Piano fingering is one of the most crucial aspects of learning the instrument, yet it is among the most overlooked. Here are seven of the most important rules for fingering, prefaced by an instruction to...
Rule #0: Finger it out for yourself!
Though hands have more in common than not, no two hands are exactly alike. What's comfortable for one person may be unplayable for the next, as in the case of large stretches unreachable by small hands
More importantly, our fingering determines our sound. Using different fingers changes dynamics and articulation in subtle and sometimes dramatic ways.
It's therefore essential to devise your own piano fingerings rather than rely exclusively on the editor's. (The exception is usually the composer's own fingering, though these are generally rare and, in the case of early 19th-century music and earlier, may apply to period instruments such as the fortepiano, harpsichord, or sometimes even the clavichord, more so than to the modern piano.) This is why I recommend many unfingered sheet music editions.
That said, it is important to play by the rules. Good piano fingering is based on the natural shape of the hand. Generally, what is most natural is most comfortable, and what is most comfortable sounds the best.
It's important to think through each piece you play and determine the desired musical results in terms of articulation, dynamics and phrasing, and finger the piece accordingly. This is the first thing we should do when learning a new piece, after reading it through just once.
Ultimately, the goal of fingering should be to achieve the desired sound. Here are seven essential rules to help you achieve just that.
Rule #1: Chopin's hand position
The first rule of piano fingering is that the shorter fingers play the longer keys, and the longer fingers play the shorter keys.
The shorter fingers are the thumb and pinky, fingers 1 and 5. The longer fingers are the index, middle and ring fingers, fingers 2, 3 and 4.
This piano fingering rule is exemplified by Chopin's hand position, in which fingers 2, 3 and 4 rest on F-sharp, G-sharp and A-sharp, while fingers 1 and 5 are on E and B.
Chopin always started his students with this hand position. (For larger hands I use C instead of B, especially since Chopin's original position is not a perfect mirror image between the hands.)
This means that, in general, it's most natural to use the middle fingers for the black keys. A corollary of this rule is that the thumb usually (but by no means always) avoids playing the black keys.
Rule #2: Scales
One of the reasons it's so essential to know all of your piano scales is so you can play the piano with the most natural and effective fingering. When reading piano music our fingers need to know where to go.
Since so much of music is based on scales, knowing all of our scales without ever having to think about their proper fingering is an enormous head start.
In general, play any scalar passages with the same fingering that you use when playing those scales alone.
Rule #3: Arpeggios
As for scales, it's essential to learn the standard fingerings for arpeggios, also referred to as broken chords. Chords in root position aren't enough—we also need to know all chord inversions.
Scales and arpeggios are the exception to the rule of "fingering it out for yourself." The standard fingerings are universal and are almost certainly the most suitable fingerings for all hands, regardless of size. Thus, once you learn all of them, you'll have ready-made piano fingering for very many passages in your music.
Rule #4: Symmetrical fingering
The hands are mirror images of one another. If they're moving in opposite directions, it's far more natural to change hand position at the same time in both hands. It's easier to remember passages in which the thumbs coincide.
An example is fingering for chromatic scales in contrary motion: Here is an alternate fingering for the same passage:
Since D is a point of symmetry on the piano keyboard, it's easy to play chromatic scales in contrary motion starting on D. Try starting on other keys though, and you'll have a very difficult time! (There is one more point of symmetry on the keyboard. Can you find it?)
Rule #5: Use a consistent fingering for repeated motives
If a motive or figuration is repeated in another key, it's often best to keep a consistent fingering, even if it sometimes means breaking other rules. Particularly in fast passages, a sudden change from, say, 1-2 to 2-1 can disrupt the fingering pattern and lead to mistakes.
Maintaining consistent piano fingering for repeated motives sometimes means a less natural fingering, but it aids the memory.
Rule #6: Five fingers, five colors
Chopin taught that each finger had its own color. Changing our fingering for a given passage can subtly and sometimes dramatically affect the resulting sound.
Try this passage with the logical piano fingering 3 2 1 3 2 1:
Now try it with 4 3 2 4 3 2. Do you hear and feel the difference?
Be creative with your fingering. While much of the time you should finger for efficiency, sometimes an inefficient fingering will be more expressive.
Rule #7: Write down your fingerings
I'm amazed at how many pianists fail to write down their fingerings. Some even scoff at the practice, dismissing it as a beginner's crutch.
Yet writing down your fingerings is one of the most helpful of memory aids. It ensures that we're consistent in our fingering during our piano practice.
The first thing I do after sight reading a new piece of music is write in all fingerings. I'm not entirely pedantic—my goal is to be able to look at any measure and know immediately which finger plays which note. I therefore don't always need to write in every last fingering, with the exception of very intricate music such as fugues.
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