While preparing the Samuel
Barber Piano Concerto for an upcoming engagement, I have been reflecting on the
importance of fingering, the highly complex and somewhat under-analyzed skill
that we musicians must master over the course of our careers in order to
achieve secure and persuasive performances. Considering its obvious importance
to piano playing, I find myself surprised to recall that my own (very fine)
teachers were rather unconcerned with my fingering decisions-or lack thereof-
apart from the occasional analysis of an especially difficult passage. I
suspect this approach remains fairly common, and might be based partly on
issues of practicality. The unspoken message seems to be, “With so many factors
at play and with all mechanisms so individual, too much valuable lesson time
would be spent exploring fingering that will best suit you personally, leaving
little time for more important musical matters. Do this during your own
practice time.” Well, I believe I have learned how to finger quite well, so
perhaps that’s a valid long-range pedagogical approach. Nevertheless, I feel that it deserves to be more recognized and taught
as an indispensable part of the creative process.
I’m not especially interested
here in analyzing or comparing published fingerings, since they usually
represent a safe one-size-fits-all approach. There are wonderful exceptions, like Schenker’s Beethoven sonatas and
Scholtz’s complete Chopin edition, but most are useless to me (i.e. seemingly
everything published by G. Henle Verlag-comments welcome!). Wonderful fingering is an uncompromising physical
representation of the phrase and touches the soul of a work; in the rare cases
where composers have notated fingering themselves this is often the case, and I
consider these as revealing as performance directions. Useless fingering seems to always favor a legato result based
on standard 19th century scale/arpeggio traditions, whether it be
Bach or Carter, without taking enough into account possible variants in tempo,
style, articulation, technical difficulty or character. Of course, I refer to
as many published editions as possible, freely culling brilliance and rejecting
the “academic,” but in reality one must have much more to go on.
So what am I shooting for in
creating a good fingering? A microcosm of the whole. Before penciling in even
the most obvious scale passage I ask, “Do I feel I have discovered the innate
character of this work from the evidence on the page and from my knowledge of
the composer’s goals, and have I found an honest and compelling connection to
it? Do I have a reasonable grasp of its form so that I will be able to reveal
the work’s mysteries before an audience?” If the answer is a (humble) “yes” I
will embark upon fingering. Though changes will doubtless come over time, I am
now working from a basic understanding of the character of the work. This is
reflected in my choice of articulations, tempo and pedaling, the basics of
style that need to be somewhat in place before selecting fingerings because they are such an
intrinsic part of how the hand and arm will approach the keys. I like to think
of this as “linear” fingering. Working the other way around-fingering first, in
a “vertical” frame of mind- will often lead to short sighted choices that may
hinder the line or become annoyingly ingrained when a better option eventually
presents itself. It’s a little like a painter applying unrelated brush strokes
to a canvas, hoping for a painting to emerge.
I explore the possible
directions of each phrase as a prelude to fingering. Once I feel I have
captured the essence of the line I begin to fashion a fingering that “reflects”
this shape, and of course honors the composer’s indicated articulations and
dynamics. The motion of the hand should mirror the line and the fingering used
should support this motion while using as much of the hand and each finger in
turn as practical. Too many intermediate changes of hand position will tend to
chop up a line, even though at first an easier fingering may seem expedient. My
goal is to achieve a sort of physico-musico synthesis that joins brain, body
and soul together. OK, I made that term up, but this is a blog after all.
Of course, there are less
lofty things to consider, such as the size of your hand and the current state
of your technique. This is why we need to learn how to find our own fingering
solutions, or be guided in the process by an intuitive teacher. A firm grasp of
a musical idea will go a long ways toward solving and transcending many
difficulties, but there are always passages that resist any easy solution. In
these cases, I will test a multitude of possible fingerings in close succession
while focusing my attention on my hand/fingers/arm, seeking the most relaxed
version that still reasonably supports the musical values desired. This balance
of comfort and musicality will increase (but maybe not always eliminate) the
chances for accuracy under pressure. Mastering an unusual but effective
fingering will also require diligent practice, so one must be a bit of a seer
at times when committing to a hopeful solution. Repetitive fingering patterns
are also useful when they are supported by the architecture of the composition,
and since they are pleasing to the brain and the memory they can help to relax
the musculature.
Though specificity and
consistency are the ultimate goals here, I’ve learned to remain very open to
revising, refining or even trashing earlier fingering decisions over the course
of several practice sessions or weeks. Revisiting your decisions daily will
reveal surprising refinements; I swear that our brains continue to puzzle over
them while we sleep. Our hands and bodies change daily, musical awareness
deepens and larger patterns emerge over time that cannot help but inform that
perhaps less seasoned first, second or even third draft. The result of this
multifaceted process is rewarding: a beautiful fingering will all but play
itself.