piano-notes-book/src/pages/ch20-trills.mdx

---
title: Trills
layout: ../layouts/Layout.astro
---

I have attended the session where I was supposed to demonstrate the trills I had been working for the past few days. I
started with the third movement of Haydn Piano Sonata No. 6:

<img src="/api/assets/haydn-piano-sonata-6-slice01.svg" alt="" />

Sir demonstrated to me where the "Adagio" is meant for, as the pulse is made out of quarter notes. He gestured to me
the 4/4 time signature and said the grouping is made out of 6 notes--"imagine the pulse is made out of sextuplets".

He said my trills were "ugly", to which I agreed. I was still struggling to make the trills "sound right". He suggested
I "count" the trills. However, that felt too much for me to handle, so I tried clinging to my sensation. I used my
(2) to "count", i.e. align my trills to the measure.

He asked me how did my experience compare with playing measured trills--I said I used to play instinctively. He added
that playing trills instinctively could be detrimental when used in every situation. He asked if I was aiming to play
trills as to "excite" the listener, of which the pieces I played (mostly from the Romantic era) did have dramatic
trills. I realized that the manner of playing trills will depend on the style of music--measured trills would be
beneficial to a piece in the Classical period like Haydn's.