Tremolo
is when an instrument plays a note, sometimes two, in rapid repetition. The effect is that while the music is given a sense of movement, it's not actually going anywhere. This is the auditory equivalent of a coiled spring, tense and ready to release.
Composers will often use tremolo in situations where they want to create a sense of anticipation or perhaps dread, depending on the situation. It will be used to prime the audience for something about to happen or will underscore a tense situation, like a standoff or other such high-tension occurrences.
Anticipatory tremolo will usually be lighter in tone, creating a sense of excitement for what's about to happen. Frequently this will be the first thing heard in overtures, a way of getting the audience's attention.
Tension tremolo will be heavier and darker, making the mood a bit uncomfortable.
String instruments such as a violin or cello do this by rapidly moving the bow back and forth on a string. Guitars and other plucked string instruments can do this by rapidly repeating a note on a string using fingers and/or a pick. Some woodwinds and brass instruments can do this through use of fluttertongue. The effect can be generated on pitched percussion such as xylophones and marimbas by performing a roll on one tone plate with a pair of sticks.
With regard to bowed string instruments, take care not to confuse tremolo with vibrato, which is moving the opposing hand (the one holding the neck) to alter the sound of a single note.
See also Drum Roll, Please.
Compare "Psycho" Strings, another technique for creating anxiety, and Drumbeat of Chaos for another instance of an instrument played rapidly for dramatic effect.
Intensive use of tremolo guitar-picking is considered one of the stylistic hallmarks of Black Metal, known for its atmospheric soundscapes and moodiness.
Examples:
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Films — Animation
- An American Tail:
- "The Storm", the event that separates Fievel from his family, starts off with a flute tremolo (done by a technique called flutter tonguing), then has more traditional string tremolos throughout the piece.
- "Release the Secret Weapon": After the plan has succeeded and the cat gang has been driven onto the boat to Hong Kong, the mice celebrate, but the Mousekewitz family hears Honest John praising "Filly Mousekewitz" for coming up with the idea, and a barely audible tremolo begins as Tanya gets to thinking.
- "The Great Fire" has another quiet tremolo as the family tracks down Tony and Bridget and, after some initial miscommunications, finally realize they're all looking for the same kid.
- "The Storm
- The Land Before Time:
- Heard in "The Great Migration" as the dinosaur herds wait for their young to hatch. Another occurs as a predator sneaks up and nearly makes off with Littlefoot's egg.
- "The Rescue" has a part where Duckie as tasked with luring Sharptooth into Littlefoot's trap, tremolos sounding as she follows after him, hiding as he seems to sense her presence and then vanishes while she's hidden in cover.
- Ascending tremolos are used several times with regards to a reveal of the Great Valley. The first is when the group is trying to find some food and finds a cluster of trees which Cera's triumphantly declares to be the Great Valley ("I found it!"), only for a herd if Longnecks to appear and strip it bare. Again it occurs as Littlefoot is urging his exhausted companions on up a steep incline, suggesting it's right over the edge. Then they reach the top only to find a barren wasteland. At the end, a tremolo beneath Mother's theme builds as her spirit leads him through a pass and the light slowly spreads to reveal the Great Valley.
- Heard in "The Great Migration
Films — Live-Action
- Avengers: Endgame: "The One" uses tremolo at several points but most prominently as Tony looks over to Doctor Strange, who holds up a single finger. This is their one chance.
- The Batman (2022): "Highway to the Anger Zone" begins with an increasingly intense tremolo as Cobb hunts Selina after the interrupted drug deal, but stops in his tracks at an unearthly howl as the Batmobile is revealed.
- Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey: "Reunited" begins with a soft tremolo as the family hears a dog barking from the wooded hillside. As they all watch, Chance appears at the top and runs down the hill.
- Jaws 1:
- "The Pier Incident" has two Amity locals trying to catch the shark with a boat hook and a roast, a tremolo accompanying them as they sit and wait until it gives way to the Shark Motif.
- "Ben Gardner's Boat" plays as Brody and Hooper are out at night looking for the shark and find Ben's boat adrift. Tremolo plays at various times, most prominently as Hooper jumps into the water to inspect the damage up close.
- "Man Against Beast" starts with a stinger as Brody sees the shark for the first time, then tremolos as he slowly backs into the cabin and utters the iconic lines, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
- "The Pier Incident
- Maverick: In the final game, Maverick has just laid down a possible Royal flush with only one card needed. His last card still sits facedown on the table. A tremolo begins as he reaches for it, jumps up a note higher as he holds it up, and again as he finally looks at it before fading away as he sighs, seemingly disappointed. He then tosses the card onto the table and the orchestra bursts to life as the Ace of Spades is revealed.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End:
- "At Wits End" features tremolos throughout, sometimes even in the main line, as Barbossa leads Will, Elizabeth and the remnants of the Black Pearl's crew off to find Davey Jones' Locker while the East India Trading Company, with the Flying Dutchman under their control, tightens their grip on the seven seas. The tremolo intensifies as they realize they've found the edge of the world and are about to fall right off it!
- "I See Dead People in Boats" has a tremolo as the boats carrying the souls of the deceased sail by the Pearl and Elizabeth sees her father in one of them.
- "Calypso": A tremolo occurs after the goddess' bonds are released and instead of granting them her favor or destroying them outright, she simply vanishes.
- "What Shall We Die For": After the entire East India fleet appears from the fog, a tremolo underscores Elizabeth giving a Rousing Speech leading up to a triumphant orchestral cue as she gives the order, "Hoist the colors!"
- "At Wits End
- Psycho: "Cleanup" uses a tremolo to underscore the scene where Norman is desperately mopping up Marion's blood.
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has two notable instances:
- The opening titles begin with a tremolo as the lead up to the title card.
- At the end, as the crew is traveling up to Spacedock, speculating on what ship they'll be given, a light string tremolo begins, followed by the Star Trek fanfare as the Enterprise-A is revealed.
- The opening titles
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: The film's main theme with a tremolo beneath it underscores the scene where the Enterprise rendezvouses with Kronos One.
- Thirteen Days: The soundtrack utilizes tremolo frequently, reflecting the tension and stress the Kennedy administration is under.
- "Missile Threat" is used throughout as the administration becomes aware of the missiles in Cuba.
- "Our Rules of Engagement" uses it to highlight the mobilization of US forces, with some Deathly Dies Irae mixed in as well.
- One scene uses tremolo when Jack is telling Bobby and Kenny about reading The Guns of August, relating it to their current situation, and then makes a hypothetical series of events of repeated escalations, a ship running the Naval Blockade, so they shoot its rudder and board it, the Soviets shoot down a plane, the US bombs the AA site…
Kennedy: In response to that, they attack Berlin. So we invade Cuba. And they fire their missiles…and we fire ours.
- "Eve of Eternity" has tremolos almost throughout its entirety as Kenny, unable to sleep, roams Washington late at night, eventually finding a church where a queue for confessions is stretched out the door and gets in line himself.
- "The Death of Major Anderson" starts with low tremolo as Anderson's U-2 soars over Cuba, dangerous but uneventful so far. Then missiles start launching. Action music accompanies his evasive maneuvers, with an intense tremolo as a missile detonates, causing the U-2 to break apart, leading to more subdued ones as the news reaches the White House.
- "Missile Threat
Live-Action TV
- Firefly: "River Tricks Early" highlights the confrontation between River and the bounty hunter Jubal Early where she, posing as Serenity herself, plays mind games with him, reflecting the contest of wills and the way she's winding him up.
Music
- Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" has the piano accompaniment dominated by a heavy, measured tremolo in eighth-note triplets that begins in unbroken octaves and continues almost constantly throughout the song. The tremolo gives way to lighter figurations in a few lyrical passages and finally stops just before the Cruel Twist Ending.
- "Panic Song" by Green Day features a long, fast tremolo on bass for the first 2 minutes, fitting the song being about the feeling of having a panic attack.
- Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 opens with an intense octave tremolo from the violins and violas (the former double-stopped for added intensity) which sets the scene for the precipitous and violent entrance of the first subject in the cellos and basses.
Theatre
- Hadestown features a tremolo at the beginning of "Chant (Reprise), when Orpheus has rallied the shades of Hadestown to defy Hades and the King of the Mine himself takes notice.
- The Ring of the Nibelung:
- The stormy prelude of Die Walküre opens with the second violins and violas maintaining a tremolo on their instruments' respective lowest Ds for 60 bars straight, rising and falling in volume but never deviating in tone, over a restlessly pacing bassline.
- Siegmund's outburst of "Wälse! Wälse!" in his soliloquy is underscored by an intense tremolo from the full string section.
- "Ride of the Valkyries" is likely the most famous example. The intro starts with tremolos, and even once the melody comes in they can still be heard under everything else.
- The second part of Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette symphony begins as a slow movement in F major titled "Romeo alone," which ends with a deceptive cadence on D♭ and a sudden segue to the brisk tempo of the ball music. But this rhythm, and a fragment of its associated tune, is only sustained for four bars, and for the next fourteen bars there is little to be heard but slowly modulating pianissimo string tremolo. The dance rhythm reappears quietly on the drums as the harmony settles on a G dominant seventh chord, which resolves to C major as the following slow instrumental arioso begins and the tremolo fades out entirely. Leonard Bernstein, in his discussion of the entire movement, explains the musical language of this wordless passage:
"It's only a short flash—one phrase carried by the breeze from the Capulet palace; but it's just enough to stir up new ambiguities in Romeo—shifty chromatic tremors—shall I go to the ball? Or not? After all, I'm a Montague, an enemy. But I am strangely moved to go, drawn by that dance rhythm."
Video Games
- Ace Attorney: Often used to underscore tense and stressful moments in the courtroom. The track most commonly used for this purpose, fittingly titled "Suspense", consists solely of three notes played in a rapid tremolo over a drum beat.
- Final Fantasy Tactics: Can be heard throughout the soundtrack. One appropriately named example is "Tension", which starts with tremolo strings underneath sharp note hits.
- Lunar 2: Eternal Blue: The boss battle music uses tremolos on flute and strings at the end of sections, building to the start of the next phrase.
- World of Warcraft:
- "Why Do We Fight?", the score for the opening cinematic of Mists of Pandaria, uses tremolo at several points, first in a soft and muted manner as a shipwrecked orc warrior and human sailor explore the mysterious land they've washed up on. After they run into each other and start fighting, Chen Stormstout interrupts and starts dominating the fight, leading to both of them staring at him in astonishment, as a tremolo starts soft then gets louder as the human offers the orc one of his weapons and they get ready for the next bout. It ends when Chen knocks them on their rears, and a tremolo builds to full orchestra as the mists part and Pandaria is revealed in all its glory.
- The score for the opening cinematic of Dragonflight begins with a tremolo combined with Ethereal Choir as the Dragon Isles are veiled and the Watchers begin to slumber, accompanied by a voiceover of Alexstrasza instructing them to light the beacon to guide the dragons home when the time comes.
- "Why Do We Fight?
