Lesson 45: Trill Technique
- Speed up a trill smoothly and finish on time.
- Shape two contrasting trills from Telemann’s Soave.
A trill alternates a note and its upper neighbour; speed up, then add an ending figure called a turn.
Accelerating trill
Three beams mark thirty-second notes: eight fit one quarter-note beat.
Trill termination — the turn
The turn dips below the main note before returning; fit all of it inside the note’s time.
Play: Telemann, TWV 40:101 — two Soave excerpts
Learn each excerpt without the trill, then add it; keep the following notes on time.
First duet part, down a fourth, from Gavioli (2020), CC BY-SA 3.0; second part, slurs and articulation omitted.
Now play these
- Telemann: TWV 40:101 — complete Soave, first part
- Return after Lesson 50 for the complete movement’s wider range.
- Handel: Sonata in A minor, HWV 362 — complete Larghetto
- Shape the marked trills within Handel’s complete Larghetto.
- Telemann: TWV 41:C5 — complete recorder part
- Compare the marked trills across three complete movements.
When both trills resolve cleanly without shifting the pulse, move on to Lesson 46.