| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
In current usage, portamento is making a continuous "slide" up or down in frequency from a previous note, rather than a discrete change from one note to the next. This is most commonly encountered on string instruments, such as the guitar or violin, which can produce a continuous range of frequencies rather than being limited to the chromatic or diatonic scale, and impossible on a fixed-pitch instrument like the piano. The trombone also produces quite effective portamento (referred to as a "smear"), as would any instrument with a slide, such as the slide whistle. Other wind instruments have a very limited capability to produce this effect, and can portamento through only as wide a pitch range as can be affected by embouchureThe embouchure is the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument. Less frequently, it is used to mean the mouthpiece itself. The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche 'mouth'. The proper embouchure allows the instrumen alone, which is often not more than a stepIntervals See also: Dance step, Stairway. In music, a step is a linear interval between two pitches which are consecutive scale degrees; conjuct melodic motion, which in a diatonic scale is either a minor second or major second. More generally it is a sma. A glissandoGlissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a "true" glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an "effective" glissando). Musical inst is a similar effect which moves in discrete steps; for example, dragging a finger over the keys of the piano.
In MIDI sequencing, portamento is a channelFor the geographical meanings of this word, see channel (geography). In communications, a channel is the "path" or "route" which a message follows, as it is transmitted between a communication source and a receiver. More specifically, in telecommunication message that creates a sliding effect by smoothly changing pitch from the last note played to the pitch of the currently playing note.
In 16th century style, portamento is an anticipationA nonchord tone or non-harmony note is a tone in a piece of homophonic music which is not in the chord that is formed by the other tones playing and in most cases quickly resolves to a chord tone. For example, if a piece of music is currently on a C Major figure, occurring on the off-beat of strong beatsSee also the beat disambiguation page. A beat is a pulse on the beat level the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece; when you tap your foot to music, each tap is a beat. Depending on the c in the music (beats 1 and 3). The portamento resolves stepwiseIntervals See also: Dance step, Stairway. In music, a step is a linear interval between two pitches which are consecutive scale degrees; conjuct melodic motion, which in a diatonic scale is either a minor second or major second. More generally it is a sma, almost always downward. It may occur either once or multiple times in succession.
In multi-voice polyphony, the portamento figure is normally consonant. This embellishment is frequently found ornamenting suspensions, though almost never at the final cadence.