Claudia, love your speaking voice, your countenance, your knowledge, and your explanations/presentations. Started a bit of binge watching since I discovered you this morning. I'm not a singer. Was just looking for techniques to keep my voice from diminishing (e.g., tight neck, hoarseness, strained sound) when I speak in public. Your style of speaking is my role model.
Thanks James! The exercises I use to teach singing also help to condition the speaking voice - after all, the processes are not terribly different from each other an engage the same anatomy! I'm so glad your finding my videos interesting 🙏
YES!!! AWESOME!!! This is exactly how I have been teaching others to trill for the past 20 years. Wider intervals, and then bring them closer as one learns to relinquish control, and flop around. Thanks so much for bringing a precise and productive approach to this beautiful vocal ornament. I give my highest recommendation of this video. Thank you!!!
This explains at last why I’ve always struggled with “sounding sharp” on trills while people around me say it doesn’t sound sharp 😂 I also hear more like a minor third than a tone, and thought I had a problem! 🥴
Your larynx should not be moving up and down when you trill, but it will make the same kind of fine adjustments it makes when ever you move from one note to another. This is the subtle tilt of the laryngeal cartilages at the cricothyroid joint that enables us to tune the vocal folds by lengthening and shortening them. When you trill, this happens fairly rapidly as you move from one note to another. So when you say your larynx is going crazy, what are you observing?
Claudia Friedlander thank you for your comment, and helping me out. The sensation I feel is like a very fast vibrato sensation, moving from one note and back. Also forward with a lot of breath With of course the larynx moving up and down in my throat. But I don’t know how to do it without moving the larynx, because that’s how I shift between notes. Also with classical music, do you inhale the voice or exhale? Because I watch some video which say you inhale the voice, which is a bel canto technique. But i don’t know if this is true.
Singing happens while exhaling. Some singing techniques advocate keeping some of the muscles of inhalation engaged while exhaling/singing; this is part of bel canto appoggio breath management. But while you're singing, the air is always moving out of your body, never in. It is hard to know what is going on with your larynx without hearing and watching you sing, but it sounds as though you may be dealing with some tongue tension - here is a video I made that can help you trouble shoot for that: ruclips.net/video/dRsFZ4hX5dY/видео.html
No. A trill is a fluctuation in pitch, so it is accomplished entirely through movements of the vocal folds. Your chin/jaw/neck do not need to move up and down when the pitch moves up and down, whether you are trilling or changing your pitch in any other way.
ruclips.net/video/ZR5rAokwVpE/видео.html I’d say this is a masterclass in trill control, how she navigates the harmony and melody of this inventive medley is why she was such a musical genius.
I absolutely agree that Whitney Houston's output provides an outstanding example of vocal flexibility, virtuosity, and musicianship. She and contemporary singers like her show us what it possible, and their facility demonstrates the same mechanism that classical singers (or singers in any other style) require to be able to sing scale passages and ornaments well. That said, my interest as a teacher is in helping singers for whom this facility does not come naturally/instinctively, learn how to do it. I think that in both classical and contemporary circles, we still have this mistaken assumption that such skill has to be innate and can't be taught. The good news is that it can, and that is why I create videos like this one!
The trill ("trillo" in Italian is often translated with "shake" in the English translation) was a necessary device especially in the baroque and the Bel Canto period. I am sorry NOT to agree on "go crazy", "let it go". This is only possible when the trill has been practised regularly in the semi and tone version for a long long time. Pier Francesco Tosi, Francesco Mancini and Manuel Garcia outline thoroughly how the trill needs to be exercised and performed. When you "let go" the trill still needs to hit both notes. This is achieved through careful practice. We cannot compare the trill to the aesthetics of the Romantic vibrato. Furthermore the trill needs to be appoggiato in the head-voice, not in the throat. And no, the trill needs to be controlled. Tosi says that the difficulty in performing a perfect trill is not in how to start it but how to finish it, stop it. The trill has a lot in common with the mezza di voce as both need to be perfectly balanced. Frescobaldi compares the trill to a horse´s movement. You can not start running from standing still but first it needs to take a few steps, walk faster and faster until it is running. This is natural. The same to stop it but in the reversed sequence. Proportion is fundamental and this is reflected in all the exercises in treatises cited below. The castrati exercised the trills every day for years. Larger interval trilling is not mentioned in any of these books neiter as an exercise nor as a to employ. However, Tosi speaks about "canto di sbalzo" which employs huge intervals but no in a oscillatory way as the trill. Pier Francesco Tosi - Opinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni (1723) Mancini, Giovanni Battista - Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato. (1774) García, Manuel (1805-1906) - Ecole de Garcia. Traité complet de l'art du chant en 2 parties Concone, Della Casa, Vaccai also teach about the trill. There are few sources of sining teaching as the pupil was face to face with the teacher and no text-book was needed. The Tosi and Mancini books are reflections on sining, no methods. They were both very old when they wrote them and are a kind of "last will" from a lifetime of teaching experience. The trill is a central topic in their work. The following in my opinion is a good performed trill ruclips.net/video/YuEDaTysGF8/видео.html (7:02)
Important question for you: what do you think of my trill? Because while I believe that the approach you are recommending can be an excellent one for some singers, it is not the way that I learned, and I think I have a kickass trill. If you disagree and you can recommend some videos with examples of your favorite trills, please do.
Torbjorn Stalberg I think it’s a more of a whatever works for you type of thing, I know people that would benefit loads from having a methodical approach to it, and I know some people who micromanage a lot while singing, and using a metronome wouldn’t help them.
Well, I'm at the very beginning of learning to sing. I can't make vibrato. I tried many techniques. It looks like I can't control my throat. Some people control their ears lobe. I can't move my vocal chords to make vibrato.
Here is a blog post that explains some of the mechanics of vibrato. Vibrato is not something that you make, but rather something that emerges when your singing voice is balanced and well-coordinated. www.claudiafriedlander.com/the-liberated-voice/2012/05/vibrato-hell.html
Thank you so much for this video! I've noticed that a lot of singing teachers just tell their students to leave out the trill or they just say "well you just need to practice it every day" but don't give very clear instructions as to how to practice it. I find it so annoying, as knowing how to trill is not just important for singing baroque repertoire but also for basically all other styles. I'm glad someone is talking about it on RUclips :)
When a student can't do something, and then after the voice teacher explains it to them they still can't do it, the teacher often concludes that the student just doesn't have the aptitude, or their voice "just doesn't work that way" for some reason. This is nonsense. What is actually going on is, the teacher doesn't know how to teach the skill. They may not realize that, because that was the way they were taught, and the way they see most of their colleagues teaching: without a solid biomechanical understanding of how the voice works and what creates a trill. Or a scale, or skillful registration, or a free high note, if they don't understand the mechanics and how to teach them then the only thing they can do is demonstrate and hope. And assume that if the student doesn't get it, that student just isn't meant to sing that high note or whatever.
Hi Claudia, thank you for the video. How does a singer relinquish control or what specifically does one do to relinquish the control? (i.e. what are the physical motions of the body?)
8:03 God! Dear teacher, very good video, good ' magister" but much talk, for the first " trills" and less exercices, thank for your comprehension; may be " divided" the video into two parts.
Hi, I was hoping you could tell me what it is called when an Irish (usually female) singer does that particular maneuver with their voice that is so characteristically Irish-sounding. (A great example is Enya singing 'May It Be' - she uses that little ornament frequently.) Is there a name for that? Thanks you.
Does a single rapid alternation between two notes also count as a trill? I often hear them in ballads where they rapidly change between two notes but the last note is on hold/extended with vibrato.
This does not make any sense to me, from a biomechanical perspective. Vibrato is a symptom of a balanced singing technique (whether you come by it "naturally" or not). So I guess you could say that it is easier to trill, or do pretty much anything else with your voice, if you have a balanced singing technique.
Vibrato is a subtle, continuous fluctuation in pitch that is present most of the time when performing in a classical style, and is elicited more sparingly in musical theatre and CCM styles. A trill is a deliberate, much wider fluctuation in pitch (so that you actually hear two distinct pitches, which is not true for vibrato) that is occasionally used as an expressive musical ornament, usually only in classical styles (or when a classical style is being mimicked in the context of a contemporary song).
This is wonderful! I just subscribed to your channel! I was thinking about how people do this, or how to explain, and actually yes it's a weird sound but I get to it differently, the hard way, I believe, since I used to do trills as "trillos" in early music and it was tough for me to change it. If I would know this 5 or 6 years ago it'd saved lots of time and effort.
I'm so glad this resonated with you! Many people learn to sing by just trying to figure out how to reproduce the sounds they hear other people make, rather than figuring out how to engage in the movements that would result in the sounds they want to make. I think that a trill is a good example of a skill that is counterintuitive to learn, because it's not just about creating a pitch fluctuation and then being able to do it faster and faster, as is the case for performing a trill on most musical instruments. You have to practice the coordination and then just trust your voice to respond to what the ear is asking of it, without any sense of direct control.
It depends! This is not a skill that requires particular strength or flexibility, but rather a willingness to let go of control and see what happens. What keeps most singers from being able to trill well, in my experience, is that they are hesitant to release all unnecessary tension in the throat so that the movement of the trill can reflexively take place. All you really need is the ability to trust your ear to find the pitches without your having to "place" them, and a willingness to make some weird or unexpected noises if it doesn't work perfectly right away. It could take an hour, or it could take a lot longer, because it's hard to let go of something you don't know you're holding onto and sometimes you have to find that out first. It's also important to record yourself, because the trill may not sound the same to your ear as it does in the room. As I think I mentioned in the video, when the interval is in tune it always sounds a bit too wide to me while I'm doing it.
@@ClaudiaFriedlander Thanks for the detailed response! I’ve already started practicing and I’ve definitely noticed that the pitches sound wider in my ear than they do in the recording. I’ll start working on really trying to let go haha
One of the best ways I have found to fine tune my voice is to record myself singing, and then listen to what I need to tweak. I’m far from a professional. I’ve never had lessons. But this is an idea for anyone who can’t afford a vocal instructor that has a good enough musical ear to know what to listen for in this style of music.
There is indeed a lot that people can learn by instinct and imitation. In my experience, how to execute a trill isn't really one of them. A modest percentage of classical singers figure it out on their own. A large percentage never learn because their teachers either don't know how to teach it or just let them get away with faking it. That's why I made this video, so that there's a better chance that people who can't afford an instructor can still learn how to do it. So since I'm giving this away for free, what exactly is your point?
@@ClaudiaFriedlander thank you so much! I found it, along with a whole selection of great songs, I’ll be having a lot of fun with this during the fall semester!
Oren Brown has great exercises for developing a trill in his book Discover your voice. He even demonstrates it himself on the CD that comes with the book.
when practicing trills a metronome is very helpful as well. Even when you want flexibilty in PERFORMANCE a perfectly rhythmic trill in the studio will only strengthen the distinction between the notes. Just hearing the two notes in tune whether semitone or whole tone, is also essential.
This would not have worked for me. My trill has to feel entirely uncontrolled or it doesn't happen at all - using a metronome and then rhythmically speeding up would be possible only so fast, and it would not end up being fast enough to function as an actual trill. I think this may work better for lighter voices, but in my experience the procedure I recommend in this video will work for voices in all weight classes.
Ah, but if you want to hear examples of trills, you have so many options to choose from. Pick your favorite Handel or bel canto singers, and listen to how they do it. I am not sure what you mean by a "true" trill (which implies the existence of a "false" trill, and to me a trill is a trill is a trill). A successful trill is one where you hear both pitches defined clearly throughout in a way that serves the overall musical phrasing. Anything else is not a successful trill, because it will neither be perceived as a trill nor accomplish the expressive purpose for which the composer wrote the trill.
It's probably better to err on the side of too wide than too narrow. In the context of a performance with orchestra or piano, the listener will probably perceive the intended pitches. What is problematic is when you only hear one of the two pitches, or hear one much more prominently than the other.
I do not think that age in itself would mean you could not learn how to sing. A health concern like asthma may or may not present a challenge, but I certainly know plenty of skilled singers who are living with (and learning to manage) their asthma. If you are motivated and willing to commit to the process, age should not be a deterrent.
Ha! Thanks 😀 I do think it's important to be able to make crazy noises and just have fun with them. Classical singers are often encouraged to take everything so seriously, but we need to be able to give up control in order to perform trills and coloratura. And giving up control can make us more emotionally available when we perform, too.
That's how I heard someone else describe it (might've been René Fleming, and I love her trills). Having been raised in a low-income part of the city, all I heard since my toddler years were sirens outside. So that might explain my strange fascination with them, and your 4:14 hit that very spot. I'm just a sound freak that way.
Great video! I was taught by Tony Wayne but I don't think that he went into much detail about trills. I remember him talking about relaxing the throat though. Unfortunately for me, that's hard to do because I like to do impressions. 😅 Do you have any tips for impressionists/actors that do impressions? 🙂
I'm afraid that is outside the scope of my practice! All I can do is help you to free up and coordinate your instrument so that it responds to your imagination and intentions. That's probably a big part of being able to perform impressions, but I imagine there is also a lot of fine tuning that people like dialect coaches know how to do that I do not.
I just did a quick comparison of their recordings of Regnava nel silenzio, and in this particular instance I greatly prefer Callas's, because she tunes them so beautifully while maintaining the integrity of the vowel. Sutherland's are less accurate and as soon as she starts to trill the vowel gets distorted. But they are both stunning singers, and it's probably not fair to evaluate their trills based on one recording.
Please speak louder or sing softer. The difference between your speaking and your singing is so great that I must constantly adjust the volume between the two! Thanks!
4:16
oh god the cops are here
I had no idea what that was but I just clicked on it and I don't regret it
I cried
Just needs pitch bend for Doppler effect!
thanks
Awesome
As a arabic male I can say we the best trillers
Arabs and Greeks are the masters for sure
Balqees comes to mind lol
Bosnians are pretty good too. 😁
ARAB FEMALES SRE THE BEST LEMME TELL YOU. AS AN ARAB MALE FEMALES ARE PROS ST TRILLING
I think gospel/R&B takes this crown lol but y’all nice too
Claudia, love your speaking voice, your countenance, your knowledge, and your explanations/presentations. Started a bit of binge watching since I discovered you this morning. I'm not a singer. Was just looking for techniques to keep my voice from diminishing (e.g., tight neck, hoarseness, strained sound) when I speak in public. Your style of speaking is my role model.
Thanks James! The exercises I use to teach singing also help to condition the speaking voice - after all, the processes are not terribly different from each other an engage the same anatomy! I'm so glad your finding my videos interesting 🙏
YES!!! AWESOME!!! This is exactly how I have been teaching others to trill for the past 20 years. Wider intervals, and then bring them closer as one learns to relinquish control, and flop around. Thanks so much for bringing a precise and productive approach to this beautiful vocal ornament. I give my highest recommendation of this video. Thank you!!!
I am so glad it resonated with your approach 😀
This explains at last why I’ve always struggled with “sounding sharp” on trills while people around me say it doesn’t sound sharp 😂 I also hear more like a minor third than a tone, and thought I had a problem! 🥴
Loved the tip about how a trill sounds different to yourself than it does for the audience, that explains a lot! Never thought of that :).
Should your larynx move up and down, because mine going crazy
Your larynx should not be moving up and down when you trill, but it will make the same kind of fine adjustments it makes when ever you move from one note to another. This is the subtle tilt of the laryngeal cartilages at the cricothyroid joint that enables us to tune the vocal folds by lengthening and shortening them. When you trill, this happens fairly rapidly as you move from one note to another. So when you say your larynx is going crazy, what are you observing?
Claudia Friedlander thank you for your comment, and helping me out. The sensation I feel is like a very fast vibrato sensation, moving from one note and back. Also forward with a lot of breath With of course the larynx moving up and down in my throat. But I don’t know how to do it without moving the larynx, because that’s how I shift between notes.
Also with classical music, do you inhale the voice or exhale? Because I watch some video which say you inhale the voice, which is a bel canto technique. But i don’t know if this is true.
Singing happens while exhaling. Some singing techniques advocate keeping some of the muscles of inhalation engaged while exhaling/singing; this is part of bel canto appoggio breath management. But while you're singing, the air is always moving out of your body, never in. It is hard to know what is going on with your larynx without hearing and watching you sing, but it sounds as though you may be dealing with some tongue tension - here is a video I made that can help you trouble shoot for that: ruclips.net/video/dRsFZ4hX5dY/видео.html
We know that the castrati performed trills on these wider intervals.
How do we know that?
Torbjorn Stalberg google maybe? there’s a recording of the last castrato ever singing... idk
Is your chin meant to move up and down when you trill?
No. A trill is a fluctuation in pitch, so it is accomplished entirely through movements of the vocal folds. Your chin/jaw/neck do not need to move up and down when the pitch moves up and down, whether you are trilling or changing your pitch in any other way.
Claudia Friedlander thanks so much!! When I trill my chin doesn't move but some people's chins move so I get confused thanks so much
@@ClaudiaFriedlander thank you for the tip
Only if you’re Ariana Grande or Whitney Houston😂😂😂😂
ruclips.net/video/ZR5rAokwVpE/видео.html I’d say this is a masterclass in trill control, how she navigates the harmony and melody of this inventive medley is why she was such a musical genius.
I absolutely agree that Whitney Houston's output provides an outstanding example of vocal flexibility, virtuosity, and musicianship. She and contemporary singers like her show us what it possible, and their facility demonstrates the same mechanism that classical singers (or singers in any other style) require to be able to sing scale passages and ornaments well.
That said, my interest as a teacher is in helping singers for whom this facility does not come naturally/instinctively, learn how to do it. I think that in both classical and contemporary circles, we still have this mistaken assumption that such skill has to be innate and can't be taught. The good news is that it can, and that is why I create videos like this one!
I'm trying to learn celtic singing but, the little trills they do, I just can't do them. They seem impossible. I don't know what I'm doing wrong
Hey! Can you recommend me some resources to learn keltic singing? :)
The trill ("trillo" in Italian is often translated with "shake" in the English translation) was a necessary device especially in the baroque and the Bel Canto period. I am sorry NOT to agree on "go crazy", "let it go". This is only possible when the trill has been practised regularly in the semi and tone version for a long long time.
Pier Francesco Tosi, Francesco Mancini and Manuel Garcia outline thoroughly how the trill needs to be exercised and performed. When you "let go" the trill still needs to hit both notes. This is achieved through careful practice. We cannot compare the trill to the aesthetics of the Romantic vibrato. Furthermore the trill needs to be appoggiato in the head-voice, not in the throat. And no, the trill needs to be controlled. Tosi says that the difficulty in performing a perfect trill is not in how to start it but how to finish it, stop it. The trill has a lot in common with the mezza di voce as both need to be perfectly balanced. Frescobaldi compares the trill to a horse´s movement. You can not start running from standing still but first it needs to take a few steps, walk faster and faster until it is running. This is natural. The same to stop it but in the reversed sequence. Proportion is fundamental and this is reflected in all the exercises in treatises cited below. The castrati exercised the trills every day for years.
Larger interval trilling is not mentioned in any of these books neiter as an exercise nor as a to employ. However, Tosi speaks about "canto di sbalzo" which employs huge intervals but no in a oscillatory way as the trill.
Pier Francesco Tosi - Opinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni (1723)
Mancini, Giovanni Battista - Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato. (1774)
García, Manuel (1805-1906) - Ecole de Garcia. Traité complet de l'art du chant en 2 parties
Concone, Della Casa, Vaccai also teach about the trill. There are few sources of sining teaching as the pupil was face to face with the teacher and no text-book was needed.
The Tosi and Mancini books are reflections on sining, no methods. They were both very old when they wrote them and are a kind of "last will" from a lifetime of teaching experience. The trill is a central topic in their work.
The following in my opinion is a good performed trill
ruclips.net/video/YuEDaTysGF8/видео.html (7:02)
Important question for you: what do you think of my trill? Because while I believe that the approach you are recommending can be an excellent one for some singers, it is not the way that I learned, and I think I have a kickass trill. If you disagree and you can recommend some videos with examples of your favorite trills, please do.
Torbjorn Stalberg I think it’s a more of a whatever works for you type of thing, I know people that would benefit loads from having a methodical approach to it, and I know some people who micromanage a lot while singing, and using a metronome wouldn’t help them.
Personally, I’m a micromanage-y type and the metronome method kinda sucked because all I’d have at the end is really fast vibrato for months.
Such a great explanation of how to achieve a proper trill. Sharing this with many of my students. Thank You!!!
So glad you found it helpful ❤️
Well, I'm at the very beginning of learning to sing. I can't make vibrato. I tried many techniques. It looks like I can't control my throat. Some people control their ears lobe. I can't move my vocal chords to make vibrato.
Here is a blog post that explains some of the mechanics of vibrato. Vibrato is not something that you make, but rather something that emerges when your singing voice is balanced and well-coordinated. www.claudiafriedlander.com/the-liberated-voice/2012/05/vibrato-hell.html
I have the opposite problem; I have too much vibrato, and want to know how to keep it under control and minimise it with certain styles of singing.
Thank you so much for this video! I've noticed that a lot of singing teachers just tell their students to leave out the trill or they just say "well you just need to practice it every day" but don't give very clear instructions as to how to practice it. I find it so annoying, as knowing how to trill is not just important for singing baroque repertoire but also for basically all other styles. I'm glad someone is talking about it on RUclips :)
When a student can't do something, and then after the voice teacher explains it to them they still can't do it, the teacher often concludes that the student just doesn't have the aptitude, or their voice "just doesn't work that way" for some reason.
This is nonsense. What is actually going on is, the teacher doesn't know how to teach the skill. They may not realize that, because that was the way they were taught, and the way they see most of their colleagues teaching: without a solid biomechanical understanding of how the voice works and what creates a trill. Or a scale, or skillful registration, or a free high note, if they don't understand the mechanics and how to teach them then the only thing they can do is demonstrate and hope. And assume that if the student doesn't get it, that student just isn't meant to sing that high note or whatever.
Hi Claudia, thank you for the video. How does a singer relinquish control or what specifically does one do to relinquish the control? (i.e. what are the physical motions of the body?)
4:14 pov cop car
Excellent tutorial.
BTW, a great blues performer once said, "Da trill is gone, baby, da trill is gone."
🤣🤣🤣
Trill sounds like vibrato
A. Your speaking voice is as beautiful as your singing voice. B. Your tutorials are very, very helpful. Thank you!
8:03 God! Dear teacher, very good video, good ' magister" but much talk, for the first " trills" and less exercices, thank for your comprehension; may be " divided" the video into two parts.
Hi, I was hoping you could tell me what it is called when an Irish (usually female) singer does that particular maneuver with their voice that is so characteristically Irish-sounding. (A great example is Enya singing 'May It Be' - she uses that little ornament frequently.) Is there a name for that? Thanks you.
I've heard it call a roll with three notes, but I'm not sure
Question, What is the music found in all your videos?
Does a single rapid alternation between two notes also count as a trill? I often hear them in ballads where they rapidly change between two notes but the last note is on hold/extended with vibrato.
Is it possible to soften a trill in chest voice? I would like to use them as ornamentation in baroque, but they're too loud.
Is it easier to trill if you have natural verbrato
This does not make any sense to me, from a biomechanical perspective. Vibrato is a symptom of a balanced singing technique (whether you come by it "naturally" or not). So I guess you could say that it is easier to trill, or do pretty much anything else with your voice, if you have a balanced singing technique.
My friend just told me that I had a good trip I didn't even know what a trill was she also said I'm Stefano I don't know what that is
What's the difference between trill and vibrato
Vibrato is a subtle, continuous fluctuation in pitch that is present most of the time when performing in a classical style, and is elicited more sparingly in musical theatre and CCM styles. A trill is a deliberate, much wider fluctuation in pitch (so that you actually hear two distinct pitches, which is not true for vibrato) that is occasionally used as an expressive musical ornament, usually only in classical styles (or when a classical style is being mimicked in the context of a contemporary song).
This is wonderful! I just subscribed to your channel! I was thinking about how people do this, or how to explain, and actually yes it's a weird sound but I get to it differently, the hard way, I believe, since I used to do trills as "trillos" in early music and it was tough for me to change it. If I would know this 5 or 6 years ago it'd saved lots of time and effort.
I'm so glad this resonated with you!
Many people learn to sing by just trying to figure out how to reproduce the sounds they hear other people make, rather than figuring out how to engage in the movements that would result in the sounds they want to make.
I think that a trill is a good example of a skill that is counterintuitive to learn, because it's not just about creating a pitch fluctuation and then being able to do it faster and faster, as is the case for performing a trill on most musical instruments.
You have to practice the coordination and then just trust your voice to respond to what the ear is asking of it, without any sense of direct control.
OH MU GOD I LISTENED TO U FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES AND I GOT A TRILL THANK U THANK U THANK U
You're welcome, and congratulations! You made my day 😀
So helpful thank you Claudia.
I love all your videosss
How long do you think this would take to develop? At least on average in singers who start out not being able to trill. A few weeks?
It depends! This is not a skill that requires particular strength or flexibility, but rather a willingness to let go of control and see what happens. What keeps most singers from being able to trill well, in my experience, is that they are hesitant to release all unnecessary tension in the throat so that the movement of the trill can reflexively take place. All you really need is the ability to trust your ear to find the pitches without your having to "place" them, and a willingness to make some weird or unexpected noises if it doesn't work perfectly right away. It could take an hour, or it could take a lot longer, because it's hard to let go of something you don't know you're holding onto and sometimes you have to find that out first. It's also important to record yourself, because the trill may not sound the same to your ear as it does in the room. As I think I mentioned in the video, when the interval is in tune it always sounds a bit too wide to me while I'm doing it.
@@ClaudiaFriedlander Thanks for the detailed response! I’ve already started practicing and I’ve definitely noticed that the pitches sound wider in my ear than they do in the recording. I’ll start working on really trying to let go haha
@@himani8927 thanks for letting me know! Keep at it :-D
One of the best ways I have found to fine tune my voice is to record myself singing, and then listen to what I need to tweak.
I’m far from a professional.
I’ve never had lessons.
But this is an idea for anyone who can’t afford a vocal instructor that has a good enough musical ear to know what to listen for in this style of music.
There is indeed a lot that people can learn by instinct and imitation. In my experience, how to execute a trill isn't really one of them. A modest percentage of classical singers figure it out on their own. A large percentage never learn because their teachers either don't know how to teach it or just let them get away with faking it. That's why I made this video, so that there's a better chance that people who can't afford an instructor can still learn how to do it. So since I'm giving this away for free, what exactly is your point?
I do that as well! It helps a ton!
Thank you.
Sing like a goat. Got it.
I AM HERE because im a theatre kid who wants to play a certain role ...AKA PHOEBE DYSQUITH so uh yES
Damn Claudia, that sounds so goood 😍
Incredible, thank you so much! Wow.
thank you!!
Skylark by Ellen beach yaw features a trill on a major fifth!!
I will definitely have to check that out!
Ummmm i need a lesson from you 🎼❤🌈
Come see me any time! I teach online (even when I don't have to 😀)
@@ClaudiaFriedlander yay... Are you on ig as well so i can follow u and dm You for scheduling?? Lmk 👄
claudiafriedlanderdmus on IG
sorta feels like fast paced sing laughing... i think... idk if I'm doing it right
Im here because i wanna find out what is trill...because many says i have beautiful trill w/c i have no idea lol
What is the piece from the intro? It would be perfect for my repertoire!
Pretty sure it's from Schumann's Dichterliebe cycle, so you're in for a treat!
@@ClaudiaFriedlander thank you so much! I found it, along with a whole selection of great songs, I’ll be having a lot of fun with this during the fall semester!
Oren Brown has great exercises for developing a trill in his book Discover your voice. He even demonstrates it himself on the CD that comes with the book.
The trouble with Trills. 😂
🦔
I can see her feature on a Pimp C record mayne.
when practicing trills a metronome is very helpful as well. Even when you want flexibilty in PERFORMANCE a perfectly rhythmic trill in the studio will only strengthen the distinction between the notes. Just hearing the two notes in tune whether semitone or whole tone, is also essential.
This would not have worked for me. My trill has to feel entirely uncontrolled or it doesn't happen at all - using a metronome and then rhythmically speeding up would be possible only so fast, and it would not end up being fast enough to function as an actual trill. I think this may work better for lighter voices, but in my experience the procedure I recommend in this video will work for voices in all weight classes.
You’re amazing thank you
Great video
Would have loved to hear more examples of what a true trill can sound like...but nonetheless appreciated the other clear examples
Ah, but if you want to hear examples of trills, you have so many options to choose from. Pick your favorite Handel or bel canto singers, and listen to how they do it.
I am not sure what you mean by a "true" trill (which implies the existence of a "false" trill, and to me a trill is a trill is a trill). A successful trill is one where you hear both pitches defined clearly throughout in a way that serves the overall musical phrasing. Anything else is not a successful trill, because it will neither be perceived as a trill nor accomplish the expressive purpose for which the composer wrote the trill.
Fab lesson - thanks Claudia
fam trills is a npk member wym bruv?
Very interesting. The trilled interval sounds wider to me as well.
It's probably better to err on the side of too wide than too narrow. In the context of a performance with orchestra or piano, the listener will probably perceive the intended pitches. What is problematic is when you only hear one of the two pitches, or hear one much more prominently than the other.
tnks🎉🎉
is anyone too old to learn to sing. am a chronic asthmatic and have a weak voice. love your videos.
I do not think that age in itself would mean you could not learn how to sing. A health concern like asthma may or may not present a challenge, but I certainly know plenty of skilled singers who are living with (and learning to manage) their asthma. If you are motivated and willing to commit to the process, age should not be a deterrent.
Cool my name is claudia too
I wish I could hear every great soprano do what you did at 4:14. Exaggerated width and/or speed are somewhat of a guilty pleasure.
Ha! Thanks 😀 I do think it's important to be able to make crazy noises and just have fun with them. Classical singers are often encouraged to take everything so seriously, but we need to be able to give up control in order to perform trills and coloratura. And giving up control can make us more emotionally available when we perform, too.
That's how I heard someone else describe it (might've been René Fleming, and I love her trills). Having been raised in a low-income part of the city, all I heard since my toddler years were sirens outside. So that might explain my strange fascination with them, and your 4:14 hit that very spot. I'm just a sound freak that way.
Ex1. 4:00
5:00
I’m 34 and I wish I knew how to sing
You can learn! I have had students start as beginners when they are in their 60s, and they have done really well!
Great video! I was taught by Tony Wayne but I don't think that he went into much detail about trills. I remember him talking about relaxing the throat though. Unfortunately for me, that's hard to do because I like to do impressions. 😅 Do you have any tips for impressionists/actors that do impressions? 🙂
I'm afraid that is outside the scope of my practice! All I can do is help you to free up and coordinate your instrument so that it responds to your imagination and intentions. That's probably a big part of being able to perform impressions, but I imagine there is also a lot of fine tuning that people like dialect coaches know how to do that I do not.
who do you think has the best trill? Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland?
I just did a quick comparison of their recordings of Regnava nel silenzio, and in this particular instance I greatly prefer Callas's, because she tunes them so beautifully while maintaining the integrity of the vowel. Sutherland's are less accurate and as soon as she starts to trill the vowel gets distorted. But they are both stunning singers, and it's probably not fair to evaluate their trills based on one recording.
@@ClaudiaFriedlander Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us :) Im a fan of you :)
the trill of Sutherland for me was technically perfect. The trill of Callas was full of emotion/colour. Both were great!
Please speak louder or sing softer. The difference between your speaking and your singing is so great that I must constantly adjust the volume between the two! Thanks!
May I ask what device you're listening on? Will try to adjust this for future videos!
🙄
Brook Eggleston the video is literally fine wtf.
@@ClaudiaFriedlander Thank you for the lesson. Great video!
I'm watching on my phone and your singing is MUCH louder than your talking.
Claudia Friedlander
I believe this is due to the stunning amount of resonance you have in your immaculate singing voice🖤🖤🖤