I've been playing the flute for 8 years but my teacher has never told me how to trill. in my band i come across loads of trills but there are no other flutes to ask. do you have to trill with the semitone higher than the note you're playing or something?

hey i know how you feel ive been playing for seven years and i can never remember. a lot of the time i use my thumb key or the trill keys. usually i just guess lol.
hope thats a help btw where in the uk are you from?

Some trills to the tone above are simple but others require the use of alternative or special fingerings. The following links provide some examples
[url]http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/flute/fl_tr2_1.html[/url]
[url]http://www.brandonu.ca/Music/People/FacultyPages/fordr/FordR_Flute_Fingering_chart.htm[/url]

For reasons I don't understand too many teachers don't cover trills - I've met otherwise competent players who neither know common trill fingering or where too look them up! This may relate to the absence of this skill in (UK) grade examinations.

Unless there is an accidental sign (flat, natural or sharp) next to the trill symbol, you want to trill from the written pitch up to the next pitch in the scale associated with whatever key you're playing in. For example, if you're playing in the key of Eb major, the scale associated with that is Eb. If you had a trill from on an Eb, it would go to F, F would go to G, G to Ab, Ab to Bb, Bb to C, C to D , and D to Eb. The accidentals next to the trill symbol (which you probably won't see until you get into more difficult literature), change what pitch you're trilling to. Taking the same example as above, if you had a trill on a Bb, normally you would trill to C, but if there's a little flat sign near the trill symbol, you trill to B (Cb) instead. If there were a little sharp sign, you'd go to C# (Db). There are many instances where alternate fingerings become useful (and sometimes they're a necessity). You really should memorize the various trill fingerings, and their uses (some trills will require different fingerings in different octaves, or with different surrounding notes), and then start applying them. Guessing, or just randomly using the thumb or trill keys will not get you very far. If you need to look up a trill fingering, my suggestion would be the same as ekdavies. www.wfg.woodwind.org has several extremely useful charts of various uses from trills and tremolos all the way through alternate fingerings for picc and bass flute.