Trills appear in music from all style periods, usually indicated by the tr symbol above the note. For those of you who have been tuning in to my masterclasses for a while, you may note that I wrote another article on trills inside issue 75. Here, though, I take it from a different angle.
There are several issues with trills that we need to consider:
-Do we start on the main note, or the upper note?
-Should the trill be short or long, loud or soft, measured or free?
-How do we make sense of the bewildering array of signs and symbols used to indicate ornaments?
-How do we play them without stiffening up?
Ornament symbols
Fortunately for us, many composers have left specific instructions for the realisation of the ornament signs they) consisting of three notes (main-upper-main). However, according to all the ornament tables from the French and German Baroque period, it indicates a short trill that comes on the beat, starting on the note above the given note. The Baroque trill consists of a minimum of four notes but may contain as many repercussions as desired, according to the duration of the given note and the good taste of the player.
