Here is the first in a series of posts entitled "Tips for Pianists". The idea is to be able to pass on some ideas which you may find useful in your own piano playing. So today I thought I'd talk a bit about fingering. I'm sure many of my pupils must get fed up with me talking about fingering all the time. However, practising the correct fingering is essential in being able to play a piece securely. It is therefore appropriate that this is the first subject to cover in these "Tips for Pianists".
Whenever you start a new piece always start off with a sharp pencil and rubber and go through writing in the fingering that you wish to use. You will need to work through the piece slowly and with each hand separately to do this. Pupils with less experience in doing this themselves can be guided by a teacher. Often there is more than one way of fingering a passage so its important to try them all out on the piano and find out which fingering works best for you. We all have slightly different hands and so what works well with one pianist may not work as well for another. When you are writing in the fingering concentrate on working out what fits the hand most comfortably. However, also make sure that it will enable you to phrase the piece correctly and musically. It really is worth putting the time into this as once you get the fingering right and practise this fingering you will learn the piece so much quicker. If you keep changing the fingering you use every time you play a piece there is no pattern for the brain to remember.
Once you have written in all the fingering it is time to start practising the piece. Always make sure you play the piece using the fingering you have decided upon, even if it means playing the piece very slowly or separately. If you do change any fingering as you become more familiar with the piece then these sections will need extra practise as your memory will have already learnt the first fingering. If you accidentally play a passage with an error in the fingering always practise that section aiming to get it correct at least three times in a row before you go on so that your mind can remember the correct way of playing the passage rather than the error you made previously. By practising like this and always using the correct fingering your "muscular memory" will kick in and you will find the piece is really secure by the time you are ready to perform it.
Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any areas you'd like me to cover in these "Tips for pianists". Also feel free to add your comments.
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