UK Piano Page Piano Forum

Hi good people of uk piano.

I'm planning to take a practical examination in about 3 weeks. Although I've been playing piano for many years, but I'm still not sure if there are actual rules for fingering. And I found it pretty strange that so many other players at my level are unaware of it too. So, I decided to post this topic here and ask you guys.

1- Consecutive keys: Do you have to play two consecutive keys at the same level with different fingers?(and not just play them with the same finger) and if so, does this rule apply for two consecutive keys or 3 or more? Is this a rule, or just a method that's been around for sometime? and in actual practical examination will examiner deduct points for using the same finger?

2- Thumb on black keys: Is it illegal or just not recommended? and by the way, you can use fifth finger(little finger) on black keys? right?

3- Plying an octave: let say we are playing 2 C's at the same time with the same hand stretched out from one C to other C in the neighbour higher octave.( what do you call this? I'm not sure). We usually use finger 1 and 5 for this, but if we were to play two black keys say two C sharps, can we use finger 1 and 5 or do we have to use 1 and 4? (I've heard 1 and 4 for black keys and 1 and 5 for white, but not sure)

Waiting to hear your ideas on this.
Regards,

Generally, if it works for you, do it. The only 'hard and fast' rules are for scales and arpeggios. Usually you don't put a thumb on a black note for reasons of stability...easy to slip off, see. I often use 1 and 4 for an octave, because I can reach it, but a lot of people with smaller hands can't manage that, so that's why they use 1 & 5 in suggested fingerings.
All my life I have been rollocked for my fingering until my current teacher (an ex ABRSM examiner) who lets me do what I want as long as it's practical...I have a tendency to use whichever finger happens to be lying around at the time. The thing you MUST do is - once you've decided on a fingering - STICK to it, because it makes it a lot easier to learn the piece.

Completely agree with Gill. Just to add, thumb on black keys is fine and sometimes more than necessary (at least for me). As Gill wrote, what might be dangerous is using 5th finger on black keys.

Concerning consecutive keys, I don't believe there are golden rules, if someone finds it practical to play consecutive keys with the same finger then it's ok for me. But... it's difficult to find a context in which you can do that without causing some damage to the song.