Trills

[stokes]

I am just not able to play trills. It is something up my head that make my fingers blocked. Does anyone have any suggestions how to get rid of this problem?

[jeff]

stop wasting time by worrying and stressing over it, and start practising! but take your time. work on it a little each day. your brain and fingers will get used to it over time. work on them slowly enough so that you can do them accurately and evenly.
also, make sure you don't tense your hand/fingers when doing a trill. you don't have to try too hard. in fact, the less strenuously you try, the easier you'll make it for yourself.
one method of practising trills that i've started to use is this: first, trilling by using just an oscillation of the wrist (sort of rolling your hand from side to side) while just letting weight of the hand/arm to press the keys down.
then, trill using only a finger action, keeping the rest of the hand still.
both these actions are used to an extent when trilling, so separating them and getting your hands used to the 2 movements will help you combine them automatically and easily when playing a trill.

[verwel]

I have to say: i'm far less optimistic (hope this doesn't sound too cruell nor impolite, this is not my intention). I think that you just can't learn how to do it, either you can, either you can't. I can do it (could do it during hours nonstop), even better than a lot of "the great pianists" (but they can do much more that i can't do). Anyway keep us posted, i'm interested to see wheter one can improve his/her trilling skills.

[rachfan]

Stokes, as  a first step, you might find it helpful to consult Hanon, Part II.  Working on the trill exercises there could be very beneficial in helping you to overcome your difficulty.  Once you get the patterns down, you can then use the metronome to gradually ramp up your speed.  The trill basically involves articulation, dexterity, evenness and close attention to the musical style in which it is embedded.   A trill in a Mozart sonata and another trill written by Beethoven will be executed slightly differently. Incidentally, many people mistakenly play all trills they encounter at the very same rapid speed.  Depending on the musical era and the context in the specific music at hand, some trills can be comparatively slow, just enough to make some sound as opposed to a brilliant, rapid fluttering effect.  Such is the case in Rachmaninoff's romantic piano transcription of his song "Daisies", for instance.   Slow trills, when appropriately analyzed and played, can be highly effective.

[amee]

I had a problem with trills as well but I find its MUCH easier to play trills when you're not thinking about them.  Whenever I'm thinking about trills I automatically tense up and they come out as a mess.  Maybe just try and relax?

[AvivS]

A common problem I experienced with trills was playing them in the air. The fingers worked, but not in they keyboard. Make sure your fingers are immersed inside the keys. Beyond this, it is matter of technique. You fingers must be practiced - agile and equal in strength.

[cziffra]

chopin said: "trill with three fingers at least, and four when practicing."

[Celeste]

Don't play the trills at first. I also hate trills, but after the piece is almost perfect, they practically come naturally. It's too hard to focus on learning the trills and the piece at the same time, so learn them seperately.

[amee]

How many fingers do you guys trill with?  I just do two.

[frederic]

What??! Sorry, amee, i don't understand!
How can you do trills with like, 5 fingers??!!

[amee]

vindin said in an earlier post,

"chopin said: 'trill with three fingers at least, and four when practicing.'"

[natasha]

just relax!!!
natasha

[Remon]

It is certainly possible to trill with more than 2 fingers:
I've learned that some of the "old virtuosos" used to execute trills, using (for example) the following fingering:
1,3,2,3,1,3,2,3 etc.
They trilled this way, to let the trills sound more lively.
Anyway, the most important thing is to relax your wrist and your arm. Imagine your arm is floating on water, and keep your fingers close to the keys.

Remon