Trill

What it means

The trill is the continued fast alternation between the main note and its upper auxiliary note. It fills the duration of the notated note and mostly ends with a turn (Nachschlag) that leads over into the following note.

Two questions decide its execution. First: does the trill begin with the main note or with the upper auxiliary note? In the music of the Baroque and the Viennese Classical era it as a rule begins with the auxiliary note and on the beat; in the nineteenth century predominantly with the main note. Second: how fast is the alternation? That depends on tempo, instrument, and character and is not fixed.

The trill differs from the Schneller in that the alternation is repeated; from the mordent additionally through the direction, since that alternates with the lower auxiliary note. It differs from the tremolo through the distance: with the trill the auxiliary note lies a semitone or a whole tone away.

In the notation

The sign is the abbreviation tr above the note, with longer trills followed by a wavy line that shows the duration. An accidental over the sign concerns the upper auxiliary note. Turn notes stand written out as small notes at the end.

Musical use

The trill is among the oldest and most widespread ornaments. It enlivens long notes, stands at cadences almost regularly on the second-to-last harmony, and serves in virtuosic music as a means of brilliance. On instruments with rapidly decaying sound it fulfils at the same time the task of keeping a note audible.

From around 1800 it is increasingly begun from the main note. In older sources it also appears as a cross or as a wavy line alone.

Performance practice

Fix the beginning, speed, and turn before you practise — indecision is the most common reason for failed trills. Practise with even values, for instance as sixteenths, before you trill freely. Keep the hand loose; trill speed arises from relaxation, not from force. And plan the turn within the note's duration, so that the melody continues punctually.