glissando
1
9.8
- noun
- /ɡlɪˈsændoʊ/
- Specialized
- And if I were to play glissando, it'd feel like this.
- glissandos downward
Examples
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She demonstrated her skill by performing a quick glissando on the piano, creating a flowing sound.
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An otherworldly rumbling glissando of sounds joins the image, sliding up and down the spectrum, and then the faint swelling music is heard.
Fiction book (1997) -
A young woman was playing "Paper Moon" with a lot of nice glissando as they entered and picked out a booth.
Fiction book (2001) -
They're just getting caught up in the power of your glissando, and they're trying to match it.
-
The sonorous glissando of the device was useful to convey the pathos of passing time.
Academic text (2009) -
Another technique children enjoy as a warm-up is imitating the glissando sounds of a slide whistle.
Academic text (2006) -
One of the simplest and fastest ways to accomplish this is to have the children echo sirens (glissandos) produced by the teacher.
Academic text (2006) -
An organist moved through a five-noted chant and then a glissando of the first two bars of "America," pausing on a long note, and then he began a second chant.
Fiction book (2002) -
The ensemble reaches a climax and glissandos downward quickly and immediately into the low register, using chromatic pitches and ending on a low sustained C-sharp.
Academic text (2000) -
One beat later, each member of the choir chooses and sings a pitch from the chord, sustains it for two beats, and glissandos over three beats to a note chosen from the pitches that the high-register instruments are now using to improvise.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
4
6.0
A quick smooth movement from one note to another
1
8.4
A smooth glide from one musical note to another that singers and musicians use
How Continuous
Surface Forms
Etymology
Glissando comes from the Italian verb glissare, which means 'to slide', and is like the English word glide, so a glissando is a smooth musical slide through a quick series of notes.