How do you practice trills on the keyboard?

Question

I'm currently working on a Haydn concerto, and the trills are about to get the best of me! I've practiced by doing trills starting with fingers 1-2, 3-4, 4-5 then backdown going slow then speeding up. (The trills occur in the right hand w/ 16th note arppeggios in the left hand). I practice (w/ a metronome- slowly @ first) 2 trills per 16th note, 4 per 16th note, and so on). Does anyone have any other practice tips??? I struggled w/ trills during my last concerto, and darn it if I can't whip them this time. It's so frustrating!!! Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

Answer 1

If you don't get the answer that you're looking for I use this piano forum whenever I have piano questions.

Answer 2

Mozart had a trill exercise. It sounds similar to what you've been doing, but with more finger combinations and such. His exercise is this:

(fingers 1 & 2)
4 quarter notes
8 eighth notes
16 sixteenth notes
32 thirty-second notes

and so on...

then repeat with fingers 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-4, 3-5, 4-5

Basically use every single finger combination you have. Start with very, very slow quarter notes at first, and then work up to a faster tempo.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

You can also use your wrist to make it a little easier. My teacher always suggests that the turning motion that is used when turning a doorknob or winding something.