 22 Jul 2007, 9:38 AM
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Prominent Critic
Joined on 06-25-2007
New York City
Posts 197
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When rummaging through music books and sheet music in stores, one invariably stumbles onto one or two of those old William Foden method books. I have a couple buried somewhere. Logically, if it could be executed properly, the Foden tremolo would result in the best possible effect of sustain, because it eliminates the break in the treble sequence. That thought had occurred to me many years ago, and I experimented with a pattern essentially the same as Foden's, except that I used p/m-a-m-i. Unfortunately, I tried that after I had already been playing the traditonal tremolo for years, and that pattern, as you point out, is just too cumbersome. However, I do think that if one started from scratch with that, that it could be executed. Theoretically it would result in a more continuous sustain. However, it's moot, since the ear cannot discern the break in the treble in the traditional pattern. I do prefer, though, the four note tremolo, which clearly gives a fuller sound to the line. I originally learned it for flamenco, which only uses the four note tremolo, but liked the full bodied sound so much that I could not think of any reason not to use it for classical. Flamenco guitarists have always used p-i-a-m-i, but I always felt it was ridiculous to repeat the i for no reason. I use p-m-i-m-a, or one could use p-m-a-m-i, either of which allows the fingers to go around in a continuous back and forth pattern which is so much smoother. For those just learning the three note tremolo, I would suggest also trying p-i-m-a. That pattern seems to me to flow more naturally, just as the ascending arpeggio on 3-2-1 seems to feel more natural than the descending 1-2-3. It also has the advantage of starting the treble sequence with a stronger finger, and though eventually they should all sound alike, it seems to give a sense of security. In addition, the first used finger in the treble sequence is the finger that guides the other fingers to the proper string to begin the sequence, and i being a surer finger helps to minimize mistakes, especially when playing tremolo on the inside strings.
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