Lesson 15: Slurs and Legato Playing

Start a pair of changing notes with one tongue stroke.
Join selected note pairs smoothly in a melody.

Keep the air flowing while the fingers change.

A slur is a curved line joining different pitches: tongue only the first note and keep the air flowing. This makes a smooth, or legato, sound; tongue repeated pitches so you hear each one.

Play twice: tongue every note, then only the first note of each beat.

Use one tongue for each changing-pitch pair.

Play: Go Tell Aunt Rhody — complete melody

Try slurring changing-pitch pairs; retongue repeated notes. This phrasing is editorial.

Source: Berger/Israels, Song Anthology (2020), p. 102, CC0; up P4 for soprano. Chords and source slur omitted.

Now play these

Go Tell Aunt Rhody: Choose where to connect changing pitches.
Lightly Row: Keep repeated notes distinct inside smooth phrases.

Prepare Molly Malone’s 6/8 and dotted-eighth note/sixteenth note pairs after Lessons 24–25; play its complete verse and chorus after Lesson 29’s ties.

When your chosen eighth-note pairs join smoothly and repeated notes stay distinct, move on to Lesson 16.