by Nathan Zalman
Used with permission
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:53:48 -0400
From: Nathan Zalman <zalmann@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Trills
Dear Aaron,
You've gotten some good advice already about trills and their speed.
One of the things that I tell my students that the only difference
between trilling two notes and alternating them in whole notes quarter
= 60 is the amount of time that you spend holding the notes. In other
words, your finger motion should always be lightning quick. The main
problems with trills are the accumulation of tension and excess
motion. Your muscles should be as relaxed as possible, and your
(trilling) fingers ideally should never really completely leave the
keys.
Another thing to consider is to approach fast trills like you would
anything fast - use dotted rhythms, forward and reverse, to even out
your fingers. This is especially important if you find it hard to
control, for instance, your left hand thumb or little finger in
There are many good trill studies, for instance #17 in the
Taffanel/Gaubert daily exercises, but over and above that the trill
exercises in Theobald Boehm 24 Caprices (e.g., nos. 5, 15, and 19),
Andersen Op. 30 no. 9, Taffanel/Gaubert Progressive Studies, nos. 11 &
20 (found in the complete Method). There are of course many others.
Most of these should be transposed to various keys to allow complete
coverage of all the trills.
On the other hand, anything can be turned into a trill exercise...
One final word - not all trills are created equal. Once you've
achieved lightening fast trills, don't be the guy with the hammer to
whom everything looks like a nail. Trills are fast, or slow, or
change speed, depending on the musical circumstances.
I hope this helps!
Nathan
