What does glissando mean in music?

Left hand & fingerboard

Glissando

Italian, from French glisser, "to slide" · Also: gliss.

A glissando is a continuous slide from one pitch to another, notated with a line between the two notes, and on a string instrument it is produced by keeping the finger pressed while the hand travels.

Because a string instrument has no frets, the slide is genuinely continuous rather than a rapid scale, which distinguishes a string glissando from a piano or harp glissando where every intervening note sounds separately. The written notes are the destination and the origin; everything between them is audible smear, and that is the point.

Speed and bow pressure decide the character. A slow, light glissando is expressive; a fast, heavy one is a special effect. Bartók, Ravel, and film composers all use it for sound rather than for melody.

It is distinct from portamento, which is a discreet expressive slide used to connect notes within a phrase and is normally not written at all. A glissando is asked for; a portamento is a matter of taste.

Portamento: Portamento is an audible slide between two pitches, produced on a string instrument by shifting while the bow keeps the string sounding.
Shifting: Shifting is moving the left hand to a new position on the fingerboard, and it is the technique that gives a string player access to the instrument's full range.
Position: A position is a fixed placement of the left hand on the fingerboard, numbered by which note the first finger falls on, so that a set of pitches is reachable without moving the hand.
Vibrato: Vibrato is a small, regular oscillation of pitch produced by rocking the left-hand finger on the string, used to warm and sustain a tone.

Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.

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