Trills

Let's say we need to identify three aspects. First, the trill must be realized, that is, developing the notes and seeing the resolution. A trill realized on a long value and in a slow tempo will probably be, I don't know, in demisemiquavers, whereas in an allegro it could be in semiquavers or, on a short value, even realized with a quintuplet. Establishing all of this, even sometimes writing it down, which is better, has no precise rules. Musical taste must guide. Ornaments—a teacher of mine used to say—are like makeup for women: it must be right and light and must not change the physiognomy of the "ornamented" notes. That is, the effect produced by the real note must remain. Nothing should be transformed, only embellished. Second, the technical way of realizing it. Here one must take into account precisely the chosen figure (e.g., sixteenth-note quadruplets, eighth-note triplets, etc.) and the accents of these groups. Third: fingering. The old school substituted three fingers on the two notes of the trill (1323 1323 etc.). In the modern school of the 1900s, with the ease that modern instruments offer, there is a tendency to use two fingers (13131313 or 23232323, rarely 12121212). The technical gesture is that of a slight rotation of the wrist, especially in 13131313. The teacher must supervise and exclude any erroneous movements of the hand and forearm. Happy studying

Yes, I knew these things, I meant to ask what you actually do in a practical sense to improve your own personal

trill technique, both in an abstract sense (exercises, studies), and to optimize the execution of a trill

within a piece (once it has been decided how to perform it)

(personally I find 3-5 very helpful, although not always applicable, but anyway that's another story..)

Hi PierPier, to improve your personal trill technique, in my opinion, you must do it in expressive contexts. The "mechanical" trill is an end in itself, ok... it can serve as a basic technique, but then it must communicate.

To study this aspect, you need to move on to studies composed with the purpose of making the trill expressive, and I suggest you obtain these through the Sconfinarte website (you just need to register and order the score, as I did):

L'Acquerello V: für Stefano (at minute 4' 12'') perfectly embodies what I mean; when you manage to make the trill a theme at least as much as Elisa Copellini does... then you will have achieved the goal of "having improved your personal trill technique"

Open content (youtube)

I share Chopin's thought.