So....how do you lip trill?

[Roger Lewis]

Lip trills are actually very easy if you get past the thinking that they are hard. The key is the lower lip-it controls how fast the upper (vibrating) lip is allowed to go. To change from one note to a higher note the lower lip makes a miniscule change in firmness to allow the pitch to go up and relaxes ever so slightly to bring the note back down.

When exercising this I usually have a student start on the C above the staff and work on trilling to the D, then push down the 2nd valve and trill from the B to the C, etc all the way down using just the 3 valves and then back up. Increase the speed when you are getting a consistent rhythm at one speed.

The lower lip will be sort of going woo, woo, woo on each change of the note (kind of like fish lips). It isn't hard but it does take practice to learn exactly how far the lower lip has to move to get it to work.

Just my $0.02.