Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A smooth uninterrupted glide in passing from one tone to another, especially with the voice or a bowed stringed instrument.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In music for the voice or an instrument of the viol family, a gradual change or gliding from one pitch or tone to another without break or perceptible step.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music A smooth, gliding
transition from onenote to another; used especially withstringed instruments , and sometimes onbrass .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Glide The effect of this slider depends on the setting of the Pitcher slider: When Pitcher is centered, Glide determines the time it takes for the pitch to slide from one note to another (called portamento).
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A nonmusical example of portamento would be "up-speak," a verbal tic common in some people under thirty.
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With the speed set to zero, unnaturally rapid corrections eliminate portamento, the musical term for the slide between two pitches.
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Vibrato is controlled and portamento slides are delicately used.
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Gulping and distoring vowels and using entirely too much portamento.
Adam Lambert sings "Ring of Fire." Ann Althouse 2009
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His recordings of concert works like Brahms's Sixth Hungarian Dance and Mendelssohn's "Ruy Blas" overture document the expressive late-19th-century performance style, with its flexible tempos (rubato) and emotional string portamento (sliding between important notes).
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The seven types of aria are: Aria Cantabile; Aria di portamento; Aria di mezzo carattere; Aria parlante; Aria di bravura; Aria di agilita;
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Put the right portamento into the first movement's violin part and you also have a case for the finest fresh oysters.
Archive 2007-01-01 Jessica 2007
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Put the right portamento into the first movement's violin part and you also have a case for the finest fresh oysters.
Recipe for success? Jessica 2007
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The first section of "Eri tu" is rendered in a splendidly firm, strong-lined legato, the words crystal-clear; it comes to an end with a decrescendo and portamento down from the top F on "guisa," a most expressive turn and acciaccatura on "primo," and a fermata at the end of the phrase.
Conrad L. Osborne: Best Opera Critic Ever Jaime J. Weinman 2004
slumry commented on the word portamento
A very very good word, not to be confused with portmanteau.
June 16, 2007