You are on page 1of 7

DIGITALIZACIONES DE FLAUTA TRAVERSA.

Trill Fingerings
The following chart includes special fingerings designed for rapid alternation
between two notes at an interval of a minor second (semitone) or a major
second (whole tone) apart. Many of these fingerings can also be used as
alternate fingerings for some fast passages.
Keys to be trilled are indicated in red. When more than one key is to be trilled,
the keys should be pressed and released simultaneously.
Trill notation
When a note has the letters tr above it, or a long squiggly line, that's a trill.
(In very old music, trills may also be notated with a +.) What you have to do
is to rapidly alternate between the written note and the next note-name above
it, in the key signature. This second note is usually not written out. As a rule of
thumb, in modern music you should start on the written note, while in music
written before 1800 the trill generally starts on the note above. This second
way of playing is sometimes explicitly requested by preceding the written note
with the upper note as a small note (an acciaccatura).
Let's make some examples:

If you find an A with a tr symbol above it, and you have no sharps and
no flats in the key signature, the upper note is B.

If you find an A with a tr symbol above it, and B is flat in the key
signature, the upper note is B-flat (Bb).

If the composer wishes you to trill to an upper note which is not in the key
signature, above or next to the trill symbol there will be an accidental
indicating what the upper note should be. That accidental can of course be a
flat, a sharp, a natural, a double-sharp or a double-natural.
Searching the chart
The chart below shows both the lower and the upper notes of a trill. You should
search for the couple that has your written note on the left and the upper note
(figured out as explained above) on the right.
If you don't find the notes you are looking for, that's usually because no
adequate alternative to the basic fingerings exists. In many cases,
particularly in the first two octaves, the trill fingering and the regular fingering
are the same. We have omitted such basic trills in order to keep the chart small
and readable.
Another possibility is that the trill you are looking for is found here with another
enharmonic name. For instance, you should be aware that the trill C#D# has
the same fingering as the trill DbEb.

Trill speed
The speed of a trill should be related to the global speed of the music. If a piece
is marked Adagio, don't play its trills as fast as you can humanly move your
fingers.
Also, you will probably notice that adding in a bunch of trills and grace notes
can be tricky when first learning a piece. So try playing the piece first without
the ornaments, and then going through slowly and adding in those extra notes.

You might also like