In this tutorial I use "trill" to mean an extended prall - that is, 3 or more 16th notes on the same pitch, alternating with an upper auxillary. As with pralls, the auxillary is almost always a half-step above the base. In this tutorial we will be concerned with trills of 3 beats (= dotted 8th note). Longer trills occur occasionally, but are rare. As with pralls, trills may be notated either with an ornament or written out with grace notes:
In theory, trill execution is just a simple elaboration of prall execution - you just repeat the brush-change to the auxillary a second time. In practice, this can be difficult because trills are less forgiving of imperfect mechanics than pralls. If your hand is not rolled forward enough, you will find the repetition of the brush-change is quite awkward.
Review the prall-triplet mechanics of Lesson 2, and then practice the following passage, starting extremely slowly:
You can practice trills with adapted versions of the prall drills from earlier lessons, although they tend to sound kind of blah in comparison:
I'll leave adaptation of the other prall drills to the reader as a mildly tedious exercise in Bulgarian composition. The goal, at this point, is mechanical improvement, not great art.
The passage below (from Traicho Sinapov), alternates trills and pralls on the same note. It's quite useful for clarifying the differing mechanics. Once up to speed, it can also replace a 4 measure hold with electrifying effect:
In theory, a trill can be used in place of any prall-triplet whose final 16th is on the same note of the prall. For example:
The prall-triplet version in more aggressive, particularly if sharp pralls are used. The trill version is smoother. Ideally, you make your choice based on aesthetic concerns.
However...
Technical considerations may also play a role. In some cases, fingering concerns may dictate your choice. Also, trills are more difficult to execute for most people, so you may decide to use prall-triplets instead while you practice your trills. For advanced players, trills are actually easier to execute than prall-triplet at very fast speeds. Thus, you often see a predominance of trills in high-tempo pieces like elenino horo and graovsko horo.
Many of the fragments above are useful for development of technique, but aesthetically tedious. Below are some more interesting melodies using (smooth) trills. The first two selections are from Boris Karlov, the last from Ibro Lolov. (The second selection is slightly simplified so as to use only the mechanics discussed so far.)
Copyright 2015 Erik Butterworth. All rights reserved.