The Art of Piano Fingering

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General Principles for Choosing Fingerings (2)

Fingering is a vital element of piano playing: a good fingering gives us much greater security and can often make a technically difficult passage suddenly seem effortless. Musically speaking, it can also shape a phrase, balance chords, regulate the tone and rhythm, co-ordinate the hands, clarify the articulation, and project many subtle musical nuances. Yet each pianist will have different views on an individual passage – three editions may offer three completely different fingerings. Are there – can there be? - any universal solutions to fingering? Or is it all a matter of deeply personal artistic preference, based on one’s own musical conception of the piece?

The way everyone's hands function, on or off the keyboard, is fairly universal, despite differences in hand shape and size. We all, for instance, have an opposing thumb and longer second, third and fourth fingers. In the previous article I explained the basic principles which underlie our fingering choices for passages based on scales and arpeggios. These ergonomic fingerings allow the natural shape of the hand to adapt itself perfectly to the shape of the keyboard, avoiding all awkward or unnecessary movements. In this article and the next, I will discuss ways in which fingerings relate more specifically to the musical context. No fingering can, or should, be chosen until we have a very clear image of the composer’s intentions for a particular passage. This involves looking at the general style and emotional content, the phrasing, articulation, rhythmic impulse, tempo, texture, melodic contour and so on.

In the introduction (click here for a translation) to his Études, Debussy, a first-rate pianist who never wrote any fingerings in his piano works, summed up with: ‘Cherchons nos doigtés!’ (Let us find our own fingerings!). I would like to add a little qualification: Letus find our own fingerings - once we have the understanding to do it well!

The finger “personalities”

When choosing appropriate fingerings, it is helpful to recognize the different characteristics of each finger. The thumb is independent from the rest of the hand and assists with movement around the keyboard as discussed in the chapter on scale fingering. Being heavier and more ponderous, it can also produce a beautifully rich tenor sound as demonstrated in this video:

Fig 2.1 – Robert Schumann, Romanze Op. 28 No. 2

The second and third fingers are longer, independent and strong. The fifth, being shorter, has the particular advantage of being able to act as a pivot to allow the hand to travel up and down the keyboard particularly in passages in double notes, such as thirds, and chromatic octaves.

Fig 2.2 – Passage in thirds

The fourth may need careful positioning, as anatomically it is significantly less independent. However, we should avoid thinking of the fourth and fifth as 'weaker' fingers. They can play very strongly when used with the support of the hand and arm. If we adjust the wrist so that the fingers are in line with the forearm they have much more strength than when they are stretching out to the side. Although at times it can be helpful to use the 'stronger' fingers for forte passages, it is important not to avoid the so-called 'weaker' fingers so much that they do become weak from lack of practice!

Hand shape and size

One of the most important considerations with regard to fingering is the shape and size of hand. Pianists with small hands need to be particularly imaginative with their fingerings in order to get around certain difficult passages and avoid dangerously excessive stretching. Flexibility of the wrist, correct arm alignment, subtle arm movements, spreading of chords, and taking of notes with the other hand can all help to bring the appropriate finger onto the right note at the right time, reducing uncomfortable lateral stretches of the fingers.

Fig 2.3 – Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 9

In the demonstration above, the wrist swivels to bring each finger on to its note. The change of fingering on the fourth and tenth semiquavers momentarily reduces the stretch, and produces a beautifully undulating turbulence in the left hand.

Pianists with particularly wide fingers, on the other hand, who cannot play between the black keys, for example, will need to keep a little closer to the edge of the keys.

Fingering and alignment for the different registers on the keyboard

Our fingering needs to adapt to the position of the hand on the keyboard. A right hand D major triad in the middle register will normally be played with 1, 3 and 5. However, if we play it in the bass register, we should avoid using the thumb, as this causes an uncomfortable twisting of the hand. 2, 3 and 5 would be more suitable here. At the upper register, it is the fifth finger which causes twisting: playing with 1,2 and 4 allows us to keep the hand in line with the forearm without having to twist the hand or contort the whole body.

Fig 2.4 – Alternative fingering for triads at different registers

Legato fingering and pedalling

There is a tendency for many pianists to cover up for a bad fingering by pushing down the pedal! This may be particularly inappropriate in Baroque or Classical music, where the sound of the modern pedal will make the music suddenly sound very thick, blurred or overly rich. My teacher Guido Agosti felt particularly strongly about inappropriate pedalling in Beethoven, and would frequently say "Beethoven is handmade!", meaning that we should only use the pedal for legato as a last resort. When learning any new piece, it is important to establish the best fingering for each hand separately, at first without any pedal at all, using substitutions if necessary. If a small amount of pedalling is still required, then "little and often" is our best guideline: the pedal may be depressed only partway, with frequent changes to avoid blurring. Our ear is our guide. If we are truly listening to every note, we will quickly notice when the pedal - or, more likely, the fingering - needs rethinking.

Substitution fingerings

There is a limit to the number of notes that a human hand can play legato – sometimes we just run out of fingers! We can, however, substitute fingers on any note to help us reach the larger intervals. The most common substitutions involve the thumb or fifth finger, so the following exercises (with their mirror image in the left hand) are particularly beneficial:

Fig 2.5 – Finger substitution exercises

Always move the thumb as quickly as possible, opening and closing the hand with the minimum of disruption. After each substitution, ensure that the hand returns to neutral position and all five fingers are placed over the next five notes.

The Brahms Exercise No. 43a from his Fifty-One Exercises is another useful exercise for practising substitution or 'organ' fingerings.

As other times, pianists choose to substitute fingers, not out of necessity, but because it produces a more expressive line, with a more graceful underlying arm movement:

Fingering and the musical gesture

It can be difficult to understand another pianist's fingering unless we also see the gesture of the hand. My fingering for the first note of the Berg Sonata below would make little sense if you couldn't see the shapely arm movement which takes each finger to the note in a graceful gesture:

Fig 2.6 – Berg Sonata Op. 1

'Work it out and work it in'

Once a certain fingering has been decided upon, it is important to practise it thoroughly, a minimum of three times, so that it becomes firmly embedded in our 'muscle memory'.

Points to remember: Plan left and right hand fingerings thoroughly before learning the piece. Choose fingerings that are comfortable for your hand size and modify if necessary. Adapt fingerings as necessary to the register of the keyboard. Avoid covering up for poor fingerings with the pedal. Prepare staccato fingerings as thoroughly as legato.