Fingerings

Why should we employ old fingerings?

This is not made by snobbishness, nor a historical obsession. The so-called "old fingerings" —those given by historical sources— are useful to make easier performance, to bring a particular accent and to help the employ of a certain touch, which imply to keep the hand in a particular position, "assembled" (see the page "Touch" of this Blog).

Assumptions for using the old fingerings:

One can not separate old fingerings from touch ("assembled" hand), articulation non legato, rythmic modification or inegalité (“tañer con buen ayre”), and action and deepth of the historical keybord instruments.

Principles:

The carrying out of these fingerings is based in good-bad fingerings applied to good-bad notes.

Patterns:

Scales: From XVIth Century, Spanish sources describe two main types of fingerings:

-         - Those based on alternation of groups of fingers, mostly without the thumb. Right hand 3434 upwards and 3232 downwards. Left hand 3232 or 2121 upwards and 3434 downwards (Venegas 1557, Sancta María 1565, Cabezón 1578, Correa 1626, Arte de Canto Llano 1649).

-         - Those for more fast movement, put into groups by four 4321 or 1234. Bermudo says that those are good “for large groups of notes (pasos largos), they are not made by all organists, but good players do” (Bermudo 1555, Sancta María 1565, Cabezón 1578, Correa 1626).

NB: The employ of thumb arrive earlier in left hand. Perhaps this is due to the fact that old organists started to use it in left hand, in order to play fifths and octaves while right hand played a discant.

In slow notes one can play several notes with the same finger.

In polyphonic intervals fixed fingers are employed for fixed intervals (such as 2-3 or 2-4 for thirds, etc.)

General consideration:

Nowadays is accepted that these fingerings should be used without dogmatism, not in a systematic way, but in order to help to accentuation, to don’t lose the position of the hand, to achieve strength in fingers. It is necessary to remember that these are initial instructions for beginners. Cabezón says that “these are for those who still are not capable to play anything… afterwards they will find diminutions which are not possible with these fingerings, anybody has to play them with the ones easier for him”. Correa says also that “this subject about finger changing is indeed for masters, for those is enough to open the way, which will be concluded with their inventiveness, supplying the lacks of this treatise”

Sources:

Bermudo

Venegas

Santa María

Cabezón

Correa

Anónimo 1649