‘Correct’ Fingering – Neil Moore
Found in: Adult Students, Claiming Territory, Student Management
Sharlene H., Spain
I have a student who has played in the past, and has a habit of twisting her hands laterally (outwards) when playing chords. She wants to use her own fingering, and complains about having to use the fingering as instructed, and even included on her first evaluation form “I find the rigidity of the finger placements frustrating in certain pieces (e.g. Fur Elise). I would like some flexibility to accommodate personal comfort”.
Neil Moore
Whilst there is typically a general over-emphasis on technique, with students being taught principles that prepare them for adult, concert-level performance, there is also a flip-side to this conversation.
Generally, students want to go where they are comfortable going, and want to do what they are comfortable doing. Our job as teachers, very often, is to take students where they don’t want to go, and have them do what they are not comfortable doing. As such, we can expect students to resist our coaching.
In the case of the student Sharlene talks about, I have concerns, especially given that I know that as we move towards more complex classical pieces that use 4 or all 5 fingers (sometimes even needing to play six notes with 5 fingers), and when we come to play more complex voicings of jazz chords, unless you have prepared her for this – bit by bit, step by step, piece by piece – it will be too much too soon for her to try to assimilate.
Students always make the mistake of only seeing what’s in front of them, thinking that they only need to physically accommodate the piece at hand, and rarely are they conscious of being immersed in a curriculum that is always setting them up for something that is coming further down the track.
Then again there is also the Claiming Territory issue, with students wanting to do things their way. Filling out the Evaluation Form and writing down such a minor issue as a complaint about Sharlene being rigid, is the child in her saying, “I’m going to tell on you!!”
Twisting her hands laterally outwards is quite simply something that I would have her undo. If you explain all the reasons why, and she is still reluctant, then it is even more clearly a Claiming Territory issue, and I would address the situation from this perspective. Either way, the fact that she can execute the chords, her way, and comfortably, is quite irrelevant.
Whist fingering is largely a contentious issue, the rule should be that it should look good, feel good, and allow the fingers to be in place over the notes long before they are required to be played. As such, fingering is more so a recommendation than a rule. But this needs to be treated respectfully, and awkward-looking fingering rarely, if ever, is a good idea.
I might have her demonstrate that she can play the piece, doing it exactly my way, in a smooth even musical fashion, and thereafter, allow her to revert back to doing it her way if she wishes. Over time, she will come to elect to stay with my suggested fingering, as she will find it to be more practical, comfortable and functional, and more ergonomically sensible.
