Piano Fingering Explained

The arrangement of the piano fingering is a fundamentally important part of the work on the new composition during its initial stage.

In a process of deliberation, the musician follows conventional logic as well as his overall experience. He usually experiments, trying on a piano different possibilities of fingers’ arrangements, and then chooses the one that feels better.

A major pitfall for many pianists is to think of piano fingering as an isolated activity. Seasoned pianists whose technique has developed have a distinct advantage since their playing apparatus “knows” how to move for successful accommodation of the designed fingering. Less experienced players frequently struggle with their fingers in many different scenarios.

The successful result—physical freedom of playing with a sensation of comfort—requires conscious use of the concepts and practical skills from the other areas of pianistic sources: piano technique, activities of mind on specific vision of passages’ structure, active involvement of the power of imagination, application of elaborate pedaling, ability to redistribute the passages between the hands with or without involvement of the pedal, awareness of the keyboard’s topography.

Piano Fingering and Physical Motions

The technical skills needed for successful implementation of chosen piano fingering fall into two categories:

1.motions executed while the finger stays on one key (when the finger touches the key top; or it is in the process of getting down the key; or it moves while staying on a key bed).

2.physical movements happening during the transition from key to key.

The first group (pre-transitional motions) includes: fingers’ movements that trigger forearm rotation for assisting in following transition; motions of raising the wrist, initiated by the forearm for rounding off the sound; various angles of placement of the forearm/hand unit toward the keyboard for comfortable implementation of crossings and crossovers in scales and arpeggio passages.

The second group (transitional movements) encompasses physical motions for elevation from the white to black keys and descent back to the white keys without loss of balance; the motions that change the height of the forearm’s top toward the keyboard for shaping the rows of notes following in horizontal and vertical dimensions; the movement accommodating legato between two different notes played by the same finger; and the movements of hand and forearm/elbow, coordinated differently for the passages of different shapes (simultaneously or resembling the relations of the tip and middle area of the moving pendulum).

During any transitional movement, the pianist must have an overview of the entire keyboard topography. The perspective of exploring white valleys, of climbing up black mountains, travelling across vast fields to the east and west of the keyboard, participating in the expeditions to the north pole toward the dashboard, retreating to the southern area of the white keys awakes the potential ability of the arms to move. The arms that are usually dragged behind the running fingers obtain the inspiration for unrestricted exploration of the keyboard topography, providing valuable assistance to various designs of piano fingering.

Piano Fingering and the Power of Mind.

The alliance of the piano fingers with the various physical motions is very productive. However, the success could not be completed without the involvement of one more companion of very different nature. In fact, its permanent presence greatly enhances all the benefits of healthy piano technique. That is the power of the pianistic mind, capable of envisioning a difficult passage as a chain of small fragments, consisting of a few or sometimes just one note. The criteria for such a mental subdivision are bold and clear: any segment should not contain any technical complication.

Analysis of the vast number of passages results in quite an unexpected conclusion. Complicated passages present only three (!) major obstacles: large distances, provoking stretch; narrow distances played by distant fingers, creating a squeeze of the hand and fingers; and crossings/crossovers, often causing twisting of the wrist and excessive motions of the elbow.

It is not just the troubles themselves, but even anticipation of them results in physical tension, stumbling fingers, and speeding up the notes that precede difficult transitions.

If the mind sorts out the two notes of a difficult transition in such a way that the first note concludes one segment, and the second note starts the following one, the muscles calm down, and all the negative consequences of their anticipation of trouble dissolve.

The mind convinces the muscles that the segment is finished, its final note is supplied by rotation, and the arm simply appears in the new location, as if nothing preceded its appearance, as if the first note of the new location is the very first note ever played.

If the process of arrangement of piano fingering happens in conjunction with mental subdivision of the passage into small harmless segments, the role of the physical motions will be resumed to provide the smooth linking of these segments. The knowledge of proper technique substantiates the results of the productive interaction of the decisions on piano fingering with the mental subdivisions of the complicated passages.

Piano Fingering and the Power of Imagination

One more effective ally frequently visits the coalition of the piano fingers with the piano technique and the work of the mind on mental subdivision of the passages. It is not a physical movement or a brain order to the muscles. It is a sensation that the pianist must cultivate in order to avoid the inevitable loss of balance caused by certain piano fingering arrangements.

Gravity takes down the wrist, depriving the pianist of a stable stay on the keys when the hand descends from a black to a white key, when the longer finger is followed by the shorter one, and, in general, the forearm/hand moves off the dashboard toward the torso. The further the wrist gets to the southern edge of the white keys (at which point the wrist is no longer situated directly above the keyboard but is instead facing the floor), the greater the loss of stability.

It seems like the ground behind the keyboard becomes shifty and your hand can collapse into the slippery hole in it. The remedy for maintaining balance in this scenario is for the pianist to imagine that, as he makes his final move toward the southern edge of the key, his hand is instantly launched like a rocket off the keyboard. Incredibly, the energy generated by this thought instantly adjusts the hand/wrist unit forward and up, and balance is rescued.

All the skills developed in different areas of pianistic aids could be recognised and learned in detail. There is a whole list of certain physical motions and conscious mental solutions that provide comfort for the embodiment of chosen piano fingering. The involvement of imagery, applied solely or in coordination with the other pianistic aids, also assists in overcoming the technical problems.

If these factors help to overcome technical difficulties, the application of elaborate pedaling and the work at the redistribution of the complicated passage between the two hands prevent the same possibility of the troubles to occur.

In summary, the integration of the work on piano fingering into the whole armamentarium of pianistic skills is a preeminent platform for creativity and freedom in piano performance.

For more interesting articles click here