Laissez vibrer (l.v.): meaning and use in music

Laissez vibrer (l.v., 'let vibrate') directs an indicated sound to continue without deliberate damping until a local cutoff or its natural decay.

FR laissez vibrer resonance common Support my free tools

Abbreviation
l.v.

How is laissez vibrer played?

After the attack, leave the relevant resonance free: avoid touching harp or guitar strings, do not choke a cymbal or other metal percussion sound, and use held keys, pedal or a vibraphone damper state only as the instrument and passage require. The instruction specifies the sounding result, not one universal physical mechanism or a fixed duration. It may appear as the text l.v.; an open-ended tie can communicate the same let-ring result but remains a separate graphical notation channel. Étouffez and other damping directions reverse it only for the same locally active resonance.

How does laissez vibrer sound?

A note that keeps sounding and decays slowly into silence, leaving a halo of resonance rather than a clean cut-off.

In context

French laissez vibrer means 'let vibrate' or 'let ring', and Musicca, LilyPond and Avid independently identify l.v. with the exact phrase. Text l.v. and a laissez-vibrer tie both tell performers not to damp the indicated sound, commonly in harp, piano, guitar and sustaining percussion parts, but a later cutoff, new technique or the sound's practical decay determines the endpoint.

Equivalent terms

  • IT lasciar vibrare
  • DE klingen lassen
  • DE frei schwingen lassen
  • EN let ring
  • EN let vibrate
Top Write to me