Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner What exactly does "tr" mean

Ive seen a few notes with the "tr" sign over them and I was wondering what it means. I heard some pieces with those signs played so I have a general idea what it means. However, it seemed to me like the sign is slightly different in every piece. For example, if theres a chord with that sign over it, the rule for playing seems to be different than if its a single note. I tried looking it up on the internet but I didnt find anything to help me. Can anyone tell me exactly what the sign means... or point me to a website that explains it?

Thanks

"tr" stands for trill, indicating that the note it is associated with should be rapidly alternated with the note in the scale above it (within the duration indicated). The execution of "tr" is left to the performer. If it is of some duration, it might be ended with a turn. If it is of short duration, it might consist of a single "down-up-down" alternation. I generally run the trill starting with the note indicating and ending with the higher note, unless I end it with a turn. But in rare situations I might begin the trill with the note above the indicated note and end the trill at the indicated note.

When "tr" is accompanied with a sharp or flat marking, I generally apply the sharp or flat to the higher note in the trill, unless it becomes obvious that it was meant to be applied to the indicated note.

Memo to composers: if you want trills played in a certain way, then take the trouble to show in your notations all of the finger strokes, rather than lazily slapping on a "tr" that might be handled in a dozen different ways.

Hahaha yes that would be most excellent. I can hardly ever tell exactly how a "tr" should be executed unless my edition spells it out for me.

As far as over chords go, I believe the rule is the top note. If you play octave C's you then trill the top C-C#.

Hi,

You might want to look at this site:

http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory23.htm#trill

Note that some composers expect you to start with the note above the written note, for example Bach. I think the more modern approach is to start on the written note.

I'm not sure how this applies to chords.

Thanks
Rich

More likely, one would trill with C and D, the rule being that you trill with the next note in the scale of the key in which you are playing. If the main note is C, (which would put you in the keys of C major, F major, Bb major, Eb major, G major) it is less likely that the next note would be C# unless the key signature were C# minor. A trill could also be executed with C and a Db, however, if the key signature were Ab major, F minor, Db major, Bb minor, Gb major.

Regards,

I'm afraid that is NOT totally correct. I'm reading Badura Skoda's books on Bach interpretation. One thing that I've learned from that is that there is A LOT more to consider than just some simple rules or tables of ornamentation (even by Bach).
It's a very complicated matter, and if you want to know more about it, I'm afraid there is no easy path to follow.
One advice: choose carefully the editions you buy! There IS a lot of difference between them. When in doubt, ask this forum, there's a lot of people willing to help.

It's interesting to note too that sometimes a composer will get tired of writing out a mordent symbol and simply replace it with the "tr" instead. My Ricordi edition of Scarlatti Sonatas says that in their editor's notes. So as has been eluded to above, the "tr" can mean a mordent, a turn, or even a regular trill.

I play what suits the music while taking tempo and rhythm into consideration. Hint: Sing the melody with and without the trill, and with different styles of ornaments. If you sing a long trill, and the piece sounds labored, try shorter ones, or even a turn.

Mozart's K.331 Sonata last movement is a good exanple too. He has "tr" written in, but the places are played as turns. Remember they usually are, like 99.9999% of the time, played ON the beat, starting on the note above in the Classical and Baroque period.

John

I was thinking of the devilish octave trills in Moonlight Sonata mvt. 3. Both of those, due to the key are a half step. I figured I would be doing the right think putting it in C rather than E but did'nt see the ambiguity. Probobly more confusing my way.

Side note, thanks for this link. I've been looking for a site with this information.