 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-05-07 04:15
Could somebody please explain to me how tremolo differs from vibrato. The music dictionary and websters definitions of tremolo sould like a ringer for vibrato.
Thanks.
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Author: AbbyJayne
Date: 1999-05-07 06:32
I'm going to have to say that Vibrato has to do with pitch and tremolo has to do with rhythm. Vibrato is playing a note and moving below and over the pitch to create a wave-like sound. Tremolo is staying on a consistant pitch and using articulation to make motion. For instance, take a look at violin players: they move their hand up and down on the string for vibrato and they move their bows quickly for tremolos.
I hope I've helped you in some way. 
Abby
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-05-07 12:10
According to my musical dictionary, vibrato is the fluctuation of *pitch* to slightly above and below the note. Tremolo is rapid repetition of the note (no pitch fluctuation involved).
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Author: Mark Charette, Webmaster
Date: 1999-05-07 16:11
Technically - the definitions are correct. But ...
The human ear has a lot of trouble distinguishing between vibrato & tremolo at low amplitudes and ...
Tremelo when applied to piano means something completely different. It's the rapid alternating of two notes, usually the octave, by quickly rotating the wrist. If it's the octave it's very hard to hear the pitch change, but the volume does change. Probably why it's called tremolo.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-05-07 18:57
A tremolo is usually notated with two notes of the same value beamed together (except for whole notes) with various numbers of sloped lines from the first note to the note you are tremoloing to. So if you were tremoloing from C to E in the length of a half note you would see a half note head on C and E with them beamed together instead of separated.
In this instance it is basically a trill but from a note farther than three half steps. (The Half and 3 Hlaf Step trills being indicated by a sharp or flat sign around the trill symbol.)
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Author: Kevin Bowman
Date: 1999-05-07 19:16
A "trill" that spans more than a whole tone is often referred to as a tremelo. These are often notated with tow or three unattached beams between two notes (indicating the speed of the tremelo).
Also, pianists can do multi-note tremelos. I do this a LOT in the blues genre. And sometimes, for that really BIG sound, a two-handed tremelo is called for (alternating left and right hand voicings ala Oscar Peterson or Gene Harris).
Kevin Bowman
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Author: Ginny
Date: 1999-05-07 20:10
On classical guitar and mandolin, tremolo is a technique of using a repeated note. This note is so quick, it forms a unique sound, as if one note - not many. It its done with the right hand, the hand that plucks.
Vibrato is a pitch change, done by shaking the left hand.
Early Baroque opera used a strange repeated note as 'vibrato' or an ornament, what I would consider tremolo, vocally. This may be some of the confusion. Of course they had some strange ideas, soprano men singing the hero rolls. Nowadays we think heros are the opposite of the castratos who sang things like Julio Ceasare.
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Author: Jim Carabetta
Date: 1999-05-07 20:29
Rick,
Even though it's geared toward saxophone, hit http://www.bobrk.com/saxfaq/2.7.html#2.7
It's an excellent in-depth description of vibrato and the techniques involved. You can adapt it for the clarinet quite easily.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 1999-05-07 21:09
In the low parts (incl. bass clarinet) for Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave," there are (4-beat) measures that consist what look like two half notes with one beam connecting them at the top. I, and apparently everyone else in our band, took this to mean that we are to play 8 tongued eighth notes, alternating between the two tones. But, from what has been said here, I am wondering if we should not be "trilling" between the two notes. Which is correct?
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-05-07 21:20
Don Poulsen wrote:
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In the low parts (incl. bass clarinet) for Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave," there are (4-beat) measures that consist what look like two half notes with one beam connecting them at the top. I, and apparently everyone else in our band, took this to mean that we are to play 8 tongued eighth notes, alternating between the two tones. But, from what has been said here, I am wondering if we should not be "trilling" between the two notes. Which is correct?
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I was always told that it would be untoungued (i.e. like "trilling") and that this type of notation was a short cut so they didn't have to write it out in long form. What gets confusing is how the bars translate to the proper subdivision (1 bar = eighths, 2 = sixteenths, etc). The only difference is that the notes are farther apart than a trill and that the "speed" is specifically indicated by the number of bars.
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-05-08 00:53
Thanks all, but unfortunately the specifics of what I had in mind hasn't been addressed, so let me elaborate on my question. My brother in law is looking for an electric guitar and insists on a "tremolo" (I think he means tremolo bar). In any event, it looks to be a device to change the tension on the strings, which would in fact change the pitch. That sounds to me like it would be a vibrato, not a tremolo. Is this device misnamed on the electric guitar?
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Author: Jim Carabetta
Date: 1999-05-08 20:33
Unless there's an on-board control (which I've never seen, btw), the tremolo control in my experience has always been on the amp..
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-05-08 20:57
Jim Carabetta wrote:
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Unless there's an on-board control (which I've never seen, btw), the tremolo control in my experience has always been on the amp..
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Jim,
No - the lever on a Stratocaster or other guitar is commonly referred to as a tremolo bar - even though it should have been called a vibrato or portamento bar :^)
The tremolo on the amp is a true tremolo - an amplitude variation.
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