Hi folks:

I've just played the Prelude of the Bach's Well Tempered Clavier No.12 last night in the school concert. However my music teacher suggest that the trills that I did are not to even. This can be a serious problem because I'll want them to be perfect for my DipAbrsm exam in the future. Does anyone has any recording of the Prelude by any chance, so that I may compare the trills??

Have a look here my friend:

http://www.pianosociety.com/index.php?id=98

Do you have the facility to record yourself playing? The reason I ask is that you should be able to hear uneven trills without necessarily having a comparison. It will be easier to listen to your playing if you record it and then you don't have to play at the same time. One tip (actually something Stephen Hough said) trills sound a lot faster than they are when they're even, so it might be worth slowing it down but making it more precise (and probably worth more marks too).

When is your exam by the way?

I did No 12 in F minor WTC Bk 1 for my Advanced Certificate in 1998. I bought 2 recordings then: Andras Schiff playing the whole 48 on piano and Davitt Moroney playing 14 p/fs from bk 1 on clavecin.

AP has made a good suggestion.

Unfortunately...I intend to play them a little uneven...
they are straight triplets of semi-quavers in the book...but I heard someone played it slightly uneven in a recording...(i.e. starts from slow then fast, because the trill is like 4 semi-quaver triplets...)and I agreed with that person so I intend to play them a little uneven, slow at the first or first two triplets then faster at the last two... but I, however don't know if that's the right way of doing it...
so I just wanted to listen to more recordings....that's all....so...AP, you reckon that I'll get marks off for not playing them even?? But they sounds boring and dry if played even though...

Do you have a local music library - as part of a main library? For about £10 annual membership you can borrow whatever you like - scores as well as recordings. Of course, you're not allowed to record or photocopy anything......

Depends on your definition of uneven. It's okay to shape trills (don't forget dynamics can be used to do this too ), but I would take uneven to be the notes fluctuating randomly in length, rather than an accelerando throughout the trill. If you want to listen to a recording try http://www.naxos.com they have the first bit of each track for free, which if I given the piece should contain at least one trill . Amazon might be another place to look.

I've had a few goes at this piece, but it's by no means exam ready or anything; I just used it as a testbed for a few ideas in historically informed performance. I'll record my take on the trills if you like, just excuse the wrong notes/clunkiness in the rest of the piece.