
Week 1 Assignment
Welcome to the latest two-week intensive with Leann Osterkamp!
Do your trills never sound quite right? Do your fingers refuse to play trills? This two-week intensive will start by giving you some basic academics about correctly deciding which notes you should be playing in each unique trill. We will then discuss how to train your ear and fingers to play consistent elegant trills each and every time, using proven practice techniques that you can incorporate right away, no matter what level of study you are currently at.
Week 1 assignment:
- Pick 1 or 2 trills within your repertoire (or dream repertoire) to analyze
- On blank sheet music paper, write out the entire ornament, including (and paying special attention to) the preparation (vorschlag) and termination (nachschlag) of the trill.
- Either record a video discussing or type out your rationality/decisions behind why you specifically chose the preparatory notes and terminating notes that you chose, as well as why you chose the subdivision tempo for the main part of the trill. For example, "I chose to initiate the attack on the note itself instead of the note above because I wanted to emphasize the main melodic contour and create a more stark delineation of beat. I then chose to do precisely 4 sixteenths per left-hand note because I like how the primary note is then contrapuntally emphasized on each beat and I think it balances the energy with accuracy. I then chose to do the somewhat anticipatory notes at the termination because it more elegantly sets up the next section, which needed a more placed set-up vs. a direct entry, since this was the end of a major structural section of the piece."
- Bonus, record yourself playing the exact written version of your trill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovZlaJdMhog
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Hello Everyone!
All are welcome to this intensive. Don’t worry about signing up, apologies for any confusion on that front!
You can just get started with the assignment and I will be noting all the participants, then, will send you the week 2 assignment and any updates
Thanks and looking forward!
Dominic
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The link in the email to sign up for this intensive didn't work for me.
https://tonebase.notion.site/1dc79f958bf88094893ffc00b337414e?pvs=105
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Hi! Adult learner (about 2 years of playing) here. I think I'll choose a trill or two from Scarlatti's K32 Aria in D minor as I think it's coming up soon in my repertoire list.
My son played his composition at the WSMTA Young Composers Concert June 28 and we saw that you were doing some presentations at the conference - I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to meet you in person.
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Hi Leann!
Thank you for leading us in this TWI!
Apologies to everyone for such a long post!
I am trying to work on the long trills in Bach's Invention No. 4.
There are a few short trills in this piece - the usual ornamental trills that, being short, are fairly straightforward I think. (Although you've given us a lot to think about with "contrapuntal emphasis" etc Leann!)
The long trills are a mechanism to sustain the note of the trill while the melody flows in the other hand. (Thus I think these long trills are different from those in the Chopin example where the RH trill is in the melody line and the LH is accompaniment?) These trills might also be rather straightforward, but I find some things about Bach's trills that are rather confusing. For the RH trill, the ornament is "short", i.e., 2 squiggles. For the LH trill, the ornament is "longer", i.e., 3 squiggles. People's discussions of these trill marks differ (short vs long or no difference at all). If one takes the definition of the 3-squiggle ornament as long, then it is supposed to be accented on the first note, followed by regular trilling. The ornament chart in my Henle edition doesn't entirely help as it doesn't have the long squiggle, denoting an accented trill, without some extraneous mark before the note! Ah well, perhaps there's room to make my own decisions!
In deciding the note length for the trill, I note that the baroque 3/8 time has a brisk tempo (except when I play it!), so I think 32nd notes against the 16th notes of the melody are as much as I can handle. I've tried to play more notes, but it just sounds like chaos even at my tempo. Also, I think anything more would sound too buzzy for an accompaniment. It's difficult enough for me to keep the LH trill quiet.
The ends of both of these trills are tied across the bar line to the 1st beat of the next bar, so I think a nachschlag would be out of place. Rather than a nachschlag, it seems best to terminate both early, one beat before the bar line. I think this helps the transition to the next measure, where the trilling hand takes up motion again, w/o overwhelming/startling the melody line. I don't think a vorschlag is appropriate either since neither is a melody line.
The difference I make between the 2 trills (if there is supposed to be one) is that I start the RH trill slowly on the upper note with 16th notes as for the LH for one beat, then I start the trill. For the LH trill, which I interpret as an accented trill, I do not start on the upper note since the F with the Gsharp in the RH is dissonant and I like the sound of starting with the E better, especially if the note is to be accented. If I were to play w/o the accent, I would just start the trill on the upper note and start straight off with 32nd notes. There are a lot of dissonant sounds in these measures and it seems difficult to minimize the number, though starting off on the primary note does seem slightly better.
My written-out versions are hopefully attached.
RH Measures 19-21:
LH Measures 29-33:
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Wow! What a nice way to work on trills - thank you. This is Chopin Nocturne in c# minor.
Not sure about the trill intros in bar 5, 11 and 13, especially 11. There seem to be so many opinions out there above when to place these - before the main trill, as a part of, etc. Tried listening to Garrick Ohlsson's recordings as a model, but confusing.
Compromise seems to be the old "put the left hand on auto" and let the right hand express the melody, bel canto style. Still confused. Will listen to more recordings to see how others do it. Wish Chopin were here :-)
Looking forward to how you work this out next week. Thank you for doing this.
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Thank you so much for this intensive! It’s rather timely for me, because I had just become aware that I try to avoid music with trills. The reason for that was a feeling of unpredictability and some sense of lack of control that comes with trill playing. At times they work well, but very often not. One friend once told that trills so often sound like doorbells that she does not play them at all.
The two trills that thrill me in particular can be found in Bach’s bicinium BWV 711.
In bar 18 note A in the melody gives a Vorschlag, Nachschlag also comes with the melody. In bar 9 I see two options. One more straightforward which goes well with the fast tempo of the left hand and would be in line with Baroque principle that trills are started on the top note.
Another way could be with a Vorschlag on H. I like this better because it seems more melodic, although the strong beats of the trill are not on the upper notes.
What do you think?