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A slide from one pitch to another, passing through all intermediate pitches. On piano, sliding across the keys; on strings, sliding the finger along the string.
Printed as “gliss.” or “glissando” beside a straight or wavy line joining the first and last notes; the slide covers only the span the line shows. On harp and piano the notes between come from the tuning or the keys; on strings and trombone the slide is continuous. Harp parts sometimes specify how long it takes, as in Holst’s “down in 2”, “up in 3 beats”.
Abbreviations: gliss., gliss
Glissando creates dramatic sweeping effects. On harp, it is idiomatic and produces cascading washes of sound. On piano, it adds brilliance. On trombone, it is comical or dramatic depending on context. Specify start and end pitches clearly.
Ravel, Miroirs, No. 4, “Alborada del gracioso”, piano, m. 175: “glissando” is printed over the passage, and again two bars later, as the dynamics alternate between f and p.
Glissando is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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