You know when people slide up from a note that is NOT in the actual, written melody of the song to one that is (I was always told that this was called "scooping," at least colloquially)? Well, what's the OPPOSITE of this called, i.e. when someone slides DOWN to a note? Example: The first verse of "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson, on the words "small", "fall", "could", and "happy."
HELP!
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 12 July 2008 02:07 (sixteen years ago) link
huh, i don't really hear sliding in that kelly clarkson tune, just passing tones?
― Jordan, Friday, 18 July 2008 17:56 (sixteen years ago) link
An actual slide from one note to another is called a portamento:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portamento
Hitting the distinct notes in between as you travel from one note to another is a glissando:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glissando
What Kelly is doing on the notes mentioned is hitting a grace note and then settling on a passing tone, ornamenting it (described, as Steve said, by the term "appoggiatura").
― HI DERE, Friday, 18 July 2008 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link
In Guitar nomenclature, the opposite of a scoop (i.e. portamento UP to the note), I'm sure, is a doop (i.e. portamento DOWN to the note). I'm sure I have this in a Total Guitar mag from a few years back (one of those TAB demystified sections), but I've found nother else to back it up.
Appoggiature would not be the correct term if the person slides between the notes (one would suspect that in Pop music, the term appoggiatura is unlikely to feature, hence the need for 'Scoop' etc).
Lastly, in the Portamento/Glissando debate (lack of clear distinction between the two noted in the Wikipedia articles above) I've always thought of Glissandi as being instrumental in nature and Portamenti as being vocal.
I'm going to keep searching for the Scoop/Doop thing though...
― AndyTheScot, Sunday, 20 July 2008 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link