From the mid-17th century, the trill—also referred to as the shake—was a standard vocal ornament required of every accomplished singer. As music became less florid and more declamatory, singers abandoned the old exercises designed to make the voice a virtuoso instrument to compete with the violin or flute. By the 1890s a new style of music had taken the opera world by storm: verismo. It was not just a kind of music, it was a style of singing that shunned ornaments or flights of virtuosity. I remember famous artists in the 1960s and 70s who snickered at what they called “kiri-kiri-kee,” which they considered to be the excesses and bad taste of the past. Ornaments, variations, fast passagework, and even the simple appoggiatura were looked upon with disdain.
The revival of Bel Canto era music started to shift everything. Forgotten masterpieces were produced as a vehicle for a few extraordinary prima donnas even though many of the supporting singers, especially the men, were unable to handle technical demands of the 19th century composers. Some conductors solved this problem by just cutting out all the challenging bits. This can be verified by listening to live recordings of the time. Richard Bonynge, among others, has referred to this practice as “Italian cuts.”
By mid-20th century, trills were considered “unmanly,” and men rarely sang them except for perhaps an Almaviva or Don Ottavio, and only in comedies. In recent times, Pavarotti added a trill to “O sole mio” in one of the Three Tenors concerts. Soon the other two tenors clowned around and joined in. It started as a joke, but now every tenor in the world seems to think it is required in that song.
Fast forward to the 21st century and we see opera houses and concert halls filled with 18th and 19th century operas and music. Singers must master the vocal requirements that were mocked 75 years ago. Well known New York coaches have told me that many singers look perplexed when asked, “Well, what about this trill over here?” The late Alberto Zedda—musicologist, conductor, and director of the world-famous Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro—lamented, “This widespread technical deficiency is a source of ‘frustration and anguish.’ . . . Often we are forced to suppress the ornament rather than be afflicted with a poor imitation. Trills, moreover, should be executed in a great variety of ways—forcefully, graciously, spanning different intervals, and with varying dynamics.”
So what happened?
Because the tradition of teaching florid music (and especially the trill) fell by the wayside, current voice teachers may never have learned how to teach this ornament, leaving singers to their own devices. The results have not been promising. But there is hope.
Here is an introduction to six different ways to acquire the trill, as explained in singing manuals (available in music libraries, online, or for purchase) by some of the greatest 19th-century voice teachers. The musical examples are just fragments of the exercises, accompaniments deleted for space. All these teachers agree that some singers can trill easily while others have to work methodically to acquire it. See what method works for you.
If you can’t trill, here are some ways to get started. If you already have a decent trill, you may find that with the right exercise, yours could become quite beautiful. These exercises must be transposed to encompass the entire range.
I.
Pauline Viardot (1821–1910) belonged to a family that might be considered musical royalty. She was the sister of the Spanish mezzo Maria Malibran and of the great voice teacher Manuel García II. Her father was tenor and voice teacher Manuel García, Rossini’s first Almaviva. Pauline was a composer and an excellent pianist—she studied piano with Liszt and played duets with Chopin. Brahms, and Saint-Saëns—and Schumann wrote music for her. She sang both soprano and contralto roles. Her greatest successes were in highly dramatic roles, such as Fidès in Meyerbeer’s Le prophète and Rachel in Halévy’s La juive, which were written for her. She was especially known for her performance of Hector Berlioz’ re-creation of Christoph Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, which she sang over 150 times. She taught at the Paris Conservatory from 1870 to 1883.
In her book An Hour of Study: Exercises for the Voice, Book 1, she prefaces her comments on how to acquire a trill by stating that there is no “one way” which works for all voices, but that the first condition for executing the trill is the absence of any rigidity in the throat. Her exercises are designed to remove this defect. To accomplish this, it is done with a weak rather than supported breath—“without measured time in the natural voice”—and it can be done with the mouth closed.
She compares this exercise to the pianist’s exercise of repeatedly striking chords with a so-called “dead hand” to eliminate tension in the wrists. “As soon as the least rigidity is perceived,” she warns, “whether in the throat, or in the tongue, or in the muscles of the neck, or the nape of the neck, or as soon as we feel the eyes becoming fixed, or notice that the head (or the jaw) make little nervous motions, or that we involuntarily mark the measure, we should break off at that very instant.”
Other points to note:
This exercise can be done often in one day, but not in succession, lest the throat become ridged.
She alternates the intervals of the major 3rd, perfect 4th and 5th, the tritone, and the 6th.
The student must take great care to prevent the interval from diminishing and closing up because it will become “a useless tremolo.”
Students should have already worked out her exercises in Book 1 before attempting exercises in Book 2.
As with all her exercises, she writes that if a student is unable to study with undivided attention, then it would be “best to postpone the attempt.”
II.
Laure-Cinthie Damoreau (1801–1863) was one of the reigning prima donnas in Paris from about 1825 to 1849. A favorite of Rossini’s, she created roles in five of his operas as well as 10 operas of Auber and the role of Isabelle in Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable. She was on the faculty of the Paris Conservatory from 1834–1856. Just looking at her cadenzas one sees that her accuracy, intonation, and agility must have been astounding.
In her book Classic Bel Canto Technique, Damoreau says that if a singer does not have a natural trill, it “requires the most painstaking study.” She gives an exercise on two notes that start slowly and speed up ending with a turn.
After that has been studied, the next exercise has four groups of eight 32nd notes with accents on the first beat of each group (not shown). Then she gives this vocalise:
The trill may be started from the top or the bottom note, but the singer “should be accustomed to both styles.” She gives no more indication as to how to practice, but in the introductory remarks of the book we may have some hints. Every note must be taken “boldly but without harshness” . . . “sung slowly and very legato.” Each must be done first forte, then piano; then the exercise should be repeated mentally, “thus becoming accustomed to keeping an exact check on what is being done.”
III.
Mathilde Marchesi (1821–1913) is considered to be one of the most successful singing teachers of all time. Her singers reigned as prima donnas in opera houses all over the world (she only taught women). They were famous for their ability to sing the most difficult passagework and were known for their fantastic trills, often referred to as “The Marchesi Trill.”
Marchesi wrote several books about singing, and it is tempting to jump to the sections called “The Shake.” But I must caution the student that Marchesi taught with the idea of progressive exercises (her “method”); a singer advanced in a linear, logical manner with each exercise becoming more challenging. In her book Bel Canto: A Theoretical & Practical Vocal Method, the trill is introduced at exercise 185. In the Schirmer publication of her Elementary Progressive Exercises Opus 1, these exercises appear on pp. 133–144. By the time a singer has gotten to the point of perfecting the trill, her throat would have been put through the most rigorous study of scales, arpeggios, triplets, and chromatic variations.
She says the only way to get a good trill is to practice it in strict time, first slowly then more rapidly. It should be begun in the middle voice to prevent fatigue. The last six measures shown here are examples of how to end the trill.
Her next eight exercises are variations of initiations and endings, first in thirds and then arpeggios. For those that are still having difficulty, she offers exercise 194 to make the voice “more supple.” It starts with the intervals of the 2nd; then moving to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th; and then going back down. The exercise is repeated in different keys.
Once mastered, the singer can then practice her skill in a more musical, rather than purely technical, fashion by singing Marchesi’s vocalise #36 (not shown). The singer must have excellent intonation for this vocalise.
IV.
French baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830–1914) was considered one of the greatest singers of his time. We would refer to him nowadays as a superstar. (Note: this is not the composer Fauré, who had an accent on the final e in his name.) His voice encompassed the basso cantante range as well as the baritone. In the bass range, he was the pre-eminent Méphistophélès in Faust and he also sang Assur in Semiramide and Rodolfo in La sonnambula. But he created the title role in Thomas’ Hamlet, Nelusko in Meyerbeer’s L’africaine, and Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlos—roles normally sung by baritones. He went on to teach at the Paris Conservatory from 1857 to 1860.
In 2005, Francis Keeping and Roberta Prada translated Faure’s book, La voix et le chant (The Voice and Singing). Filled with astute advice and exercises, Faure’s “practical treatise” has a section devoted to the trill. “It has been demonstrated to me that the best exercises for the development of the trill come in the interval of the third,” Faure writes. “Of all the exercises, this is the one that produces the quickest and best results.”
Faure gives a number of exercises to develop the trill. He starts with the major 3rd, the minor 3rd, and then the major 2nd. After doing this in all the keys to the “full extension of the voice,” it is done again, this time ending with the minor 2nd. Then it is done again alternating the intervals of the major and minor 3rd.
Then he introduces another exercise which starts with 8th notes, moves to a double-dotted 8th and 32nd, then into 32nd notes, and finishing off with a turn.
Faure then writes a vocalize (not shown) using the pattern of the previous exercise, with solfeggio “words” and endings to the trill.
There was a time when voice teachers required their students to sing exercises and vocalizes in certain standard vocal exercise books. The idea was that the students would master technical challenges before encountering them in repertoire. American mezzo Regina Resnik told me that she sang through the entire book of Marchesi exercises as a student, and in her famous masterclasses at Juilliard, Maria Callas spoke about singing the Panofka exercises. Young singers need to be reminded that Callas was one of the catalysts of the Bel Canto revival.
V.
Heinrich Panofka (1807–1887) wrote a number of exercise books that could be found in all the important music stores up until at least 1970. In his book 24 Vocalises, Op. 81, v.1, he addresses the trill.
“Preparatory Study for the Trill” #17 is four pages of (mostly) 16th notes working on the major and minor 2nd, starting from both the top and the bottom note. This exercise is a bit more fun to do than some of the others in that there is some sort of melodic pattern. Please note his variations of dynamics and the fact that to do measures 29 to 32 in one breath may be challenging but satisfying once accomplished. This exercise must first be practiced lento then finally allegro molto. Exercise #18, titled “Agility,” mixes and matches. It has the voice ascending in thirds, then doing scales, then repeating the same pattern of the “Preparatory Study.”
The next exercise is titled “Trills.” Once again there is a kind of melody, and the singer is asked to do 27 trills in whole steps, half steps, with various initiations, endings, and dynamics.
VI.
Finally, Faure suggests yet another approach: the best way to acquire the trill is imitation. Just as complex rhythms, rhythmic styles like swing and certain Latin beats, and pronunciation may best be learned by imitation, so can certain vocal inflections. Listen carefully and refine your ear. But if you are going to imitate, imitate the best. You will soon be able to hear the difference between a decent trill, an exceptional one, and the ones that sound like a bleating goat. And, yes, that is how some voice teachers described a bad trill. Rather than risk offending any living artist by omission, I will recommend only those who have gone onto the heavenly choir.
Joan Sutherland is a good place to start. There are so many wonderful examples to choose from. Or go to YouTube and listen to Callas on something called “Trills,Trills, Trills.” She discusses the trill as an expressive devise. Rosa Ponselle’s magnificent recording of “Ernani, Ernani, involami” is a classic. If you enjoy listening to recordings made before 1930, you will find countless examples of fantastic trills sung by every voice type.
Finally, do not think that trills are for small voices—quite the contrary. Consider Verdi’s Il trovatore: Ferrando has four trills in “Abbietta zingara”; Azucena has 20 written trills, and two of them are four measures long in “Stride la vampa!” Leonora has countless trills: 13 in the cabaletta of “Tacea la notte placida” (including one that is over six beats long) and four in “D’amor sull’ali rosee”; and Manrico has two in “Ah! Sì, ben mio.” In Don Carlo, Rodrigo has a trill in “Per me giunto è il di supreme.” Wagner writes trills for the Valkyries, Brünnhilde has one in Siegfried, Eva has two in “Meistersinger,” and Hagen has one in Götterdämmerung.
There are countless examples of required trills in 19th-century music. And mastery of the trill is essential in 17th and 18th-century music. Give it a try.
Special thanks to Francis Keeping for his invaluable advice and encouragement and to Darryl Curry for his help with the musical excerpts.
