I am a young pianist, but there is a habit that I have that is not great. When the fingering gets tough I just throw the nearest finger at the key in to quote "an arbitary way" did anybody else have this problem when they were younger?


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Bach:Partita no.4
Haydn: Sonata in B minor
Beethoven: Sonata op.31 no.2
Chopin: Polonaise op.44 Ballade no.3
Prokofiev: Sonata no.5

Oh and before I forget any suggestions to get rid of this habit

How is this possible based on your very advanced repertoire?Maybe you're talking about when your just starting to learn a piece and haven't figured out all the fingering?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by throwing the nearest finger at the key in an arbitrary way. The simple solution - since you are aware of the problem - is to take the time to work out the fingering that suits the passage in question and then use that fingering.

Regards,

Write out every single finger number to every single note. Consistency is the key.

Or, at the very least, the first note when there's a shift of hand position. Or when there are multiple possibilities of fingerings, choose one that you will use consistently for the time being.

And don't be afraid to edit the fingering later, especially when you get up to tempo and you find a better fingering for that speed. I erase old fingerings all the time.

I still 'throw my nearest finger' at keys when sight-reading for the first time, but only if I haven't read the music through first (away from the piano).....I've even played a whole melody with the same finger in such cases. And I'm far from young .

But once I decide I'm actually going to learn it properly, I write fingerings in, unless it's obvious what needs to be used. I'll always try the printed ones first (if there are any), but have no qualms about changing any if I don't agree with them (or they don't agree with me). Not even if they are the composer's own.

I always bear in mind what the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli said about fingering.....

I think there are two things to separate here. One is "standard technical passages" like scales, arpeggios, etc. The other is "seemingly arbitrary notes". If you're sight-reading it (meaning, reading through it for the first time), then obviously you may miss fingerings for the latter. But, most of the former should fall into place nicely as long as you recognize the pattern. The question is, do you have difficulty with both, or just one?

If you are sightreading just to sightread, then you may want to consider sightreading some easier pieces until this habit works its way out. You will always have some idiosyncracies, and some places where you miss notes/fingers because you anticipate something other than what came, but that can be significantly reduced over time and through practice.

If you're sightreading to learn the piece, then start out the right way by figuring out fingerings and plugging them in. The learning will go much faster that way.