Glissando lines

Glissando lines indicate a continuous transition between two notes, which can be smooth or in chromatic steps. They can have straight lines or wiggly lines, and can be shown with a text indication or as a line without text.

There are different conventions regarding the playing techniques for glissando and portamento. Some people understand glissando lines to indicate a chromatic scale between the two notes, either rising or falling in a series of half-steps (semitones), and portamento lines to indicate a smooth, continuous glide between the two notes. However, the terms glissando and portamento can be used interchangeably in other cases.

You can input both glissando lines and portamento lines in Dorico Pro, and you can easily change their style after they have been input.

Glissando lines in Dorico Pro automatically follow the notes at each end, meaning if you change the pitch of either note, the glissando line end positions move accordingly.

Figure 1. An example glissando line with text shown and a wiggly line
Figure 2. An example portamento line with text shown and a straight line