All different starting hand positions.

[kubicon]

Hello.

I did extensive search in Google, but couldn't find what I was looking for.

Can someone enumerate, or point me to a location that has, all the different starting hand positions?
For instance, the 3 positions I know are:

C position
G position
Middle C position (both thumbs on C)


I am a beginner. When looking at sheet music online, sometimes it's difficult to know what hand position one should be at. It would be really useful to know what are all my options, so that I can then decide accordingly.

Thanks,
Vlad

[timothy42b]

I think (and I could be wrong, I'm no expert) that you didn't google the right topic.

Hand positions are a way to get you started because fingering in general is so intimidating to the beginner.  But you are expected to outgrow them quickly so there's no need to go into detail or deal with more than a couple.

If you googled rules or guidelines for piano fingering, you'd find much more. 

[nystul]

This starting hand position concept is just worthless as far as I can see.  You position your hand wherever it needs to be in order to have your fingers prepared to play the next sequence of notes. It really could be anywhere, and unless the piece is very basic you will have to change the shape or position of your hands quite often.  So then, it is entirely about have good fingerings and good technique.  But those are not easy things to develop on your own if you are a true beginner.

[anna_crusis]

Hello.

I did extensive search in Google, but couldn't find what I was looking for.

Can someone enumerate, or point me to a location that has, all the different starting hand positions?

Hand positions are a teaching/sight reading aid and usually only apply to specific teaching pieces. A beginner's book will typically have pieces arranged for three or four different hand positions, with photos or drawings of the positions.

If you're just playing regular music, positions don't really come into it much. If you're a beginner, you would go by the finger numbers to tell you the approximate place your hands need to be. Those are the little numbers above or below the notes.

It's the scale and the chords in the scale that you really need to know. If you learn those, you will have no need of either positions or written fingerings.

[m19834]

Typical beginning hand positions are as you listed yourself, and most method books build their "repertoire" out of these.  And then, there are beginner, individual pieces often published under the same name as the method books, built around these hand positions and meant to further establish a strong sense of placement and stability at the piano.

At the very beginning, hand positions serve as a kind of "You are Here" orientation in music-reading and at the instrument physically, similarly to looking at a map of the Mall, a map at a trail head in the forest, or a modern GPS gadget.  As a teacher, one of my main aims for using the concept of positions for beginners is to get them to feel their entire hand as it rests/plays in one position, and not just thinking in terms of individual fingers.  While (these days) I have almost any beginner start in positions, I also supplement their learning with three main exercises, each serving very specific purposes -- and one of those in particular aiding in "finger independence" and dexterity (though eventually it all becomes one, combined idea).

As the beginner continues on within a method book or within the repertoire built around those methods, the music will begin to branch out of the exact hand position by either combining hand positions, moving notes slightly out of those positions but nearby, or altering one or more notes with an accidental.  As the student branches out with the music, the original orientation within the beginning hand positions serves as a kind of "home", comparison, or nearby trail.  It's similar to knowing where the trail is in the forest but going slightly off the trail to look at a particular feature within the forest, like a flower, a brook, a rock or an animal.  In a Mall, it would be similar to knowing exactly where your favorite stores are, and then eventually trying the ones next door, too.

As the pianist becomes more associated with the instrument's topography and is understanding the basic principles behind that and in reading the score, hand positions become more consciously relative to a given passage, and are built on principles of motion and fingering.  Early work in establishing a strong sense of feeling an entire hand position (whether "closed" or extended), and knowing how fingers independently behave within that, and then grasping the principles of moving from one hand position to another (whether in passing the thumb or crossing a finger and/or in steps, skips, leaps and jumps) serve even advanced music -- fast or slow.

And, most of what I wrote only (seemingly) speaks of the physical side of technique, but our minds are ultimately giving the commands, and sound (of course) and sight play a huge role in our technique, as well as actually making music.