Horn Matters | A French Horn and Brass Site and Resource | John Ericson and Bruce Hembd

One of the most extended chapters of A Creative Approach to the French Horn by Harry Berv is on the topic of “Lip and Valve Trills.” He noted that “Discipline, patience, and consistent and correct practice will help you master the trill,” and that

Basically the lip trill is nothing more than a lip slur between two notes a whole step apart. The single aspect that sets the lip trill apart is the speed at which the slur must be executed…..

Sit on the ridge between the notes

He gives the example of a C to D trill fingered on the F horn.

As you slur back and forth between these notes, you should feel a “ridge” or a “bump” between the two notes. In practicing the whole tone slur, the feeling of this obstacle against and between the notes is always felt by the lip. Ideally your lip should “sit” on top of this “ridge” and rock back and forth between the notes.

Picture in your mind the action of a rocking chair, rocking back and forth evenly. If you were to place a small piece of wood directly in the center of both rockers creating an impediment, you would naturally have to physically rock a little harder to get over the obstacle. Similarly, the lips and airstream have to exert a bit more pressure in order to get over the “ridge” to maintain the trill. It is my feeling that it is easier to build the control on the trill if it is practiced in an even rhythm.

Berv presents exercises that increase in speed in the typical manner. In triplets he recommends accenting the strong beats of the pattern as an aid to mastering trills.

Jaw movement?

William R. Brophy in his Technical Studies for Solving Special Problems on the Horn also has exercises for developing lip trills. He is in favor of keeping the face still but notes that this is not the only approach.

Concentrate on keeping the air stream absolutely steady with enough speed and intensity to support the upper note. Keep the mouthpiece pressure lightly comfortable, resisting the temptation to use additional pressure for the upper note. Contraction and relaxation of the embouchure should ideally take place entirely inside the mouthpiece keeping the corners of the lips and the chin motionless. The tongue level may change, “aaah” for the lower note and “eeeh” for the upper, but this “aaah-eeeh” movement should be confined to the tongue and not accompanied by the changes of the lip and jaw position that are normally associated with these syllables. It probably should be said here that some fine players do not object to jaw movement on a fast trill, in which case the lip trill becomes an exaggerated jaw vibrato.

Myself, I would as noted in Part I tend to disagree about visible lip movement being bad, as will others in quotations later in this series. Jaw movement might be viable, but only if it relates to or is an extension of the tongue movement concept as an aid to trills. In terms of the MRI studies, the note from Brophy to think “aaah-eeeh” with the tongue is clearly a point on the right track toward helping produce a good trill.

Speaking of good trills, next time we hear from a master of the trill, Barry Tuckwell.

Continue Reading in Hornmasters Series

As it is a problem for so many players, basically every book on the horn has some thoughts on the topic of lip trills. Today, we have some more concise tips.

Traditional approach: slow work using patterns

Gunther Schuller addressed the topic of the lip trill in Horn Technique from the practical standpoint of viewing it “more as a means of obtaining lip flexibility than for the sake of developing the trill itself, although that will, of course, be very useful at times.” In terms of how to practice trills, he recommends slow work on a pattern similar to that of Farkas.

The basic thing to realize about lip trills is that the two notes of any trill are not produced differently than in a slow slur. The process is exactly the same: a slight closing of the lip opening and an equally slight increase of air to obtain the upper note; the opposite to return to the initial lower note….

It is suggested that when the trill is first practised, the upper note be slightly breath-accented (as in the syllable ‘hah’). This will facilitate accurate timing of the slur, and will assure the proper amount of air.

…there are no short cuts to learning the lip trill; any other methods of trilling (except for the use of valves, which is permissible in most orchestral situations) are musically not valid. The shaking of the horn or various ‘gargling’ methods produce[s] unsatisfactory or ugly results.

The very loud trill

Schuller also addresses the topic of trilling loudly, such as you might see in a Mahler symphony.

One aspect of trilling is often neglected. This is the problem of starting a trill fast and loud immediately. I therefore recommend that at a reasonably advanced stage of trill practising—and only then—the sudden abrupt trill be practised as well.

Aiming for the note between the notes

One other method of working on trills Schuller advocated for “really recalcitrant” trills is that of aiming for the half step between the notes of the trill. For example for a F to G trill if you aim at a F# it will put the lips in the position where a “very slight shifting to either side will produce the desired F and G, and will eliminate the necessity of ‘traveling back and for the entire route. It is like sitting on the fulcrum of a see-saw.”

Practicing trills will improve your flexibility

Milan Yancich in A Practical Guide to French Horn Playing presents a variety of trill exercises. He feels that trill practice is of value in “developing flexibility of the lip.” It is an interesting thought as conventional wisdom is flexibility will improve your trills, the process does go both ways.

Short practice periods every day is best

William C. Robinson mirrors that thought in An Illustrated Advanced Method for French Horn Playing, and with it notes that “Lip trills should be practiced each day for very short periods; best results are obtained by using a definite rhythmic pattern.”

Practicing trilling wider intervals is a good tactic

Fred Fox in Essentials of Brass Playing suggests for trills “finding the precise point where the note changes, and hovering just a hair above and below the change point.” He comments that

If there is too great a distance between the notes then too much time is lost traveling that distance and a trill—which is a very quick oscillation between two notes—can never be achieved. Once this technique is mastered on an interval of a second, it then becomes a comparatively simple matter to locate the break point on lip intervals of a third, or a fourth, and by again hovering just above and below the break points, get an effective lip trill on these intervals as well.

Next up in this series are quotes from books with longer sections of text related to trills.

Continue reading in Hornmasters series

One skill that for many horn players is a source of fear is lip trilling. A great trill is an absolute requirement for artistic performance of many of our best concertos and is today considered to be something any fine horn player will have mastered.

Good trills are related to overall flexibility

Back in 1956 they may have been considered a bit more of a luxury, but Farkas certainly wanted horn players to learn this skill. For Farkas a fine trill was closely related to development of lip flexibility of the type seen in many exercises in The Art of French Horn Playing.

There is a common belief among hornists that only the player with a very flexible lip can accomplish a good lip trill, and certainly this seems borne out in fact by the unusually flexible lips which invariably belong to the player who does trill well. But can it be that we are “putting the cart before the horse?” I believe we are, I am firmly convinced that trills and flexibility are usually found together because the act of learning to trill, then finally trilling, is the very thing that gives an embouchure this unusual flexibility, which will come from no other form of practice.

It is for attaining this increased facility, rather than for the sake of the trill itself, that I recommend mastering it.

Fingering choices

One first thing Farkas does is present how to arrive at proper fingerings for lip trills. The keys are that you should be able to play both notes on the same fingering and that the fingering chosen be a relatively short fingering if possible.

A trill is like a slow slur, just faster

On the technical side of trills, Farkas felt there were no secrets.

Although there is a certain knack to lip-trilling, there are no freakish tricks employed. Do not resort to chin wiggling, horn shaking, or gargling in the back of the throat to get the trill. An authentic lip trill is made exactly like a slow slur between similar notes, and the only knack required is the one of speed.

His primary exercise is to start slowly and to gradually speed up the trill to full speed.

Three aids to trills — the conventional wisdom

He did offer three major “aids” to help with trilling.

Aid 1—Use the tongue to make a pronounced oo-ee motion from the lower to the higher note. The effect is a rapid oo-ee-oo-ee-oo-ee at the exact speed desired for the trill….

Aid 2—Practice often to obtain an immediate trill, that is, one which trills full speed right from the start. There is some danger of learning to depend too much on the slow “preparation” of trills simply because it is the usual way of practicing them….

Aid 3—This next aid is probably the most important of all in obtaining speed. Try to cultivate the feeling that the lip is “walking the fence” between the two notes being trilled…. This aid, when coupled with the oo-ee action of the tongue, described as in aid number 1, compromises the real knack of producing a lip trill as nearly as it can be described in words.

Commentary based on the MRI studies

At this point I would offer a bit of brief commentary, with reference to the MRI horn videos.

In the past my feeling was that Aid 1 above has led some students astray. I felt quite confident that if you could see my tongue when I trill you would not note any additional motion; my perception was that my tongue remained completely still, with the additional note that if you were to see my face you would see it is moving a fair amount. Which does not particularly concern me. My concern in relation to Aid 1 was that your focus could be on learning how to wiggle your tongue as though it is a key to learning how to trill. I am still a fan of fast flexibility studies, these will cross-train your trills more effectively than almost any dedicated trill exercise you can find. But … actually Farkas is correct, there is a slight movement of the tongue visible in the MRI studies, and likely my tongue makes this motion but I just can’t really perceive it. So certainly give the oo-ee idea a try, Farkas was on the right track.

With that digression, when we return we will have more ideas on learning the trill from master horn teachers of the past.

Continue reading in Hornmasters Series