User:Mdodds93/trill

The trill (or shake, as it was known from the 16th till the 19th century) is a

trille.

Sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn (by sounding the note below rather than the note above the principal note, immediately before the last sounding of the principal note), or some other variation. Such variations are often marked with a few Appoggiaturas following the note that bears the trill indication.

Notation

In modern

, the wavy line on its own was used. The following two notations are equivalent:

Both the "tr" and the wavy line are necessary for clarity when the trill is expected to be applied to more than one note (or to tied notes). Also, when attached to a single notehead in one part that corresponds to smaller note values in another part, it leaves no room for doubt if both the letters and the line are used.

The usual way of executing a trill is to rapidly alternate between the note indicated and the note directly above it in the given scale (unless the trill indicates an accidental).

Listen to an example of a short passage ending on a trill. The first time, the passage ends in a trill, and the second, the passage does not.

This is an alternate trill.

These examples are an approximation of how a trill might be executed. In many cases, the rate of the trill will not remain constant as indicated here, but will start slower and become more rapid. Whether a trill is played in this way or not is largely a matter of taste.

The number of alternations between notes can vary according to the length of the note in question. At slower tempos a note will last longer, meaning more notes can be played in the trill, but with a fast tempo and short note a trill might be reduced to nothing more than the indicated note, the note above and the indicated note again.

Trills may also be played beginning on the note above the one indicated (the auxiliary note). Additionally, a trill is often ended by playing the note below the one indicated followed by the note itself.

In specific styles

In baroque music

In the

which resolves to the principal note. But, if the note preceding the ornamented note is itself one scale degree above the principal note, then the dissonant note has already been stated, and the trill typically starts on the principal note.

Beyond the baroque period, specific signs for ornamentation are very rare. Continuing through the time of Mozart, the default expectations for the interpretation of trills continued to be similar to those of the baroque. In music after the time of Mozart, the trill usually begins on the principal note.

All of these are only rules of thumb, and, together with the overall rate of the trill and whether that rate is constant or variable, can only be determined by considering the context in which the trill appears, and is usually to a large degree a matter of opinion with no single "right" way of executing the ornament.

On different instruments

The trill is frequently found in classical music for all instruments, although it is more easily executed on some than others. It is relatively easy to produce a trill on the

, two trill keys are used to rapidly alternate between two adjacent notes. On the bowed instruments, the violin and the viola in particular, the trill is relatively easy to execute, with a straightforward bowing and the trill involving the oscillation of just one finger against the main note which is stopped by the finger behind, or more rarely, the open string.

On brass instruments

Trills may be performed on valveless

music, particularly in trumpet parts.

Notes

Bibliography

• Taylor, Eric (1989). The AB Guide to Music Theory: Part I.
  ISBN 1854724460
  .
• Taylor, Franklin (1913). Bach: Short Preludes & Fugues. Augener Ltd. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) No. 8020a
• Humphries, John (2000). The Early Horn: a Practical Guide. Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 0521635594
  .