How Important Is Fingering?

[florentin]

How important is it to play the fingering that is in the music?

When you learn a new piece, do you play it finger for finger, note for note, or do you read it and figure out the fingerings later.

I was reading through some of Bach inventions, for sightreading, and I started to learn some of them, but I do not do the suggested fingering.

Come to think of it, Bach did not put fingerings in his music.

What do you think?

[lostinidlewonder]

It is absolutely unimportant to play as an edition suggests. Sometimes the suggestion can be not the best for you, afterall everyones hand is different of course. But you should understand the suggested fingering, know what it is trying to do know what fingers it aims to balance, then if you choose a different fingering the logical support you give to choose that must overpower the suggested fingering. If you can do that you should be happy to play not the fingers the edition suggests.

[tac-tics]

Fingering is a learning aid. They are the training wheels of the piano. Experienced composers would already know which fingerings are best, so adding them is redundant.

[danyal]

Fingering is important, but not necessarily the ones found in the editions. A friend of mine went to a summer masterclass in Italy with exceptionally difficult pieces (ie, Brahms Paganini variations, Liszt Dante Sonata etc) They were all perfect and he had the most intricate, perfect fingerings and everything was okay. He got there, and they went and changed ALL his fingerings to much more difficult ones, just because it improved the tone colour and sound.

So basically, it is important, in more ways than you would think. Its just important to find fingering thats suitable for you individually, because, obviously, everyones different.

[faulty_damper]

Depends on what is required to play it in the most musical manner.  The most effective fingerings are ones that are dependent on the shape of your hands, the length of your fingers. This means that the most effective fingerings may not be the most logical if you were taught with the 123 12345 fingering or 5-finger position (virtually all of us have been taught this way.)  Unfortunately, this is only so effective and will limit anyone who prioritizes numbers and not fingers.

[bernhard]

It is also important that whatever final fingering you decide on, you must stick to it, that is don’t keep using different fingerings every time you play (this will really confuse your brain and create micro hesitations in your motions – you may not even be aware of the, but the sound will tell).

Always spend as much time as needed investigating fingering and their associated motions. This must be done with separate hands to avoid ingraining fingerings that do not work in your hand memory (from where they will be almost impossible to dislodge). You must also work in passages that are long enough to form phrases, since fingering of an individual note will depend on what comes before and after.

Bach did not include fingering in most of his pieces, but fingering was a large part in his private instruction to pupils. He actually invented a new system of fingering that pretty much revolutionised Baroque practice (amongst other things he introduced the extensive use of the thumb which rarely used). If you want to get a taste for Bach’s fingering, have a look at the Applicatio in C (BWV 994) from the Little book of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, where he supplied the fingerings for every single note (the little book was complied by Bach for the instruction of his eldest son, W. F. then 9 years old)

Also have a look here for more discussions on fingering:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2458.msg21365.html#msg21365
(Mental practice – tips for fingering)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4123.msg37829.html#msg37829
(How to investigate the best movement pattern: Example Scarlatti sonata K70 – How to work out the best fingering. Example: CPE Bach Allegro in A – Slow x slow motion practice – HS x HT – practising for only 5 – 10 minutes)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2619.msg104249.html#msg104249
(Scale fingering must be modified according to the piece – Godard op. 149 no.5 – yet another example of the folly of technical exercises)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2619.msg22756.html#msg22756
(unorthodox fingering for all major and minor scales plus an explanation)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4957.msg47444.html#msg47444
(Chopin Op. 10  no. 9 – discussion of fingering and description of movement)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5090.msg48850.html#msg48850
(Chopin - How to  figure out fingering for Op. 25 no. 11)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3267.msg28857.html#msg28857
(Chopin Op. 9 no.2 – fingering and LH movement)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5055.msg48120.html#msg48120
(fingering for Bach’s sinfonia no. 9)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2689.msg23132.html#msg23132
(Best fingering for Burgmuller op. 100 no. 14 - fingering is not sacred)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2720.msg23353.html#msg23353
(How to practice aim and accuracy – looking at the LH and giving verbal instructions to the RH – Full discussion on left and right brain).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[g_s_223]

Some piano composers had their own pretty strong views on fingering and invented solutions specifically tailored for the requirements of their own pieces. In particular, Brahms and Liszt did this. In these cases, you need to try to think about what they were getting at. You can still do what you want, but it does need to be informed by this important background information.

In modern Urtext editions, they will often show the original first edition composer-approved fingerings in italics, together with modern practice editorial fingerings in normal type.

[cfortunato]

Correct fingering is extremely important, but not necessarily the precise fingering suggested in the sheet music.  It is important to learn the principles of correct fingering, and to work out a comfortable way of playing a piece where you don't "run out of fingers" at any point in it.

And correct fingering should be worked out at the beginning of learning a piece, and practiced that way from the get-go.  But if you don't like what the book says, there is nothing wrong with figuring out your own fingering, as long as what you do is good technique.

[Tash]

It is also important that whatever final fingering you decide on, you must stick to it, that is don’t keep using different fingerings every time you play (this will really confuse your brain and create micro hesitations in your motions – you may not even be aware of the, but the sound will tell).

totally agree with that- get it right from the beginning and you'll learn your pieces twice as fast and save yourself a lot of trouble- i'm like the queen of making some really dumb choices as to where i'm placing my fingers, and then changing it- but i'm learning now!! and it saves so much time- so figure it out from day 1 and don't ignore it!!

[florentin]

I guess it's time to get the pencil out and add fingers in my Bach invention. I was simply reading it, and I am not sure if I was using the same fingering each time... that is not good, I know