glissando
A continuous slide from one pitch to another.
In Depth
A glissando is a rapid slide between two pitches, covering all the notes in between. On a piano, this means dragging a finger across the keys. On a trombone, the slide makes a true continuous glissando possible. String instruments can produce either a smooth continuous slide or a rapid chromatic scale.
The glissando creates a dramatic, sweeping effect. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue opens with one of the most famous glissandos in music — a clarinet slide that has become iconic. Harpists perform glissandos by sweeping across the strings, and the technique appears frequently in jazz, film music, and contemporary classical works.
The opening clarinet glissando in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was an accident — the clarinetist played it as a joke in rehearsal, and Gershwin loved it so much he wrote it into the score.