Have A Trilling Experience

In ‘early music’ days – pre-baroque – trills were often referred to as ‘shakes’. Now I find that somewhat ironic because as a student I was always cautioned against shaking my left hand when trilling.

There’s actually quite a good reason for this.

The problem with shaking your hand – in effect using vibrato – to produce a trill is that the trill tends to sound wobbly and unsettling. You know, time to take out the Pepto-bismo.

Kreutzer was obviously hip to this. He was also hip to the challenge that many fiddlers have producing clear, facile trills. Trills are made possible by ‘fast twitch’ muscle.

Problem is, we’re not all gifted with the same amount of the stuff.

Some people have too much – resulting in what I call a ‘doorbell trill’ – and some, myself included, not enough.

In any case, Kreutzer has provided us with some wonderfully crafted studies to address all levels of ‘fast twitch’ endowment.

I’m amazed at Kreutzer’s attention to detail in these studies. Each etude covers a very specific way of approaching and executing a trill. Some are intended to be measured, some unmeasured. In all, he dedicates 8 studies to mastery of the trill.

The finger movements required are delicate, graceful, fleet, and subtle. You can see the experience as an opportunity to connect with your ‘butterfly nature’; quite a beautiful thing, really.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Those 8 wonderful studies make up much of Volume 2 of the ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ series.