reference.book Page 198 Monday, August 31, 2009 2:47 PM
2. Notations You can switch off the tremolos by choosing the same buttons from the Keypad again. Two-note tremolos can be written between staves (by crossing one or other note onto the other staff – 2.7 Beam positions), and across barlines. To adjust the angle of a two-note tremolo, drag the stems of the notes at either side. If the two-note tremolo is between two whole-notes (semibreves), drag the tremolo line itself (this has the same effect as dragging the stem of the first note – were it to have one!) The Notes and Tremolos page of the House Style Engraving Rules dialog (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+E or E) contains three options governing the appearance of two-note tremolos, should you be struck by a desire to change them:
Between stems
Touching stems
Outer tremolo touching stems
Buzz roll (Z on stem) Buzz rolls are notated by adding a Z symbol to the stem of a note or chord to indicate a multiple stroke roll, as used in percussion writing (see right). To add a buzz roll to a note or chord after creating it, select the note or chord and, from the third Keypad layout (shortcut F9), hit 6. Sibelius plays buzz rolls back as fast tremolos. 2.26 Percussion.
The tribulations of tremolo notations With two-note tremolos, the odd convention of writing each note with the total length of the tremolo produces various anomalies. In the 19th century, a crazy convention was in operation whereby the note values were only doubled if the tremolo lasted for a quarter note (crotchet) or more. Thus you could find pairs of eighths (quavers) tremoloing, and also half notes (minims), but never quarter notes (crotchets). This was bananas. However, another idiosyncrasy that survives to the present day is as follows: if you want to notate a two-note tremolo lasting for two 4/4 bars, you write two whole-notes (semibreves) with a tremolo across the barline, rather than doubling the note values to two double whole notes (breves). Most people go a lifetime without noticing this weird exception – what sheltered lives they lead.
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