How to play extended left-hand trills in Bachs Inventions

Hi,

OK, here's another question about new my favorite set of pieces... Does anyone have suggestions for how to play the extended left-hand trills in Bach's Inventions? Many of the Inventions have extended (several measures long) trill for both the right and left hands. The right-hand trills sound natural against a moving left-hand line, but I cannot say that the reverse is true. Perhaps these sound better on a harpsichord or clavichord than on a modern grand piano? When I concentrate on making the left-hand trill 'line up' with the right-hand melody I definitely lose the flow of the music. Does anyone have a special way of approaching these problematic trills? Also, I don't see such trills often in later music, so I don't know how worthwhile it is to make them sound good. (Although I suppose it helps develop control of the fingers in the left hand.)

I would be interested in hearing others' opinions on this subject!

Chris, I'm personally glad that the Inventions are your new favorite set of pieces. The simple answer to your question is to practice the hands seperately. It's true what you said: the trills are somewhat easier on a harpsichord. Different piano teachers do trills differently. I do trills from the fingers, not from the wrist. The left hand trills all seem to start on the note above. The trill should start slow and then speed up. None of my early teachers taught me how to trill properly. A trill is an improvisation. It must be personal. It should also be beautiful. Which Inventions are you playing? Are you talking about the trill in the d minor invention? Another fun piece with crazy trills is the Italian Concerto. Check it out!

Hmmm... may I ?

For a starter on trills , how to start and how to end and how to feel the pulse :

Ex. 5 (right hand) and Ex.6 (left hand) from 160 Kurze Ubungen, Op.821 by Carl Czerny.

Hi Chris

There's one of the inventions - the Dm - that I personally was never happy with. This has long trills in both LH and RH, as you mention. I was never able to make it sound convincing although I have to say, when I heard Andras Schiff play it, I still wasn't convinced.

I think the reason the trill is so widely used in baroque keyboard music is that notes decayed quite quickly in both the harpsichord and clavichord, so the trill was a way of making the note appear to sustain for longer.

Regards Mr Bump

On Fri, 20 Sep 2002 03:47:21 GMT, 'Christopher A. Mejia'

Ah! I just learned Invention No. 4 (Dm) four months ago. (Now I'm on No. 8 (Fmaj).) On No. 4, the LH trill wasn't much of a problem, although I had to practice coordinating the run leading up to it. What I'm still weak on, though, is the LH during the RH trill