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PhiNotPi's avatar

What musical symbol is this?

Asked by PhiNotPi (12686points) November 13th, 2011

There is one piece that I am playing in band that has a strange musical symbol in it. In one measure, there are two half notes (the first higher than the second, if that is important); however, in between them are three thick diagonal lines, going in the upper-left to lower-right direction. The lines are not connected to the two notes, but are just placed in the middle of them.

So, what is this mysterious symbol, and how would I go about playing it?

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11 Answers

Mariah's avatar

Is it a tremolo perhaps? Or anything else on this page?

PhiNotPi's avatar

@Mariah Most likely. Also, I thought I already looked at that page and I didn’t see anything. The only difference that I see is that the lines are going in the opposite direction.

Mariah's avatar

Yeah, I’m thinking they might be drawn in the direction from one note to the next, so since the first note is higher the lines would slope downwards. At least, that’s what I seem to be recalling from a piece I played that had tremolos. But I could be wrong; hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject will stop by.

PhiNotPi's avatar

Also, I just remembered that the measure is twice as long as what the time signature would allow, which follows the notation on the tremolo wikipedia page.

Mariah's avatar

Oh yeah, that seems like that would only happen if it were a tremolo.

wundayatta's avatar

Does it look like a cesura?

In musical notation, caesura denotes a brief, silent pause, during which metrical time is not counted.

wundayatta's avatar

It might also be a simile, but both cesura and simile go from upper right to lower left. Simile (scroll down until you see it).

Mariah's avatar

Caesura was my first thought but those are only two lines.

wundayatta's avatar

I know, @Mariah. But I know of nothing that slants the way the OP describes it.

SavoirFaire's avatar

@PhiNotPi Are you seeing something like this? If so, it’s a special kind of tremolo. The measure is not twice as long as the time signature allows, but rather you are supposed to alternate between the two notes for the space of one half note.

Brightinfinity's avatar

It’s a tremolo. Basically just trill between the two notes written for a half note.

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