Kevin Hilman

I'm wondering what the rules are, if any, on which note a trill is supposed to begin on. I've been recently studying Chuck Seipp's Wedding Book and have been listening to recordings of these types of pieces.

In my listening I noticed that Wynton Marsalis and Rolf Smedvig, both masters in my opinion, begin the trill in the opening statement of "Prince of Denmark's March" differently.

Wynton begins on the written G and trills up to the A while Mr. Smedvig begins on the A and trills down to the G. In my own playing of the piece I find it a little easier to begin on the A and trill down, and yet, when I listen to the piece I tend to prefer hearing the G first trilling up to the A.

Are there any hard and fast rules or is it one of those "if it feels good, do it" kind of areas?

Thanks,

Kevin

cornetguy

typically baroque trills are from above. a-g-a-g

music from classical period and later are from the principal note up. g-a-g-a

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tpter1

Kevin- General practice of the baroque is to perform the trill beginning on the upper neighbor; sustain briefly to create the tension and accelerate slightly through the trill.

*we must've been writing at the same time!*

In the romantic, this changes and trills begin on the lower note.

If you can get to the school library, and can find it (most colleges should have this), look up the Trumpet and Kettle Drummer's Art. A book written during that time period. Very interesting stuff. Check out Ed Tarr's book, too.

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trumpetmike

The biggest rule is to make sure it sounds musical - the aim of a trill is simply to ornament a specific note, it is not to demonstrate how fast you can waggle your valves (especially in the baroque music where it would have been a lip trill originally).
I find a good phrase I use when teaching is that "less is more."

Saying that, I agree with the above posts about which note to start on.

cornetguy

[quote="trumpetmike"]The biggest rule is to make sure it sounds musical - the aim of a trill is simply to ornament a specific note, it is not to demonstrate how fast you can waggle your valves (especially in the baroque music where it would have been a lip trill originally).
I find a good phrase I use when teaching is that "less is more."

Of course the obvious way to help with the above is to practice Clarke 4

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