Are Trills Tripping You Up? Here's Help!

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​Trills in piano music are one of those techniques that can make us feel like we're tripping ourselves up when we first try to play them!

They are tiny to read, hard to figure out rhythmically, and how just fast do they go anyway? 

Each trill is unique in terms of what the composer wanted to express musically with it, how it fits into the genre of music you are playing and how it fits in with the notes that it accompanies. 

There are a few basic rules about trills that can really help you learn to play them correctly and overcome common challenges fairly quickly. 

• First and foremost, keep your hand and fingers relaxed when you're playing a trill. It's completely natural for your hand to tense up when you actually play the few notes in the trill; mainly because the tempo is faster for those notes. But you have to be able to release that tension as soon as you have finished the trill so you can keep playing the rest of the notes in their correct tempo, which will be slower than the tempo for your trills. 
• Second, remember that almost all of the time, the fingers that you use to play the trill will be right next to each other; and most often, you will use your 2nd and 3rd fingers. It's rare that you will ever have a trill that requires you to skip fingers; say use 2nd, 3rd, & 1st for the trill. Interestingly, our 2nd and 3rd fingers are most often times the strongest, and can move the fastest in playing notes quickly right after each other. 
• Make sure you are playing your trill with the correct rhythmic value. Not all trills were created equally. Some are longer or shorter, some have 16th notes and others may have 32nd notes. Pay careful attention in the beginning to the details of your trills so you will get them right from the get go. 
• Don't keep your wrist and hand from actively being a part of playing your trill. Some pianists feel that trills have to be played using their fingers only, but really it depends on what fingering you have to use to execute the trill. If you have a more complicated fingering, such as 2, 3, 1...you might have to turn your hand and/or wrist at a slight angle while executing the trill to get it just right. This is fine to do but remember to stay as relaxed as possible if you need to do this. 
• Practice your trill(s) slowly to begin with. You've heard this before on other topics, if you've been following my blogs and videos! Separate the trill from the notes that it is attached to and just practice it first. Use a metronome to help you increase your speed and the dexterity of your fingers. Next, attach the trill to the note that comes right after that and practice doing that a few times. Notice now that you have to deal with one tempo for the trill and a slower tempo for the note that comes after. Keep adding in notes this way and increasing from a slow tempo to a faster one while practicing this, to really learn your trills well and play them successfully. 

Once you get the hang of playing trills you'll enjoy the extra detail they bring into your piano playing. They not only add musical ornamentation but they also add rhythmic variety and a fresh element into the phrasing.

Whenever you start to feel tripped up when playing your trills, just remember to relax, slow down, take one note at a time, and don't keep your hand or wrist locked up when playing. 

Stay Tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dream of playing the piano!

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