tremolo in uneven meters
When I am dealing with an even meter, say 2/4, then notating a tremolo between two pitches (say D and F) is fairly easy and straight forward. However, in a meter such as 5/8, I'm unable to see how to do this.
I can notate a two half notes and tremolo between them, but then I have an extra eighth note that I can't account for. I want the entire measure to be a tremolo between these two pitches.
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Comments
At least for playback purposes, ...
I don't know what the "correct" way to indicate tremolo would be for display ... or even if there is a "correct" way.
In reply to At least for playback… by TheHutch
Ah, brilliant! Maybe it's not "correct", but it gets the job done!
In reply to At least for playback… by TheHutch
Looks correct to me and such splits of tremolos are quite common in published scores.
The player needs to know the correct note durations. There is no single notehead/flag combination that indicates a duration of 5 x quarter note.
This raises a very interesting question, not so much for Musescore but for notation in general. How would you notate a full bar tremolo in 5/8 by hand ?
Also in Musescore you can show a 5/8 whole bar rest as a single entity by a centred semibreve rest but how would you show a 5/8 whole bar note which is sometimes shown as a centred semibreve .
One possibility for a 5/8 full bar tremolo would be to use duplets like this:
![tremolo.png]( "tremolo.png")
Not sure myself but at least it looks "clean" and plays back correctly.
In reply to This raises a very… by rothers
Or maybe using a nested duplet
![tremolo2.png]( "tremolo2.png")
In reply to Or maybe using a nested… by rothers
And stand by for questions from the player?
This
![Screenshot 2025-04-11 114545.png]( "Screenshot 2025-04-11 114545.png")
or this
![Screenshot 2025-04-11 114747.png]( "Screenshot 2025-04-11 114747.png")
Is much easier to read and can show how the 5 is divided 3+2 or 2+3.
In reply to And stand by for questions… by SteveBlower
mmmm....... but what if you wanted the tremolo to be continuous throughout the bar with no 3+2 feel. As a brass player I would re-articulate your example on the 4th beat.
In reply to mmmm....... but what if you… by rothers
5/8 bar (whole rest)
![Screenshot_20250411_121703.png]( "Screenshot_20250411_121703.png")
make a duplet
hide the number and bracket
place the notes
select Tremolo
In reply to 5/8 bar (whole rest) make a… by underquark
As long as we understand that this will not play back the same way. I assume MuseScore will play eight sixteenth notes over 5 eights time. where as I think the expectation is 10 sixteenth notes.
In reply to As long as we understand… by AndreasKågedal
Your right, if the intention is a measured tremolo of 10 notes per bar this doesn't work.
In reply to mmmm....... but what if you… by rothers
As a woodwind player I probably wouldn't re-articulate it unless the context of the other parts seemed to require it, but if you want to confirm to the player that it should not be re-articulated, add a slur.