Here's a definition taht supports the way i learned it on Woodwinds long ago.:

"The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two notes (compare tremolo). These notes are usually adjacent on the musical scale. "

Most often, trills are played between 2 adjacent notes in the scale, and the distance may be 1/2 or whole tone, but mostly whole tones.

I played thousands of 'em on teh clarinet over the HS and college years .... we were the "string section" of the band !

The Trill effect that I'm speaking of, can best be heard in the intro to the song; "Behind Closed Doors".

To reproduce this effect, play a C and an F note in unison, then play a slip-note from the C# to the D and release the C. It takes some practice to make this smooth and even sounding. Practice this in other keys.

Al

I think that's a grace note. A trill is when you repeat it several times, like the piccolo part in Stars and Stripes Forever.
Floyd Cramer's Last Date has grace notes.
Semantics.
Be careful what you wish for Glenn, you might start sounding like me!
DonM

I'm sure kbrkr meant grace note, not trill. However, the Floyd Cramer style that we're all familiar with, incorporates what's called a hammer, or slipnote technique... similar to, but slightly different than a grace note.

Where a grace note slightly precedes the beat, the FC slipnote is on the beat and played with the third above, major or minor, depending on the chord inversion and melody note. Also, a grace note is usually a semi-tone below and the country style slipnote is usually a whole tone below.

I've been incorporating FC styling almost as long as Floyd himself... since the 60s. Not only has it become a staple in country piano, you'll hear it in many other piano styles, including R Hornsby and most recently N Jones. Quite a long lasting influence.

http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/
Trill
An ornament that consists of rapid alternation between one tone and another tone either a step or a semitone away from the first tone.

Grace note
Ornamentations used to decorate or embellish a melody.
http://library.thinkquest.org/2791/MDCTARY/T-Z.htm
Trill, tr - A musical ornament performed by the rapid alternation of a given note with a major or minor second above. http://www.austinsymphony.org/music/index.asp?LT=T
Trill: An ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two pitches, the main pitch, and the pitch a whole or half step above it.+
http://www.classicsforkids.com/teachers/training/terms.asp?id=309[/URL]
Trill
A musical ornament that alternates rapidly between a note and the one pitched a major or minor second above it.


http://www.classicalandjazz.com/Dictionary/T.htm[/URL]
Trill: An ornament performed by the rapid alternation of a given note with a major or minor second above.


Terry


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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 02-19-2004).]

Yes .... just what I said. It's most often used as a step in the scale. A trill on G in the key of G is GAGAGAGAGAGAGA etc...

Maybe we're saying the same thing in a way, but I rarely see the 1/2 step trils unless they are on the scale degrees that are next to a natural 1/2 step.
eg:
between 3-4 and 7-8 in the scale.

www.donmasonmusic.com

nuff said