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Portamento is a music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
al term originated from Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 primarily denoting a vocal slide between two pitches
Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
 and its emulation by instruments such as the violin, and in 16th century polyphonic
Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voice , as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord s ....
 writing refers to an ornamental figure. It is also applied to one type of glissando
Glissando

A glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized Musical terminology derived from the French glisser, to glide....
 as well as to the "slide" or "bend" functions of synthesizers. (see main article glissando
Glissando

A glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized Musical terminology derived from the French glisser, to glide....
).

Vocal portamento

In the first example, Rudolfo's first aria in La sonnambula
La sonnambula

La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, music by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a ballet-pantomime by Eug?ne Scribe....
 (1831), the portamento is indicated by the slur between the 3rd and 4th notes.






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Portamento is a music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
al term originated from Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 primarily denoting a vocal slide between two pitches
Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
 and its emulation by instruments such as the violin, and in 16th century polyphonic
Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voice , as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord s ....
 writing refers to an ornamental figure. It is also applied to one type of glissando
Glissando

A glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized Musical terminology derived from the French glisser, to glide....
 as well as to the "slide" or "bend" functions of synthesizers. (see main article glissando
Glissando

A glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized Musical terminology derived from the French glisser, to glide....
).

Vocal portamento



In the first example, Rudolfo's first aria in La sonnambula
La sonnambula

La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, music by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a ballet-pantomime by Eug?ne Scribe....
 (1831), the portamento is indicated by the slur between the 3rd and 4th notes. The second example, Judit's first line in Duke Bluebeard's Castle (1912), employs a more explicit notation.

Ornamentation

In 16th century style, portamento is an anticipation
Nonchord tone

A nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a Note in a piece of music which is not a part of the chord that is formed by the other notes sounding at the time....
 figure, occurring on the off-beat
Beat (music)

A beat is the basic time unit within much Western music; for example, each tick sounded by a metronome would correspond to a beat. More technically, "the beat is the pulse of the mensural level", also known as the beat level, the meter level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit?"the denominator of the time signature,"...
. The portamento resolves step
Step

The term Step or Steps may refer to:* Walk* Dance step, the building block of many dances* Step dance, a dance style where the footwork is the most important part of the dance...
wise, almost always downward. It may occur either once or multiple times in succession.

In multi-voice polyphony
Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voice , as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord s ....
, the portamento figure is normally consonant
Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, Chord , or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance ? considered unstable . The strictest definition of consonance may be only those sounds which are pleasant, while the most general definition includes any sounds which are used freely....
. This embellishment is frequently found ornamenting suspensions, though almost never at the final cadence
Cadence

Cadence may refer to:In music:*Cadence , a melodic configuration or series of chords marking the end of a phrase, section, or piece of music...
.

See also

  • A glissando
    Glissando

    A glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized Musical terminology derived from the French glisser, to glide....
     is a similar effect to portamento which moves in discrete steps; for example, dragging a finger over the keys of the piano
    Piano

    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
    .
  • Vibrato
    Vibrato

    Vibrato is a musical effect, produced in singing and on musical instruments by a regular pulsating change of pitch , and is used to add expression and vocal-like qualities to instrumental music....
     is a repetitive oscillation about a single pitch that occurs in rapid cycles.
  • Portato
    Portato

    Portato in music denotes slurred staccato and is notated by adding a slur to staccato notes.Portato is actually articulated legato, where the notes are played almost legato....
     is a musical term denoting an articulation.