How To Find The Soundest Fingerings For A Piece Of (piano) Music Without Wasting Time

Firstly and most importantly, everyone has different hands. So this means not sitting down and religiously following the fingerings that the editor has put in the score, without even exploring and contemplating alternatives that might otherwise prove to be far more effective. There's only one way to find out what works best for you, and that is to discover which fingerings are most comfortable, effortless and logical at the final performance tempo. This is especially true for passages of a higher technical and harmonic complexity where security and memorisation might be an issue. There is no point in reading through the music slowly, deciding on a set of fingerings, practising it slowly, to only then realise that it doesn't lie comfortably under the hands or feel fluid when up to tempo. This problem could have been solved from the start by trying out several different sets of fingerings up to tempo, and then going with your gut feeling as to which one feels 'right'. What feels 'right' will vary from person to person, depending on hand size, finger strength and agility, understanding of harmonic progressions and also the innate instinct to follow patterns that have been ingrained through rigorous practising of technical tools such as scales, arpeggios and exercises (which some people might not do!). It can be advantageous, from the perspective of memory security, to use the same fingerings on passages where a motif or pattern is used in a sequence or in another key, even if it might appear awkward or 'go against the grain' at first. This is of course a personal choice, and may not be wise, such as playing a passage in D flat major with the same fingerings as one would in C major. Always remember, go with that 'right' gut feeling.

Psychologists can prove that a stimulus enters long-term memory (that is, it is "learned") after it has been attentively observed 7 times. But if an "incorrect" stimulus is first learned, it then takes an average of 35 repetitions to learn the "corrected" stimulus! Learning it right the first time is five times easier than re-learning after learning it incorrectly. I can say with confidence and experience that this is 100% true, and if you don't want to waste your time then one must always remember this for efficient and successful results. The most important and demanding areas of learning new music are the initial stages, where discovering the 'correct stimulus' is paramount to ultimately settling on safe and sound fingerings at the piano.

I would also like to bring up the idea of using certain fingers to produce certain desired musical effects, such as tone quality, articulation, dynamics and also rhythmic drive and clarity. The thumb can be used as the perfect tool for bringing out those rich inner tenor and baritone voices as it is strong and heavy. The third (middle) finger is the central finger on the hand and is an excellent gauge for measuring balance and symmetry of the hand at the keyboard. This is especially noticeable when using lateral and rotary movements. Different fingers can also be used where a section or passage of music is exactly repeated in order to create a different effect the second time round for musical interest and diversity. Ivo Pogorelich, my favourite pianist, does this extensively, particularly in his incredibly refined renditions of D. Scarlatti's Keyboard Sonatas. A perfect example of this can be seen in the following video link at 0:43-0:50 in the left hand, where Pogorelich achieves an accented marcato tone and articulation with the thumb the first time round and a gentle tapering off with the fifth finger the second time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeBOYKqaENo

Here is another very informative video of an interview with renowned pianist Marc-André Hamelin, where he discusses fingerings for some of Sergei Rachmaninoff's works. Note his fingerings for achieving rhythmic clarity and contour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0R6ycCsoLg

It's this level of detail that outlines the difference between a great pianist and a genius.