advanced lesson 9, two voices, fingering

A place to discuss Playground's main curriculum, the Bootcamp.
Post Reply
clif9710
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:01 pm

advanced lesson 9, two voices, fingering

Post by clif9710 » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:11 pm

In this piece, why does the right hand fingering alternate between 1-4 and 1-5 instead of simply using 1-4 or 1-5 only?

andrewwegierski
Posts: 783
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:37 pm

Re: advanced lesson 9, two voices, fingering

Post by andrewwegierski » Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:14 pm

That's a great question Clif. I just played through the lesson myself.

Naturally, the 4th and 5th fingers are weaker than the others. So in this example, when playing parallel harmonies (that is, all the harmonies are the same distance apart) it's often easier to move the thumb for every note, because it's stronger, and then utilize the 4th and 5th fingers in an alternating pattern so that you don't have to move one of them every note.

I can definitely say that this is the best fingering option, but if you find playing 1,4 or 1,5 the whole way through is easier for you, then by all means do it.

Also, I think it's easier to alternate 4 and 5 on the top voice because your whole hand position doesn't have to change every single beat. Your thumb can move quite a distance before the rest of your hand has to move.
Andrew Wegierski

Customer Support Representative
Music Arranger

support@playgroundsessions.com

clif9710
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:01 pm

Re: advanced lesson 9, two voices, fingering

Post by clif9710 » Tue Jan 08, 2019 5:11 pm

Thanks, Andrew

Post Reply