IWBNI it were possible to adjust the shape of the inner boundary of slurs (and ties) independently of that of the outer boundary. For a slur that is above the staff, the "inner" boundary is the lower boundary of the slur. The "outer" boundary for such a slur would be the upper boundary.

It has been suggested that it be possible to create slurs (and ties) that are flatter (e.g. by introducing a new control point at the top of the slur in the Slur Contour dialog box.). Instead, two control points could be added to adjust the flatness of each boundary of the slur (i.e. one new control point for the inner boundary and one new control point for the outer boundary).

As it is now, one can only adjust the shape of the slur as a whole. It is not possible to specify that the shape of the inner boundary be, in some way, different from the outer boundary.

Here is a picture of two slurs. The top slur was created using Finale. The bottom slur is a rough drawing of the slur shape that one might wish to create using Finale:
 

There are 4 differences between what is now possible (the "Finale slur" or top slur in the figure) and the alternative slur (the "desired slur" or bottom slur in the figure):

1. The inner boundary of the desired slur is much flatter than that of the Finale slur.

2. The outer boundary of the desired slur is a bit flatter than that of the Finale slur.

3. For the desired slur, the inner boundary is much flatter than the outer boundary. For the Finale slur, the inner and outer boundaries have very similar curvatures.

4. The width of the tips of the desired slur do not grow as quickly as those of the Finale slur.

Granted, these are subtle differences. But, there are advantages to the alternative slur. The weighty mid-section of such slurs emphasizes their conjunctive function. With tips that do not grow rapidly in thickness, these slurs are connected to but clearly distinct from noteheads. Slurs that quickly grow thick at the tips can draw too much attention away from the notehead and tend to blend in or bleed into noteheads. To better judge the subtle differences between the shapes of these two slurs, one can stand far away from the display device (e.g. 25 feet) until these extreme closeup graphics are reduced to roughly the size that the might appear in a score.

All that has been said here applies to ties as well.

Created: November 3, 1999
Last Updated: December 1, 1999
Version: Finale 2000b