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Okay...so here's a little something I put together.

While fingering is necessarily a very subjective thing, I believe there are some basic principles that are useful when one is in the intermediate stages of learning the instrument.

After a lot of thought, here are some ideas:

The 5-Finger Pattern

Most beginning books begin with pieces in a 5-finger pattern. The idea here is to get students used to playing with all five fingers and to create a sense of intervallic fingering.

Intervallic Fingering

The principle of intervallic fingering is simple - play intervals on the keyboard with the same interval in the hand. 2nds should be played with adjacent fingers, 3rds with either 1-3, 2-4, or 3-5, and 4ths with 1-4 or 2-5. This promotes a comfortable and consistent hand shape. It is useful in building accuracy and ease of sight-reading. It is very useful to be able to "feel" the intervals in your hand; it reduces the need to constantly look down at the keyboard to check that your fingers are in the right place.

Extensions

An extension is when you extend the hand beyond the 5-finger pattern. This is most comfortably accomplished by thinking of the fingers as a group separate and distinct from the thumb. The fingers move as a group away from the thumb or the thumb away from the fingers. This, combined with the principle of intervallic fingering, helps avoid the problems caused by having to adjust the distances between the fingers as one plays. Adjusting those differences is very difficult (this is actually why Rachmaninoff is difficult to play. It's not because his music requires a wide stretch, very little of it requires more than an octave. But within that octave, he often adds other notes that require constant adjustments to the fingers.

Position Shift

A shift in position simply involves picking your hand up, moving it over, and putting it back down. This is often preferable to stretching or crawling up and down the keyboard because it allows your hand to stay in a comfortable shape.

I put together a little handout that tries to demonstrate all of these in the sonatina by William Duncombe. Please take a look at it and tell me what you think. I hope some of this is clear and helpful, let me know if it's not!

http://www.pianoped.com/fingering.pdf

Thanks!

K

P.S. Yes, I know I left out finger crossings, but mostly because finger crossings are natural for most pianists through scale practice.

I think that any "system" or "classification" of fingering principles such as you suggest here are quite valuable. Such a system should enable the beginner to see beyond the notes of the particular piece being worked on and should help make the learning of new pieces easier, once these principles are grasped.

My only question is whether or not the example of the Duncombe Sonatina is a good one. It certainly seems to me to be a beginner's piece, and you suggest that your principles are directed at the intermediate student. My only query, then, is whether or not the "average" student attempting a work at the level of the Duncombe Sonatina (in a majority of cases - but certainly not all - someone quite young) would understand the terminology (extensions, intervallic )and appreciate the principles involved. In such a case as this, of course, it would be up to the teacher to explain these principles in terms that a very young piano student could grasp.

I think your principles and the categories you have delineated are excellent; I would like to see them illustrated in a work that the "intermediate" student would be likely to study. On the other hand - as it were - I can see that for even the intermediate student, using a very simple musical example, where there are no exceptions or compromises to the very basic principles, might be the best illustration for making your point.

Regards,

Kreisler,

I immediately see the value of your presentation but tend to agree with BruceD concerning the difficulty of the piece. All that aside, I think it would immediately help advancing students master more difficult passages quicker and even help in memorization.

One comment/question: I am under the impression that a true substitution is, as in organ playing, when one finger replaces another without restriking/re-sounding the note. What say you? Ultimately and in either case, it's the most convenient solution for many situations. From here, maybe a less linear analysis and, in Volume II, the principles involved in bringing out/cantabile playing of the melodic notes in both linear and chordal passages? Keep us dialed in!

Great beginner presentations, that 5 finger position and patterns of 13, 24, 35, etc. I highly believe in exploring them.

As well as what you have posted, I have also presented triad, cross over arpeggios, both blocked and broken, on triads C, F, G; 5 3 1 - 1 3 5 immediately. Presenting the 'whole keyboard' so that students do not get locked into playing directly in front of the body.

And Octaves, 1 5, separately and then together; up and down the C scale. This is so that students realize that playing is not 'just' in a close 5 finger position and prep for what will come later.

If interested in pop music, I also introduce 4 notes skipping (interval of 3rds) within approx 2 months. The chord pattern would be C maj7, Dm7, Em7, Dm7, repeated.

EDIT -positions- C E G B; D F A C; E G B D; etc, keeping the fingers in a locked (by not tense) position.

Again, this would be to get the hand used to an open position.

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for in response. If not, then I apologize.

LL

Thanks for the responses guys. The choice of the Duncombe was that it was one page long and pretty much had everything in it.

I'll go digging and see if I can find other works at a more difficult level that still include all these different ideas.

I like to think of finger crossing as fitting into the category of contractions and as the opposite of extensions. Just as an extension involves reaching beyond a five finger position, a contraction involves reaching within a five finger position. Like extensions, contractions work best when the thumb and other four fingers are seen as two separate units. In the example given, each hand position change that is not an extension or a jump can be viewed as a contraction.

thanks for the topic.

I am just a beginner, close to finish beyer.

Having difficulties to move my fingers vertically.

I just play the white keys after black keys finishes. I mean i dont use white keys next to the black. because there is risk to hit twokeys.

anyway any fingering resources are appreciated especially teaching how to use the keys in vertical, showing how to press white keys between black keys..

thank you