Trills

A trill is a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, typically the main note and the note above, used as an ornamental flourish in music. It is a common feature in many musical eras and genres, serving to decorate a sustained note or cadence.

In Western classical practice, the trill is usually indicated by the letters “tr” or by a wavy line above the note. The performer determines the number of alternations based on tempo, style, and the length of the note. Baroque trills often begin on the upper neighbor, while Classical and Romantic interpretations may vary; cadences frequently conclude with a short ending such as a turn or mordent to lead back to the main note.

Variants and related ornaments include the mordent (rapid alternation with the note below) and the inverted mordent (with the note above), as well as the turn, which combines a sequence of neighbors around the main pitch. In modern editions, editors may specify starting points, cadential endings, or shorten the trill to fit the notation and performance context.

In linguistics, the term trill refers to a consonant produced by vibrating the articulator, such as the alveolar trill [r] found in Spanish and Italian, or the uvular trill [ʀ]. This use is distinct from the musical trill but shares the general idea of rapid, repeated articulation.