How do you notate a tremolo of indeterminate length?

Question

I've got this lengthy solo passage in my piano piece (a transcription of a symphony, where this is the solo). The right hand plays the solo, and the left hand provides the quietest possible background harmonics, in the form of a constant, near-silent F-minor chord tremolo (soft strings in the original). Question is, because the solo is in an overlong bar (which takes about forty seconds to play), how do I notate the tremolo.

Here's one attempt, stretching a whole note over the entire measure. However, because it is so disfigured, you could be forgiven for not noticing that the thing is a tremolo at all.

A more 'correct' way, precisely matching the length values in the melody, just looks messy.

Using some obscure notation for extremely long notes, I can divide the bar up into fewer tremolos:

But I think I will split the difference, and put a number of these tremolos in a row to give the idea of a constant tremolo throughout the measure, even if the times don't add up.

So the latter is my preferred solution, at this moment. The question is: is there a better, more 'legitimate' way, to notate a tremolo of indeterminate length?

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EDIT: Sadly, it looks like the trill notation as suggested by Laurence Payne is causing irresolvable issues with the music notation software I use. I would love to hear if that is the only suitable notation or if there are any alternatives. Leaving a bounty for that purpose!

Answer 1

Something like this should be clear.

Responding to your comment: OK, just one or two trem. bars then. Or this. (Whoops, I forgot to erase the time signature.)

BTW, have you tried playing it? Not at all comfortable, unless your hands are a lot bigger than mine!

Answer 2

Solution A

• A fermata may be placed over the tremolo bar and can stand alone or in conjunction with other solutions. In addition to the fermata used here, there are notations for "long" and "very long" fermatas, which could be substituted. Pictures and descriptions of the various fermata types can be found here.

• "Sempre tremolo" could be used as shown or at the beginning of the bar, in addition or instead of the fermata.

• Following ToddWilcox's comment, and also this website, three bars are used to indicate an unmeasured tremolo.

Unmeasured tremolo is notated by marking the duration as thirty-second notes

• If the passage is intended as a cadenza, then it should be notated with "small" notes.

Solution B

• Based on the comments, since a fixed-length tremolo is intended, the dotted line replaces the fermata of solution A. This was done in MuseScore by placing an ottava and replacing the "8va" text with "slow trem."

• MuseScore also allows the use of the "maxima" note-head.

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Examples of the "tremolo-bar fermata" are found in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 in F Minor, measures 6 and 10, shown below.¹

measure 6

measure 10

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¹_{Images from the Dover edition. Franz Liszt, Complete Hungarian Rhapsodies for Solo Piano (1984 Dover), "in association with the American Liszt Society", pages 150 and 151.}

Answer 3

Normally these sorts of passages are written using smaller notes which usually add up to more than a normal bar. I think your passage would be perfectly clear if you were able to write the solo in smaller notes (like the arpeggios in Aarons answer) whilst having a full bar tremolo in the left hand written full size.

The physical length of the bar still makes it slightly harder to see that the tremolo is over the full bar but the note lengths imply it; so most people would get it because they would have seen similar things before. I am, of course, assuming that your software could handle writing that notation.