Portando

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the vocal line (portando, portando la voce) at the interval to be connected, often with a slur; it applies to that note-to-note move or short phrase, not to the passage that follows.

How Composers Use It

Portando is the gerund behind portamento: carry the voice through the interval so the two pitches connect audibly. In singing and string playing it is an expressive glide; used too often it becomes a mannerism, so mark only the intervals that carry the feeling. Do not confuse it with portato, a different articulation in which notes are slightly separated within one slur.

Example

Chaminade, “Chanson groënlandaise”, voice, m. 14: “portando” with “poco rit.”, followed by “a tempo” and “dolce” in the next bar.

Related Terms