a different name.?

Curved lines above notes of different names are called 'slurs' (legato) and not ties.? Please make sure you never confuse the two.?

In the preceding example you will notice that the note in the first bar is a dotted minim worth 3 counts.? The first note in the second bar is a minim, 2 counts, followed by a crotchet, 1 count.? The dotted minim in the first bar is TIED to the minim in the second bar which means that you hold the note for the number of beats indicated.? In this case 3 beats for the dotted minim and 2 beats for the minim so you keep the note sounding for the full 5 beats.? You do not sound the second note separately.? Play the first note for a count of 3, hold the note for a further count of 2 then play the 3rd note A for 1 count.?

The important thing to remember about tied notes is that the second note is not sounded separately.? It is kept sounding for the time value indicated by the note.?

The Tie sign can also be used to join notes of the same name in the same bar as well as separate bars.