Portato
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Portato in music denotes slurred staccato and is notated by adding a slur to staccato notes.
Portato (from Latin: portare, = to carry) is actually articulated legato, where the notes are played almost legato. Each portato note is 'carried' to the next note.
Portato sometimes is confused with portamento, but it is a completely different entity. By playing portato the music gets 'dignity', 'importance' or a clear pace. Portato was a common way of playing accompanying lines in baroque music, although it was not written in the score. In Classical and Romantic music the portato notation with slurs and dots is more common.
[edit] See also
Portamento (from Latin: portare = "to carry") is a "carrying of a note smoothly" from one pitch to another. This "slide" is possible to a limited extent on brass (trombone, in particular) & wind instruments (the opening clarinet run in Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is an example). String instruments, electric guitars (bender bar), and the voice are particularly suited to portamento articulation.
Portamento is not possible on a piano. Using the word portamento for piano music is an error.
The piano term is portato. This is an articulation halfway between staccato and legato. As a starting point in deciding execution for performance, give each note under the slur half its value and insert a rest of the other half-value. The movement of the hand is "sticky," rather the same effect as lifting the foot after having stepped in gum stuck to a hot sidewalk.
Beethoven indicates portato with staccato dots (wedges are his indication for staccato, a point of confusion).
Mozart, Hayden, Clementi, and Chopin use a slur mark over notes that have staccato dots, which is the common convention.
Do not use portato in the keyboard music of Bach. Bach did not write for the piano. Portato in other Bach's works is restricted to strings.
The written example of portato notation does, however, indicate Bebung, a technique on the clavichord in which the finger "bounces" lightly on the key to create a vibrato, yet never severing contact between the finger and the key. (That is, the slur and group of dots over one note only, not a group.) The clavichord's sound is made by striking a brass tangent against the string. As long as the tangent is in contact with the string, sound (vibration) continues. (Unlike the piano; as soon as the hammer hits the string it falls back. When the finger is lifted from the key, the dampers drop back onto the string, stopping vibration.) Because the tangent remains in contact, the tone may be manipulated. Bebung is used in an ornamental fashion, especially for long notes.
The illustration above is correct in denoting the differences of notation between legato, staccato, portato, and extreme staccato.
