Practising the Mandolin: the Tremolo
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So important, and nevertheless…
Of all the techniques used when playing the mandolin, the tremolo is probably what’s giving the instrument its peculiar style, its distinctive color. The tremolo makes the mandolin sing — being its voice, its personality, its soul.
Considering the importance of the technique, we should expect an abundance of explanations and exercises on the subject in the different learning methods available. Unfortunately, it’s not the case! Most of them give very scarce explanations: just a few words saying it’s a series of rapid strokes with the pick to give the illusion of sustained notes. Most of the time, we find some exercises but we’re never really sure which aspect of the technique they address. We have this feeling that playing in tremolo is always the same thing, whatever the context. |
A long and strenuous path.
Despite that, we all know that different circumstances can affect the tremolo differently: to play a musical phrase with tremolo on the E string is a complete different matter than playing the same phrase on the G string; playing a perfectly legato tremolo while changing string might be quite challenging; having just one note in tremolo in the middle of a series of staccatos may end up in a complete mess; a beautiful crescendo or decrescendo in tremolo is not given to everyone; starting a tremolo and then, ending it smoothly with a trill is quite an art. And that’s only the peak of the iceberg! All those “Methods” should be on our side to help us with those difficulties but, sadly, many of them don’t help that much!
I’ve often heard that it takes years to develop a beautiful tremolo; I believe that it’s not exaggerated. But if a student tries to learn the technique with only one method, he will not reach his goal with ten or twelve exercises. |
Is there a solution?
As for me, I pick exercises here and there. On the other hand, there’s still one problem: most of these exercises don’t mention on which aspect of the tremolo to focus: the start of the note, the evenness of the strokes, the dynamics, the alternation tremolo—staccato, the end of the note. In the list below of methods from the Romantic Era, each of them offers a certain number of exercises. Maybe, someday, I’ll decide to assemble these exercises and publish something…
Would you happen to be a “ Pétacheux “ ?
During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the tremolo was only one of many ornaments and if you overused it you were called a “Pétacheux”, at least by Giovanni Fouchetti; being called such a derogatory name was, obviously, an insult. Furthermore, the composers of the time didn’t agree on the way the tremolo was supposed to be played.
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The most important issue about the mandolin.
For the composers of the Romantic Era, the tremolo is literally everything: Raffaele Calace (1863—1934); Carlo Munier (1859—1911); Alberto Bracony (1885—1946); Giuseppe Branzoli (1845—1909); Jules Cottin (part. 1; part. 2) (1868—1922); Ferdinando de Cristofaro (part. 1; part. 2) (1846—1890); Laurent Fantauzzi (part. 1; part. 2) (1872—1941); Ferdinand Lalechère (1893); Herbert Forrest Odell (1872—1926); Otto Schick (1850—1928), all of these guys gave us methods in which they stress, in the very first pages, the immeasurable importance of a good, fast and smooth tremolo.
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« Le tremolo est la chose la plus importante de la mandoline ». Calace
* « Il faut donner seize coups de médiator pour une ronde, huit pour une blanche, quatre pour une noire, deux pour une croche, un pour une double croche… ; s’il y avait des triples croches, on doublerait les coups de médiator de toutes les valeurs de manière à n’avoir à donner qu’un coup de médiator pour les triples croches, etc. » Lalechère |
« Das Tremolo, welches darin besteht, daß jeder einzelne Ton durch eine größere Anzahl schneller Anschläge gespielt wird, sodaß man nicht mehr die einzelnen Schläge, sondern nur einen fortgesetzten Ton hört. » Bracony
* « Quand l’élève aura bien compris la position de la plume, il commencera à battre lentement, un coup en bas et un autre en haut… jusqu’à ce qu’il arrive à un mouvement très vif. Ce mouvement se nomme tremolo. » Cristofaro * « The tremolo is of the greatest importance in playing the mandoline because by its means the instrument is made to sing. » Schick |
« Le tremolo est l’artifice au moyen duquel on exécute les sons soutenus sur la Mandoline. Plus il est rapide et plus l’illusion est parfaite. » Cottin
* « La partie la plus importante de la mandoline c’est le Trémolo. Sans lui, nous estimons que la mandoline aurait peu de valeur. » Fantauzzi * « The movement which is used to play sustained notes, on the mandolin, is called the tremolo… The study and practise of the tremolo should be begun at the same time that the player is learning the notes on the fingerboard, and shoud be practised on all four of the open strings;… » Odell |
You will be told when to and when not to…
For the modern composers, the tremolo remains important.
« A beautiful tremolo is a joy forever, and a pleasure that is definitely within your reach. » (Marilynn Mair, The Complete Mandolinist, p. 110)
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On the other hand, the current trend is to indicate clearly the notes or the sections to be played with tremolo.
« The convention in more modern music is for the composer to write in tremolo where required or to leave that choice to the performer. » (August Watters, Exploring Classical Mandolin, p.33)
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Érik Marchellie, Paseo, Les Production d'Oz, 2014
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In this excerpt of Paseo from Éric Marchelie, we can see that the F# in the fifth bar and the A in the twelfth, both whole notes, must be played tremolo. Yet, in a piece marked Andantino like this one, most of us would play all the notes with tremolo. |
In this short piece from his Bestiaire, Vincent Beer-Demander is very clear in his guidelines. Nothing is left to the interpreter’s hands.
Vincent Beer-Demander, Bertiaire, Les Productions d'Oz, 2009
Must we count the strokes of the pick?
The least we can say is that the opinions are divided. Some say we must count the pennates (1 down stroke + 1 upstroke = 1 pennate); others say “it depends…”; and finally, some say we should never even try to count. Above, in the quote by Lalechère, he says we must count with great precision. But, here’s what Odell has to say:
« The player should not attempt to count the strokes of the pick when playing tremolo, so many strokes to a half note, so many to a whole note, etc., as the strokes are much too rapid to be counted when the proper speed is attained.»
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How to practise the tremolo.
Most method authors recommend to start with regular down-up strokes, to play them slowly, gradually gaining speed, and to start on open strings. It’s not advisable to accelerate the tempo too soon. The regularity of the motion is much more important than the speed. Speed will come with time.
In our first downloadable document, you can find 5 exercises from the Méthode théorique et pratique de Mandoline by Alberto Bracony. These exercises allow to practise either the non-stop tremolo, or alternately with staccatos and, finally, in musical phrases of different lengths.
The second downloadable document offers three duets by Fernandino de Cristofaro. Of course, the most pleasant way of playing these duets is with a mandolinist friend who plays second mandolin. But even without such a friend, it’s possible to use the Midi recordings available below.
Finally, a third downloadable document offers an exercise by Carlo Munier that gives a foretaste of what it can be to tremolo on double stops. By the way, the tremolo on two or more strings is a technique by itself; we’ll discuss this technique eventually in an additional article.
Curious?
For those who wish to go further in their exploration of the tremolo, we suggest a video by Caterina Lichtenberg. This video covers all the aspects of this very complex technique. It’s possible to get this video by clicking on the thumbnail below. For a preview, you can just watch the teaser below.
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