Tremolo
, or tremolando
, is a musical term describing various trembling
effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration
- of a single note, particularly used on bowed string instruments and plucked strings such as harp, where it is called bisbigliando
or "whispering".
- between two notes or chords in alternation, an imitation of the preceding used by keyboard instruments. Mallet instruments such as the marimba are capable of either method.
- A roll on any percussion instrument, whether tuned or untuned.
A second way of trembling is a variation in amplitude
- as produced on organs by tremulants
- an imitation of the same by strings in which pulsations are taken in the same bow direction
- a defect of vocal technique resulting in an unpleasantly wide or slow vibrato. Not to be confused with the trillo
or "Monteverdi trill".
- an electric guitar effect: see tremolo arm
and vibrato unit
.
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TREMOLO TICKETS
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History
The tremolo was invented by late 16th century composer
Claudio Monteverdi [1] and, written as repeated 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.
[2] However, it was not till the time of Gluck that the real tremolo became an accepted method of tone production.
[3] 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
.
[4]
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
.
Instrumental techniques
The term
tremolando
especially refers to a rapid repetition on a bowed
string instrument, one of the most commonly seen uses of the technique. Tremolo on a
violin or similar instrument is sometimes combined with playing
sul ponticello
(bowing near the bridge of the instrument), which gives a thin and reedy effect, often perceived to be "ghostly."
Another common use of the technique on one note is in the playing of the
mandolin and the
balalaika. Once a string is plucked, the note decays very rapidly, and by playing the same note many times very rapidly, the illusion of a sustained note can be created. The technique is also common in the playing of the
marimba.
Tremolo is also well known
classical guitar technique which involves a single bass note played with the thumb directly followed by the rapid repetition of a higher note played by the ring, middle and index fingers.
Francisco Tárrega notably used this technique in his famous composition
Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
Tremolo on two or more notes is most frequently seen on the
piano or other
keyboard instruments. The
composer Franz Liszt often calls for the technique to be used in his piano pieces. When used on the piano, tremolo can create a seemingly louder and larger sound, which can be sustained indefinitely. Historically, its use on keyboard instruments can be traced back to a time before the
invention of the piano when
harpsichords and similar instruments such as the
spinet were standard. These instruments could not sustain notes for nearly as long as a modern piano, and so tremolo was used to simulate a longer sustain, as well as being used as an independent effect.
Tremolo can also be achieved through the use of
amplitude modulation. This type of effect is often used by electronic instruments and takes the form of a multiplication of the sound by a waveform of lower frequency known as an
LFO. The result is similar to the effect of rapid bowing on a violin or the rapid keying of a piano. In
accordions and
related instruments, tremolo by amplitude modulation is accomplished through
intermodulation between two or more
reeds slightly out of tune with each other. On
organ these ondulating ranks are called
celeste or onda maris.
Notation
In
music notation tremolo is indicated by strokes through the stems of the notes (in the case of
semibreves or
whole notes, which lack stems, the bars are drawn above or below the note, where the stem would be if there were one). Generally, there are three strokes, except on
quavers (eighth notes) which take two, and
semiquavers (sixteenth notes) which take one:
Because this is the same notation as would be used to indicate that regular repeated
demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes) should be played, the word
tremolo
or the abbreviation
trem.
, is sometimes added (particularly in slower music, when there is a real chance of confusion). Alternatively, more strokes can be used.
If the tremolo is between two or more notes the bars are drawn between them:
In some music a
minim-based tremolo is drawn with the strokes connecting the two notes together.
Bowed string instruments
Violin double stop chords:
Violin bowed tremolo:
Violin fingered tremolo, notice the joining of strokes and stems is different for different time values, and that all 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
stacc.
above the staff:
See also
Notes
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