Fingering as a sightreading strategy: hymns or SATB

[timothy42b]

Hymns don't come with fingerings, and how to do them isn't obvious to me.  One measure may have a reach of a tenth or more between tenor and bass, the next may have a very familiar BTA major chord that easily fits the left hand. 

Given time you can probably work out the optimum fingering for any given hymn, but sightreading you don't have time.  I'm wondering if there is a standard strategy that will almost always work, even though it might not be theoretically the most efficient.  Hymns don't require a lot of speed or technical dexterity but they still aren't easy.   

Does anyone have a suggested method of fingering on the fly?  Should I for example just decide to always do the bass with L5, the soprano with R5? That's an extreme choice I guess, but maybe you have some ideas.  Or would a hand position approach be better? 

[abell88]

Usually I play S and A with RH and T and B with left, if possible. So the soprano note is usually played by 3, 4, or 5, alto by 1 or 2. Bass typically 5 or 4, tenor 1, 2 or 3. Of course, you have to modify as you go, and sometimes do need to play the tenor with RH...best strategy, I think, is to look ahead -- and use the pedal!

To get a really full sound you can do this: play the bass in 8ves; RH plays the melody in 8ves, with middle fingers taking alto and tenor notes (tenor may be higher than alto when doing this). This is a really good exercise.