ligature
8.2
A group of musical notes joined to be played or sung smoothly
- noun
- /ˈlɪɡətʃər/
- Specialized
:
ligadura
- In sheet music, a ligature connects the notes to show that they should be played smoothly as one phrase.
Examples
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The composer used a ligature to indicate the notes should be sung legato, creating a flowing melody.
-
Musicians often look for a ligature in the score that signals how the phrases should be articulated.
-
Michelangelo himself included what appear to be ligatures not only on his figures of prisoners but also on his Moses, his Victory (Fig. 11), and his Aurora, among other works.
Academic text (2002)
Surface Forms
Morphology
ligature = lig + ure
The musical sense (notes connected smoothly) is conceptually related to 'binding', but learners cannot infer this from the non‑transparent root and suffix.
Etymology
Ligature comes from the Latin ligare 'to bind'. In music a ligature is a group of notes 'bound' together by a slur, showing they should be played or sung smoothly as one phrase.
