Dictionary of Music - Birding America

320 portamentoon include BLUES, COUNTRY MUSIC, HIP-HOP, JAZZ,MOTOWN, MUSICAL COMEDY, OPERETTA, RAGTIME,RHYTHM AND BLUES, and ROCK.The term “popular music” is also used in a verygeneral way to distinguish it from “serious” or “classical”music. In this sense it appears in the nameBoston Pops Orchestra, an ensemble that performsmainly popular music and so-called “light classics”as opposed to symphonies, concertos, and otherlonger, serious forms.Sometimes “popular music,” especially theabbreviated term “pop,” is used more narrowly forcommercially successful music that appeals to alarge audience—the so-called “mainstream”—asopposed to a particular genre such as jazz, countrymusic, or rock, often by virtue of its softer, blander,easy-to-listen-to sound.One factor that distinguishes popular music iscommercial success. Before the advent of radio,television, and phonographs, people had to go toconcert halls and theaters to hear the music theyliked. Although composers earned some moneyfrom the tickets bought and the sheet music sold forplaying their music at home, the amounts were negligiblecompared to present-day proceeds fromrecord sales and royalties for broadcasting theirmusic. Serious composers, on the other hand, rarelyconsider money a primary goal, hoping rather to createa work of art that will endure long beyond theirown lifetime.portamento (pôr′′tä men′tô) Italian. Also,French, port de voix (pôr d ə VWA′). A slide fromone note to another executed so rapidly that theintermediate pitches cannot be distinguished. Ineffect it is similar to a GLISSANDO, in which, however,the intermediate pitches consist of wholesteps and half steps; in a portamento smaller intervalsintervene. Thus a portamento cannot be executedon the piano or harp, where only half andwhole tones are available. It can be executed on theviolin and trombone, and by the voice, where it isactually easier to perform than a glissando. Invocal music a portamento is often indicated by aslur (curved line) between the first and secondnotes. The slide may be up or down in pitch, but inpractice it is more often up.portative (pôr′tə tiv). A portable organ used duringthe Middle Ages and Renaissance (twelfth tosixteenth centuries). It was slung around the neck,and the player fingered the keyboard with one handwhile pumping a bellows with the other hand. Theportative thus could be used only to play a melody.The fourteenth-century composer Landini wasfamous for playing the portative, which in Italy wascalled organetto (“little organ”).portato (pôr tä′tô) Italian. Also, mezzo staccato(med′dzô stä kä′tô). A direction to perform a groupof notes in a style halfway between legato(smoothly) and staccato (detached). It is usuallyindicated by a slur and dots: .... – – .port de voix (pôr d ə vwä′) French. 1 Today, sameas a vocal PORTAMENTO. 2 In the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries, an APPOGGIATURA.Porter, Cole, 1892–1964. An American songwriterwho is remembered for his popular songs andmusical comedies, with their witty lyrics and oftencomplex melodies. Educated at Yale and Harvarduniversities as well as in Paris, Porter wrote morethan twenty shows, six film scores, and dozens offamous songs, among them “Begin the Beguine,”“Night and Day,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “IGet a Kick Out of You,” “Just One of Those Things,”“All through the Night,” “I’ve Got You under MySkin,” and “Don’t Fence Me In.” Among his mostsuccessful musical comedies are Kiss Me, Kate,Can-Can, and Silk Stockings.Posaune (pō sou′nə). The German name forTROMBONE. Abbreviated Ps.position 1 In stringed instruments, the place wherea string is stopped (held down) by the left hand whilethe string is bowed by the right hand. The first positionof the first finger is that closest to the pegs, producinga note one whole tone higher than that of theopen (unstopped) string, the second position is thenext one down the fingerboard, and so on. In the firstposition on the G string of a violin, the first fingerplays A, in the second position it plays B, in the thirdposition C, etc. On the cello the thumb is used for the