# Sibelius tip: trill lines with accidentals



## sbkp

I wanted to have an easy way to create trill lines with accidentals above them, and found the necessary tips on the Sibelius forum, though spread out, and I needed one thing clarified. So here's how I did it (in Sibelius 6):

1. House Style > Edit Symbols
2. Click on Music Fonts
3. Select "Common Symbols"
4. Click on New
5. Answer "Yes" to "Are you sure you want to create a text style based on 'Common symbols'?"

6. Change the Name to "Common Symbols (small)"
7. Change the size in Score and Parts to 14
8. Click OK
9. Click Close

Now back in the Edit Symbols dialog, we'll make symbols for small accidentals

10. Click on New
11. Change the name to "Flat (small)"
12. Choose "Common Symbols (small)" from the music font list
13. Select the flat symbol
14. Click OK 

repeat steps 10-14 for natural and sharp accidentals

Now we'll create the trill symbols, still in the Edit Symbols dialog

15. Click on New 
16. Change the name to "Trill (flat)"
17. Select "Common Symbols" from the music font list (not the small version!)
18. Find the tr symbol (near the end) and click on it
19. Over on the right, under Extra Symbols, click Add
20. Find your small flat symbol down at the bottom of the symbols list and click on it
21. Move the flat symbol into position relative to the tr symbol. I like 2.6 spaces up and 0.6 spaces to the right
22. Click OK

Note that the new symbol is partly out of its containing box. I don't know why this happens, but here's how I fix it:

23. Select the new symbol
24. Click Edit
25. On the right, click on the up arrow then down arrow, to move the tr symbol out of place then back in.
26. Click OK

Repeat steps 15-26 to create tr (natural) and tr (sharp) symbols.

27. Click Close

Now we'll create the lines using these new symbols:

28. House Style > Edit Lines

29. Select the tr~~~~ line
30. Click New
31. Answer "Yes" to "Are you sure you want to define a new line based on 'Trill'?"
32. Change the name to "Trill (flat)"
33. Under "Start", next to "Symbol" click Select
34. Find the appropriate trill-with-accidental symbol at the bottom of the list
35. Click OK

Repeat steps 29-35 for natural and sharp trill lines.

If you want, create trill symbols in parentheses for the continuation mark, but I haven't done that yet 

These different lines will not change playback! If you're using a sample lib with whole- and half-tone trills and have a Sibelius Sound Set that supports them, you could add sound IDs to these lines to make the right thing happen. With the natural-sign trill, which is diatonic, you'd have to change it for each instance (if you even can... not sure on that score).

Enjoy.


----------



## MMMusic

sweet trick! :D


----------



## a.leung

Awesome, could have used that last night.


----------



## sbkp

Glad to help. I figure I'm almost up to knowing maybe 9.7% of Sibelius.

Just as a "for example"...


----------



## mathis

good one, thanks!


----------



## realstrings

Thanks! I miss that marking for trills. I've had a clumsy work around up to now, just putting a cue sized accidental next to the trill marking. The other symbols I miss from the standard set are Down bow and Up bow markings in brackets for long held string notes. But I have made myself those in the way you set out here.


----------



## sbkp

Here's a sub-tip: To make the trill wavy line disappear (when the tr belongs over just a single note), select the handle at the right end and type shift-space. In fact, when you create the trill, that handle is selected by default, so you can add the line, type shift-space, and you have a clean trill without having to grab the handle with the mouse and drag it toward the tr.


----------



## a.leung

o=< [quote:ccb26e8ead="sbkp @ Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:44 am"]Here's a s®<   ï•}<   ï•~<   ï•<   ï•€<   ï•<   ï•‚<   ï•ƒ<   ï•„<   ï•…<   ï•†<   ï•‡<   ï•ˆ<   ï•‰<   ï•Š<   ï•‹<   ï•Œ<   ï•<   ï•Ž<   ï•<   ï•<   ï•‘<   ï


----------



## robteehan

Neat trick - but I think a marking like this would still cause questions if you're dealing with live players. Does the "sharp" mean, trill a semi-tone sharper, i.e. C-natural? Or does it mean, trill up to a C-sharp, a whole tone?

In my opinion, the only unambiguous trill marking is to include a bracketed notehead that indicates exactly which pitch is being trilled to.


----------



## sbkp

Hi, Rob. My understanding is this, and it's unambiguous as far as I can tell:

Unless otherwise marked, trills are diatonic. Then:

tr # is a whole tone (in my example, the trill is B/C#)
tr b is a half step
tr with a natural sign is diatonic (overriding accidentals in that bar)

All that said, your suggestion is a good one. Would you use a cue sized note, or full-sized?

I've also seen trill marks with the words "whole" and "half" in some scores.


----------



## robteehan

Ah, but is the E trill an E to Eb - down - or an E to Fb - up?

Most players may understand that trills are always diatonic, or always a certain direction - but I wouldn't know that rule myself, being a tuba player (we don't trill very often). I bet someone in the orchestra would ask, just to be sure, and then time is wasted.

I use a cue-sized notehead...see image.


----------



## sbkp

Trills are always up. As far as I know, a trill starting on the higher note is notated as the lower note trill, preceded by the higher note as a grace note.

I do like your cue note approach, but for what it's worth the trill wavy line isn't needed there. I think the line itself is only when the trill is over multiple notes tied together.

In my example, the E (tr b) is E to F natural (which probably should have been written as a tr with a natural sign).

Anyways, in the meantime, I made two new trill lines with no accidentals. They are just regular tr~~~~ symbols, but one plays the wholetone trill sound ID and the other plays the halftone sound ID. That way the playback works (with libraries that have trill articulations).


----------



## bryla

Rob, how do you make that cue-notehead?


----------



## windshore

Nice! I just started teaching a course in Sibelius and have created little shortcuts like this but haven't been motivated to do this particular one yet, though it certainly makes sense. 

Sibelius has a few prefs that are a bit annoying and the trill implementation is just slightly annoying. I agree that for the most part the wavy line above the trill is unnecessary, but it's the only symbol that is playable for trills by default. (- It is easy to get rid of as already explained.)

The way the accidentals are used next to a trill symbol as shown is probably the most common way to see trills written for sessions here in LA but certainly using a cue note without stem and within parenthesis is pretty darn clear. I can imagine that the cue note might cause spacing issues and would be more time consuming to take care of but most players will execute accurately the first time on seeing trills written either way. 

good post!


----------

