Do you have tips I could use on Fingering when starting to learn a piece of music on the piano? Especially fingering on four part music such as hymns.

-- Erwin Simi (erwinsimi@hotmail.com), March 29, 2001

Answers

Fingering is a very personal matter. Depending on your hand-size, hand- shape, hand-development, etc. you might choose different fingerings. Try out many fingerings and see which one is most comfortable and serves the music. You will then find that you hardly cross you second over you fourth finger for example. Don't be afraid to use the fifth finger and thumb on the black keys. If you have big fingers, you may not want you middle finger to play between black keys. For hymns, consider quiet finger changes (play a note with fourth finger and then replace it with the fifth finger while still depressing the key, for example). But, as I said, fingerings are a very personal thing. BTW: some editions offer suggestions on fingerings. Check them out and see if they work.

-- Christian (cpb7079@mwsc.edu), May 07, 2001.

Fingering is a personal matter if you are looking at it from the view that everyone has hands that are different. I suggest that you look at articulation in the music as a starting point for fingerings. Slurs indicate that you need to keep the sound smooth-turning your thumbs under or 3rd fingers over to play groups that extend beyond 5 fingers. Also consider traditional fingerings for scales, arpeggios and chord inversions.

-- Marcia Yurko (mjyurko@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002.

Use a metronome and space out.

-- justin (justin_tranz@yahoo.com), March 01, 2005.