Tremolo
In music, tremolo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtrɛːmolo]), or tremolando ([tremoˈlando]), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume.
Tremolos may be either measured, in which the exact rate of repetition or oscillation is specified, or unmeasured, in which it is not (the understanding being in that case that it should be performed as rapidly as possible).
Types of tremolo
Rapid reiteration or oscillation
The rapid reiteration of a single note is a characteristic effect of bowed string instruments, obtained by rapidly moving the bow back and forth. However, the technique may be performed on any instrument on which it is practicable. (Indeed, a slow measured tremolo is simply a shorthand notation for an ordinary repetition of notes; thus, tremolo notation may appear in written music for any instrument.)
The notation for this effect consists of one or more strokes drawn through the stem of a note (or, if the note lacks a stem, through the position that a hypothetical stem would occupy); the strokes correspond to the beams that would connect the individual repeated notes if they were to be written out, thereby representing the rate of repetition (i.e. the speed of the tremolo).
Some special cases are worth noting:
- On plucked strings such as on a
- The technique of wind instrumentsis analogous to an unmeasured tremolo on strings, and notated similarly.
- The -- a fact suggestive of the close relationship between tremolos and trills (see below).
A rapid alternation between two different pitches is another type of tremolo. On bowed string instruments, this is referred to as a fingered tremolo to distinguish it from the bowed tremolo discussed above; but once again it may be performed on any instrument. It is notated by writing the pitches to be alternated as a
This type of tremolo includes the
Amplitude variation
A separate type of tremolo is a variation in amplitude:
- As produced on organs by tremulants
- Using electronic effects in guitar amplifiers and effects pedals which rapidly turn the volume of a signal up and down, creating a "shuddering" effect
- An imitation of the same by strings in which pulsations are taken in the same bow direction
- A or "Monteverdi trill"
Tremolo is sometimes used interchangeably with vibrato. However, a tremolo is a variation of volume (or amplitude); as contrasted with vibrato, which is a variation of pitch (or frequency).
Some
Most settings on a tremolo effects pedal include depth of the tremolo (sometimes called intensity) and speed of the tremolo. Some models allow to choose the shape of the waveform (sine wave, triangle wave, square wave).[5]
History
Although it had already been employed as early as 1617 by Biagio Marini and again in 1621 by Giovanni Battista Riccio,[6] the bowed tremolo was invented in 1624 by the early 17th-century composer Claudio Monteverdi,[7][8] and, written as repeated semiquavers (sixteenth notes), used for the stile concitato effects in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. The measured tremolo, presumably played with rhythmic regularity, was invented to add dramatic intensity to string accompaniment and contrast with regular tenuto strokes.[8] However, it was not till the time of Gluck that the real tremolo[clarification needed] became an accepted method of tone production.[9] Four other types of historical tremolos include the obsolete undulating tremolo, the bowed tremolo, the fingered tremolo (or slurred tremolo), and the bowed-and-fingered tremolo.[10]
The undulating tremolo was produced through the fingers of the right hand alternately exerting and relaxing pressure upon the bow to create a "very uncertain–undulating effect ... But it must be said that, unless violinists have wholly lost the art of this particular stroke, the result is disappointing and futile in the extreme," though it has been suggested that rather than as a legato stroke it was done as a series of jetés.[8]
There is some speculation that tremolo was employed in medieval Welsh harp music, as indicated in the transcription by Robert ap Huw.[11]
Notation
In musical notation, unmeasured tremolo is usually notated as regular repeated notes -- measured tremolo -- of very short duration: so short as to preclude confusion with an actual measured tremolo. Commonly, for example, the duration used will be demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes). In this case, there will be three strokes through the stems of the notes, except on notes which already have beams or flags: quavers (eighth notes) then take two slashes, and semiquavers (sixteenth notes) take one.
In the case of semibreves (whole notes), which lack stems, the strokes or slashes are drawn above or below the note, where the stem would be if there were one.
In slower
If the tremolo is between two or more notes, both notes are given the full value of the passage and the bars are drawn between them:
As shown above, a minim (half note)-based tremolo is sometimes drawn with beams connecting the two notes together rather than interpolated bars (strokes).
Bowed string instruments
Violin fingered tremolo; notice the joining of strokes and stems is different for different time values, and that some notes shorter than eighth notes are written out, such as the last thirty-second notes on the last beat of measure three:
Violin bowed-and-fingered tremolo, notated the same as fingered tremolo but without slurs and with staccato above the staff:
See also
- Arpeggio, a chord played one note after the other
- Flexatone
- Leslie speaker, a rotating speaker horn producing a tremolo and vibrato effect
- Drum rolls are the percussive equivalent of tremolo
References
- ^ "Examples of Tremolo on Acoustic Guitar". Kapil Srivastava. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
- ^ "Mandolin Glossary: Tremolo". Mandolin Cafe. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61058-878-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7935-3733-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4053-8873-3.
- ISBN 9781561592395.
- ISBN 0-02-872900-5.
- ^ a b c Forsyth 1982, p. 348.
- ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 349.
- ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 350.
- ^ Whittaker, Paul. "British Museum, Additional MS 14905; An Interpretation and Re-examination of the Music and Text" (PDF). Music of the Robert ap Huw Manuscript. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 358.
- ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 362.
Sources
- OCLC 757100643.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-393-60052-0.