Schleifer

The slide (Der Schleifer in German) is a musical ornament found occasionally in baroque musical works. It instructs the performer to begin one or two scale steps below the marked note and slide upward.
Willard A. Palmer wrote, "The schleifer is a "sliding" ornament, usually used to fill in the gap between a note and the previous one."
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach described the slide in two ways: 1) a two-note ascending prefix to a note; and 2) a three-note prefix similar to a turn. Although he suggested a symbol for the slide (of a side-ways turn symbol), this suggestion was not generally adopted, and usually the ornament is written out.<ref namecpe/> Bach felt that the use of the slide was determined by the character of the music, favoring "highly expressive movements."<ref name=cpe/> Regarding the three-note slide, he described it as being appropriate to works which describe "sadness in languide, adagio movements. Halting and subdued in nature, its performance should be highly expressive, and freed from slavish dependence on note values."<ref namecpe/> He also noted that the ornament is more effective when it some of its notes are dissonant against the bass below it.<ref namecpe/>
Bach concludes his discussion of the slide by noting two important points: 1) the performer should aim for an unaffected and subdued expression, rather than trying to fill out notes; and 2) the lack of multiple notes should not be seen has having more expressiveness. Bach also suggested the slide could have a dotted rhythm, enhancing its expressiveness.<ref name=cpe/>
 
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