The importance of articulation and fingering

The importance of articulation and fingering

The musical phrase is like a sentence in a paragraph.

When we verbally communicate, we don’t speak in monotones or it would be very boring, instead we shape our sentences with rising inflections, breaks and small beginnings middles and endings. The same thing applies when playing piano and music, and you are directed to these phrases in the music by the slurred line, and with other elements of articulation such as staccatos, accents, tenutos, and other performance directions. It is essential that we pay attention to these elements of the music, by applying good, well thought through fingerings, that do not interrupt what has been written.

It is about the arc and flow of a melodic line. You want to have a fingering solution that allows you to recreate a melody without any jumps, gaps or awkward accents that get in the way of the melody as written (think of the way slurs, staccatos, accents are placed in the music). The aim is to use fingering that allows the music to be played not just accurately but most important: musically.

Bear in mind that sometimes the fingering is added afterwards by editors and publishers, as opposed to the composer. Take the fingerings as guide lines and try them out, but if they don’t work for you feel free to substitute your own. Your goal should be the ability to play the music seamlessly.

And, surprise surprise, it is your scales, arpeggios, five finger exercises and studies which will help to cement this dexterity, control and fingering for exactly this purpose.

The importance of articulation and fingering

#WKMT #wkmtteachers #pianolessonslondon #adultpianolessons #musiclessonslondon #pianotuition