NOTATIO

A question about slurs and ties starting on the same note.

Is it worth offsetting the tie, so that the tips do not line up? Is there a standard practice, or it is perhaps just house style?

I would favour the slurs starting slightly earlier and finishing later than the tie, making the slur bigger, not making the tie smaller.

I believe that it is standard practice for the ends of the tie to move away from the center of the note heads when there are articulations involved, such as the ones you illustrated, or when there is tight spacing between the note heads to avoid too much arch to the tie. Elaine Gould has a good presentation of various situations on page 62 of Behind Bars.

Finale's default setting for ALL tie ends to be 8 EVPUs (.333 spaces) in from the center of the note heads (which would be 0 EVPUs). This seems to be a good compromise for most situations. I find myself modifying this in many cases, however.

This subject is somewhat related to the thread on Steep Slurs. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=861 I think that the software should be modifying the position of the tie and slur ends depending on the situation.

Thank you. That confirms what I had been thinking. I was not sure whether the examples in Behind Bars were in exceptional situations or in every case. I had already read the Steep Slurs discussion — that is something else I have struggled with in the past. I agree that it would save a great deal of time if the software could accommodate these situations. I reckon I spend more time tweaking slurs than on anything else.