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Tremolo and the abstract truth

Tremolois a great effect that can be used to add tension and volume to a cue. Tremo-

lo is a fast, and by default, unmeasured oscillation of the bow. Tremolo, like harmon-

ics, is a color where the use of samples has given composers a false sense of reality.

For some reason, just like sampled timpani rolls, sampled tremolo is performed way

faster than I have ever heard it in the real world. In reality, the speed is related to thedynamic, just like it is in normal bowing. All of the same variables apply. See here for

a discussion of fingered/keyed tremolo.

Unmeasured tremolo is notated by marking the duration as thirty-second notes,

meaning three slashes. As the durations get shorter, fewer lines are used. This is thesame theory we use for notating drum rolls. Note in the example that there is no tie

between bar one and two. None is needed; there will be no gap or re-articulation.

This will sound like nine beats of tremolo. You would need to put a tenuto or an ac-

cent on the second C to force a re-articulation. Due to the way we now work with se-

quencers, MIDI files, and notation programs, many people now use ties on tremolos.

This is redundant and historically incorrect.

You will notice I did tie the last F. This is to indicate that I want it off on 3 !. I do not

want the players to articulate beat 3 at all, just touch it with the end ofthe tremolo.

Even though I state that thirty-second notes always mean an unmeasured tremolo,

there is one place where I have found the players cannot help themselves and will

play measured. This is a mainly a physical issue, as the players are human not com-

puters.

When a pattern such as the above has to be

played fast, the players will all go to a mea-

sured tremolo and perform two bows per

note.

Measured Tremolo

If you need to break the default and want a measured tremolo, there are two com-mon ways to do it.

16th notes-
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There are lots of advantages to this notation. For one, it takes less space so you can fitmore measure on each system and secondly, if you need to change the notes, it is eas-

ier as there are less to change. It also has a cleaner, less cluttered look. A single slash

gets you 8th notes.

Getting out of Tremolo

The physics of the tremolo need to be considered.

In this example there are a few things that willhappen that will affect the sound. The players

have to cross from the E string to the D string.

This would be an issue even without the tremolo. This happens all the time and is not

really noticeable in the real world. The players will finish the C a little early in order

to leave time to raise the bow and cross to the D string. As an orchestrator, I know

this will happen, so if I am fine with the gap, I will leave it written like this. If this is

with other instruments, I might write in the rest so I can give it to the others and keep

the end of the phrase together. However, the bigger issue with this is that it is impos-sible to go right from an unmeasured bow to a perfectly measured one. It will take

the players a couple of beats to get in tempo and lock together. You may not be both-

ered by this in the concert hall, but it will be obvious in the studio. In the studio we

can cheat and pick up the second bar, playing the first to the end, stopping, then

restarting. If this were loud and I needed everyone to play, this is how I would do it.

If it is not important that the C go right to the barline, I might bring them off on

four. Note that it is still extremely hard to go to the metric rhythm with a short gap,but easier than none. If this was not loud, I could use the firsts for the C, then the sec-

onds or violas play the rhythm. This came up in a cue recently. You can see I used the
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firsts on the tremolo and saved the seconds for the rhythmic pattern. The violas are

OK to play, they will have a slight gap, but there are covered by the brass. The firsts

are not covered so have to play to the barline.

Here are some orchestration examples.

Woodwind and Brass

For wind and brass instruments, tremolo is performed by flutter tonguing. The nota-

tion is exactly the same as tremolo for strings and percussion. It is common to label

the part as flutter as well as the tremolo articulation, however, I feel this is redun-

dant. The notation is sometimes used for a valve tremolo (same notes played rapidlyby alternate fingerings), but one would go out of their way to label this if it were

what you were asking for as it is not used very often. Flutter tongue is the default.

Percussion

A tremolo is performed as a roll. On all pitched instruments and the bass drum it is

performed by rapid singles strokes. On the snare drum each stroke has multiples,

two or more depending on the style of the music.
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