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It’s therefore essential to come up with your own piano fingerings rather than rely on
the editor’s. (The exception is usually the composer’s own fingering, though these are
generally rare and typically apply to the period instrument, such as fortepiano or
harpsichord, more so than the modern piano.) This is why I recommend many
unfingered sheet music editions.
That said, it’s important to play by the rules. Good piano fingering is based on the
natural shape of the hand. Generally, what is most natural is most comfortable, and what
is most comfortable sounds the best.
Ultimately, the goal of fingering should be to achieve the most beautiful and effective
sound possible. Here are seven essential rules to help you achieve just that.
The shorter fingers are the thumb and pinky, fingers 1 and 5. The longer fingers are the
index, middle and ring fingers, fingers 2, 3 and 4.
This piano fingering rule is exemplified by the natural hand position, in which fingers 2,
3 and 4 rest on F-sharp, G-sharp and A-sharp, while fingers 1 and 5 are on E and C.
Chopin always started his students with a slightly modified version of this hand position,
using B in place of C. I prefer to use C for symmetry, though to small hands B might feel
more natural.
This means that, in general, it’s most natural to use the middle fingers for the black keys.
A corollary of this rule is that the thumb usually (but by no means always) avoids playing
the black keys.
Since so much of music is based on scales, knowing all of our scales without ever having
to think about their proper fingering is an enormous head start.
In general, play any scalar passages with the same fingering that you use when playing
those scales alone.
This rule generally should not override the rule of scales: Scales in contrary motion need
to retain their proper fingering.
Maintaining consistent piano fingering for repeated motives sometimes means a less
natural fingering, but it aids the memory.
Be creative with your fingering. While much of the time you should finger for ease and
efficiency, sometimes an inefficient fingering will be more expressive.
Yet writing down your fingerings is one of the most helpful of memory aids. It ensures
that we’re consistent in our fingering during our piano practice.
The first thing I do after sight reading a new piece of music is write in all fingerings. I’m
not entirely pedantic – my goal is to be able to look at any measure and know
immediately which finger plays which note. I therefore don’t always need to write in
every last fingering, with the exception of very intricate music such as fugues.