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1.123 extender line

ES: línea de extensión [de melisma, de bajo cifrado, etc.], I: linea di estensione, F: ligne d’extension [de mélisme, de basse chiffrée, etc.], D: Fülllinie, NL: ?, DK: ?, S: ?, FI: pidennysviiva.

The generic term (in LilyPond) for a line (or dash) of arbitrary length that extends text (without indicating the musical function of that text).

Used in many contexts, for example:

• In vocal music to indicate the syllable for a melisma. Called ‘extension’ in the Dolmetsch Online Music Dictionary.
• In figured bass to indicate that:
  • The extended note should be held through a change in harmony, when applied to one figure –OR–
  • The chord thus represented should be held above a moving bass line, when applied to more than one figure.
  • These uses were not completely standardized, and some composers used a single extender line to indicate the latter case.
• In string music to indicate that all notes in the passage thus indicated should be played on the same string. On the violin, for example, a series of notes to be played on the G string would be indicated sul G, another series to be played on the D string would be indicated sul D, and so on.
• With an octave mark to indicate that a passage is to be played higher or lower by the given number of octaves.

See also

melisma, sul G, thorough bass, octave mark, octave marking.