Trills and fast ornaments – free course

A trill is the rapid alternation of a note and its neighbour. A beautiful trill is even, relaxed and shaded; a tense trill sounds like a stalling sewing machine. Speed comes from relaxation, not from effort.

Choosing fingers

1-3 and 2-4: the strongest and most even for most pianists.
2-3: fast, but neighbouring fingers can get in each other's way.
3-5 or 4-5: needed when thumb and index must play another voice (trills with a melody, late Beethoven). Practise them specifically.
With rotation: a 1-3 trill played with a very slight forearm rotation is often more enduring than a pure finger trill.

Where to start?

In Baroque and Classical music the trill generally starts on the upper note, on the beat (it is a repeated appoggiatura). From the 19th century on (Hummel, Chopin…) it tends to start on the main note. Always check the style and the edition.

Exercise — the measured trill

Never practise a trill "at random": measure it, increasing the number of notes per beat.

M:4/4
L:1/16
Q:1/4=60
K:C
c2d2c2d2 cdcd cdcd | (3cdc(3dcd(3cdc(3dcd c4 B4 | !trill!c12 B2c2 |]

Eighth notes, then triplets, then sixteenths, with a slow metronome. Each stage must be relaxed before moving on.
Practise in "bursts": four fast notes, stop, four fast notes…
Shape it: crescendo then diminuendo within a long trill.
Take care of the termination (here B-C): it must fit into the rhythm, neither rushing nor dragging.

Common mistakes:

Lifting the fingers very high: the smaller the movement, the faster it is. Fingers stay in contact with the keys.
Speeding up uncontrollably and then "stalling": a slightly slower but even trill is better.
Notes of mechanically equal intensity: a trill lives and sings.

Tip: you often don't need to let the key rise all the way: thanks to the double escapement of grand pianos, a note can repeat when the key has only risen halfway. Look for that "repetition zone" for lighter trills.