Re: Thoughts on tremolo
I am a big fan of the tremolo, a great defender of the tremolo, I love the tremolo...with time I have learned that its use depends on our taste, on what we want to express when we play a particular piece.
Although I study classical mandolin at the moment, I don't think I will become a classical mandolin player, so I am not very orthodox about measured or unmeasured tremolo (there are also strange things like the Kubota tremolo). I think that the tremolo can easily replace a trill in some pieces, and that the tremolo can be changed by mordents, runs, vibrato, etc. and vice versa in some cases, it all depends on our ear and how rigorous we want to be with the use of the score and the musical period it represents.
For me the most important thing in the tremolo is the "expression", and by expression I mean speed, speed variation, volume and duration...on that expression depends the beauty and the feeling. American bluegrass and old time mandolin players are masters in that, their tremolos, double stop tremolos with strength sometimes, sweetness sometimes, are an example to follow...the tremolo in italian music or golden era music the same, pop, world music...listen, always listen, everything is music...so we can get what best suits our taste...
Well in the end what I want to say is that just because the tremolo is suggested, underlined or used by a musician, a method writer or a score we don't have to do it...let's learn to trust our criteria, our taste, wrong or not...contrary to what many may say, music is not a science, it is an art, and art is made by human beings, and human beings are not perfect, mistakes form us...
Last edited by Jairo Ramos; Jan-20-2024 at 1:04pm.
Music washes away from the soul the dust of every-day life. Auerbach.
The rejection of 'the others' is a tragedy of the human being; If it comes from emigrants, an added horror!
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