Trill notation is easy in tonal music with key signatures. The default is to trill to the next note in the key. But if you are in a foreign key or are not using key signatures and you want a whole step, how do you indicate it?

I have seen this notated a few ways, most often writing the trill as natural, sharp or flat, or putting the trill note in brackets. Writing the trill note is not that easy in notation programs so is not as common. I find using sharp or flat problematic as if you transpose your music with no key signatures, the required note may not be a flat, it may now be a natural or sharp.

The system I have found that negates these problems is to label it as half or whole step. This then works in any key or transposition.

A trill may be notated in the same manner as a fingered/keyed tremolo is. This can be handy if you want to start on the upper note. My rule is that if a texture contains a mix of trills and tremolos, then I use tremolo notation. If there are only half- or whole-step trills, then I use trill notation.
The exception to this is mallet percussion. As they have to play all long notes as a tremolo, oscillating between notes, passages of mixed notes should be written as diads and chords with tremolo slashes.

On stringed instruments, trills and tremolos share some technical issues with double stops and harmonics in that you are using two fingers at once. Depending on where they are, it may be hard to play legato out of a trill or tremolo into another one.

The notation of fingered/keyed tremolo can look confusing to those who are not used to reading it, as it indicates the whole duration for both notes. Unlike bowed tremolo where ties or slurs are not needed, it is important to include bowing slurs here. I have also had the odd person ask if the bow is to trem as well.

Adding Color
Trills and tremolos are great way to add interest to your orchestration. Depending on the notes, they can add suspenseful tension or a subtle flutter.

Sustained minor seconds are often used for tension. If I get a sketch that has a minor second tremolo, I will often add a trill to it. If I get a trill, I often add them tremolo.

If you have a three-note tremolo chord, here are a few ways you can use fingered tremolo. This can even be a good way to add interest to a sustained chord without tremolo.

In this case I have left the tremolo chords in Violin 1. If you take them out, you will be left with a soft and fluttery sound.

If you can only use one section, here is a way to make a similar sound.

To remove the sense of tension, I would lose the tremolo on the top note.

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Tremolo is most often performed at the tip of the bow. It is much easier to play rapidly and with a subtle attack where the weight of the bow is the lightest. There is never any need to mark ‘at the tip’ for any tremolo, it is the default. 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 the same 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 accent on the second C to force a re-articulation. Due to the way we now work with sequencers, MIDI files, and notation programs, many people now use ties on tremolos. This is redundant and historically incorrect, but seems to be the norm these days.

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 of the 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 computers.

When a pattern such as the above has to be played fast, the players will all go to a measured tremolo and perform two bows per note.

Real World Example
Recently I was listening to a mock up and the composer had played in a tremolo chord a bit like a harp arpeggio. Writing out different start times for each note would lead to a messy performance at first, and then they would probably all end up playing together by the third take. Here is what I did and it sounded very cool, without being a mess.

Measured Tremolo
If you need to break the default and want a measured tremolo, there are two common ways to do it.

16th notes:

There are lots of advantages to this notation. For one, it takes less space, so you can fit more measures on each system. Secondly, if you need to change the notes, it is easier as there are fewer 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 will happen 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 impossible 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 bothered 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 bar line, 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 with none. If this was not loud, I could use the firsts for the C, then have the seconds or violas play the rhythm.

This actually came up in a cue recently. You can see I used the 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 they are covered by the brass here. The firsts are not covered and so have to play to the bar line.

Here are some orchestration examples.

Woodwind and Brass
For wind and brass instruments, tremolo is performed by flutter tonguing. The notation 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, but I feel this is redundant. The notation is sometimes used for a valve tremolo (same notes played rapidly by 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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