Top Tips for Choosing Piano Fingering

Many problems in performances or issues which hold pianists back from mastering a piece stem from the early stages of learning and the process of choosing fingerings. If you haven’t worked out a good fingering or have been inconsistent with your fingerings when practising, you’re embedding problems that are very difficult to correct at a later stage.

Choosing an optimal piano fingering is essential for security, technical ease and musical expression. Individual pianists often have different preferences for fingerings, with editions offering various options. Always remember that the fingering in the score is only a suggestion and it’s important to work out fingering that is right for your hand!

Tips for choosing fingering

The following are a collection of our top tips for finding and choosing piano fingerings:

• Understanding the composer’s intentions and forming a clear musical image before choosing fingerings is essential.
• Consider tempo, dynamics, articulation, phrasing, timing and tone quality when choosing fingerings and listen attentively as to whether they fulfil your musical intentions.
• Be aware that different fingers have distinct characteristics and roles, like the thumb’s independence and the fifth finger’s pivot function. Fingerings by pianist-composers like Chopin and Liszt or pianist-editors like Schnabel and Cortot, exemplify fingering as a means of musical expression.
• Hand size and shape influence fingering choices, with small-handed pianists needing creative solutions. Substitution fingerings can be used for reaching larger intervals.
• Your fingering should adapt to the keyboard’s registers, with different fingerings for the bass, middle and upper registers.
• Keep a pencil and eraser nearby to write fingerings in the score (or a digital pencil for annotations if you’re using a tablet!).
• Organise fingerings with both hands together because what works individually may not work when you’re playing hands together.
• Evaluate printed fingerings and generate alternative options, marking each for comfort and security.
• Consult multiple editions for varied editorial fingerings, even in editions considered “bad”.
• Make a decision on fingerings based on various factors and write it in the score.
• Stay open to adjusting fingerings during your initial practising and experimentation.
• Once you have decided upon fingerings, commit to them until they become automatic, allowing focus on other musical aspects. Practising chosen fingerings thoroughly is essential for muscle memory and proficiency.
• Avoid excessive indecision about fingerings, especially before exams or performances!

Further Resources & Links

• Penelope Roskell‘s The Art of Piano Fingering is a new approach to scales and arpeggios, and challenges the rules that have been passed down by tradition. Alternative fingerings are given in addition to standard ones, and there are plenty of examples from the repertoire too.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach devoted several paragraphs to the subject of fingering in his book Versuch über die wahre Art, das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments).
• Jon Verbalis’s Natural Fingering: A Topographical Approach to Pianism investigates fingering techniques focussing on a topographical approach, and how they relate to the ideas found in Chopin´s unfinished piano method.
• Tobias Matthay’s Principles of Fingering gives detailed insights and exercises for developing efficient and expressive techniques, emphasising the understanding of underlying principles in fingering and pedaling.
• Click here to read a blog post on fingering for scales or click here for a listing of blog posts covering the subject of fingering.