Part 7 – Trills

Along with the five-finger stationary position mentioned in previous pages (which should never sound or be a fixation as one often hears in recent attacks against earlier pedagogy), one ought to practice very well the motion during TRILLS.

You must study these in all possible forms and diatonic as well as chromatic passages. Mainly, one must investigate the possibilities available by understanding some essential elements of keyboard topography. For example, E and F# are the same as B and C# regarding spacing. Similarly, E-flat and F and B-flat and C. The difference is white and black versus black and white keys.

Busoni investigated this thoroughly. Here are his directions as found in the Appendix to Prelude XI from the WTC, Book I.

F. Busoni - on trills
F. Busoni – on trills

He proceeds to illustrate all the various possibilities and combinations of trills as found in the repertoire, starting from simple formulas and progressively analyzing more complex ones in double notes and with hand splitting. (Should you wish to see the images below in context, please click on them.)

F. Busoni - on trills
F. Busoni – on trills
F. Busoni - on trills
F. Busoni – on trills

Brugnoli had similar thoughts on this, as one can see from his collection of exercises shown below. He recommends following the order of execution by studying the exercises numbered alphabetically. (For pedagogical reasons, it is immediately evident that any trills between finger numbers 2 and 3 are more manageable than those between 3 and 4; hence, Brugnoli lists the former with the letter A.)

Brugnoli and Busoni do not mention how to subdivide the work pedagogically. That is a personal decision based on each pupil’s abilities and practice plans. However, having tried with separate hands, I can say that Brugnoli’s first five exercises studied along with Busoni’s chart (not including double notes) can easily range between 90 to 100 minutes of practice time. There are different ways to proceed when studying the technique found in trills — which is one of the most useful. First of all, one can see the closeness with the numerical exercises found elsewhere on my website; hence one should study these two sets parallelly. A zealous student can sometimes spend a large chunk of time doing that. In that case, it is advisable to take several short breaks and drop the arms off the keys frequently to ensure that no stiffness accumulates. I prefer to devote 30-40 minutes every day for several days, and then, if I am happy with the result, I will favor another technical difficulty and let go of trills for a while. Naturally, I shall return later to brush up on what I learned to keep that technique sharp over time. A practice journal is essential to remember which exercise number you practiced and b whom so that you do not repeat it if you are happy with how you learned it,

For No. 20, below, it is best to continue increasing the number of notes in the trill while monitoring their execution and speed.

Continuous trill found in Beethoven Op. 111 – Arietta
A typical Lisztian example of continuous trills from the Transcendental Etudes
Recommended execution with two hands to facilitate the continuous trills and to ensure the melodic clarity of the auditory experience.

Finally, Brugnoli, following Busoni’s example, applies the concept of the trill to multiple simultaneous notes: bi-chords and chords.

Example of interlocked trill executed with two hands on bi-chords and chords.
Example from Martucci’s 4th Piano Concerto
Example from Martucci’s 4th Piano Concerto

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