Trill Troubles

[smithreeseii]

I am having trouble with trills, mordents, and things of that nature, especially on some Chopin nocturnes.  I'm not able to make them light enough or quick enough.

Any suggestions to help with this problem?

[landru]

Well I'm just a student, but I have wrestled with trills since they did not come easy to me at all. And now they have almost become second nature (...almost).

Here is what helped me. First find out what fingers are the best to do the trill - and stick to them so that their motions are learned. Second, practice much slower than you ever think you should - and then even slower  . What you want to hear as you are doing the trill or mordent is that is evenly spaced - and most important, that it ends correctly. Then speed it up slowly. Once you've got it in your ear how it sounds, your fingers can then take over. But first you have to rein in your fingers before you can set them free. Trying to do them too fast too soon results in uneven in touch and uneven in time playing.

Chopin is kinda tough to work on trills I think because of his rhythmic complexity and rubato etc. Bach's Invention No. 4 in D minor has too super long trills in each hand. I practiced them slowly as 32nd notes - two to each 16th. This gets the ear and hand used to the trill motion and can be easily sped up without losing too much. The best thing about this piece is that the 16th notes are there to help "restrain" you. Once this is mastered then it becomes relatively easy to "uncouple" the trill from being 32nd notes and free it up. You'll notice that once the hand becomes used to the trill motion from the wrist that lightness and quickness just come on their own.

Bach is also useful for mordents and inverted mordents and all kinds of ornaments. Another useful source for embellishments is Haydn - his early sonatas are filled with them, and since it is classical, there is a firm rhythmic base to play to.

Good luck - the work you put in on trills really pays off in the amount of repertoire that is suddenly opened up to you!

[smithreeseii]

Thanks a lot, Landru, very helpful.

[rmbarbosa]

You may also try parallel sets (PS) you may learn with Mr. Chuan C. Chang (www.pianopractice.org/). For trills, PS work like a miracle. PS "is a group of notes that can be played simultaneously with on hand. All PS can be played infinitely fast" - says Mr. Chang. (If you play, for example, CD with your 2º and 4º fingers, simultaneously, preciisley because simultaneously there is not any delay C - D, so you play infinitely fast, isnt it? Now,says Mr. Chang, "in order to play these two notes rapidly one after the other, lower both fingers together but keep one finger slightly above the other so that one finger lands first (...) so, you can play them as closely as you wish by decreasing the delay". Play 2-4...2-4...2-4; then, 4-2...4-2...4-2, a lot of times. And then, 2-4-2...2-4-2...2-4-2... and 4-2-4... After this, play 2-4 (and 4-2) without moving your fingers, only with a wrist movement. You may do this also with PS. Then, join both movements (fingers and wrist). In order to become a good triller, one must play trills every day and without any muscular tension. "Finally - says Mr. Chang - the trill is not a series of staccatos. The fingertips must be at the bottom of the keydrop as long as possible, the backchecks must be engaged for every note. Take note of the minimun lift necessary for the repetition to work. (...) Fast trills require smaller lifts. Therefore, on an upright you may have to slow down the trill. Fast trills on digitals are dificult because their actions are inferior".
I think that after this, to slow douwn speed is useful to achieve evenness. Best wishes.Rui.

[prongated]

I am having trouble with trills, mordents, and things of that nature, especially on some Chopin nocturnes.  I'm not able to make them light enough or quick enough.

Any suggestions to help with this problem?

Funny then, that I find a typical problem with trills is, people try to play them fast and light (also fast and loud). In their endeavour to do so, their hands and fingers become stiff, which is obviously not helpful!

The following is how I think I mastered trilling in one of my very many experiment sessions. From that point on, I never have trilling problems I can't solve, and that includes Beethoven's Emperor Concerto (2nd movt. middle section, RH trills build-up for 1 line) and Bach's Prelude and Fugue from WTK bk.II no. 4 (prelude is filled with at least one mordent or trills every bar).

Try starting with 13, thumb on a white key and 3 on a black key. This is the easiest and most natural set-up to trill. Start the "trill" as if the notes are quarter notes. As you do, feel the keys that you press go down and up. Do NOT let your fingertips leave the keys!

Once you get a comfortable feel for the "leverage" of the keys, feel what your fingers are doing. Notice in particular the movement and feel from the knuckles and the feel from the fingertips, as the thumb and 3rd finger alternate playing the white and black keys. This is important as it remains the basic physical motion when you play the trills up to speed. Note also that it will be your fingers that are doing most of the work. Make sure the wrist, arm, palm etc. do not tense up! Keep your fingertips on the keys!

One more thing is, do not lift your fingers any more than necessary. A very little lift from the knuckle is all that is needed since the keys will naturally lift by themselves too. That lift from the knuckle should be adjusted to the speed at which the keys lift...OK that is hard to describe, but it is to do with what I told you earlier about feeling the keys with your fingertips. Feel the way they go down and lift up...

Once you are comfortable with this all, you can start speeding up slowly. As you speed up, aim not for speed, but for evenness between the 2 notes. You will achieve the evenness if you keep following the basic physical movement as I described above. Remember that what you are doing is essentially shortening the distance in time between the 2 notes, so you want control over the 2 notes at all time. NEVER attempt to "unleash" the 2 fingers, let them go berserk and hope they'll come up with something light, fast, and good - they won't and they'll just get stuck.

Good luck!