Writing a special chapter on the trill might seem excessive to many people, especially since it is thought to involve nothing more difficult than flapping your finger on the instrument, and the faster the better. I am certainly not the first to write a whole chapter on it: others have already done so; and now that I am writing I would like to share my thoughts about this ornament. If you like them, you can implement them; if not, leave them aside.

Since the trill is one of the most splendid ornaments, but also one of the most difficult, and is just as indispensable as the other essential ornaments, it is important to try with unceasing and tireless diligence to learn it; for since the melody is very much enhanced by it, it is a great disadvantage for instrumentalists as well as for singers to be unable to make correct and beautiful trills, or even any at all. No matter how beautifully an instrumentalist or singer performs, his performance will lose a great part of its beauty if this ornament is missing, especially if he ends cadences without trills, or with bad ones. One seldom hears a good trill; it seems to be physically impossible to many people, though I think that the cause of this fault lies in their initial predisposition. But on the other hand many people do not take any trouble, thinking it is supposed to come by itself.