Poseur to Composer

Tag: GettingLostInTheWeedsAgain

One of the very first things a new piano student learns is the piano finger numbering system. Basically, you assign each finger a number on your left and right hands. It is pretty much universally taught (because it apparently works).

I questioned the system, at first. I didn't know it was omnipresent when I first started, but everyone uses it. Well, almost everyone.

There is one alternative to assigning numbers to fingers, and that seems to be a Jazz technique called Forward Motion Fingering by Hal Galper. Honestly, I don't understand a lot of it, but he wrote a book on his system and an article in Keyboard magazine.

Here's a snippet from the article:

...piano fingerings tend to be asymmetrical and hard to memorize because we’re applying a number system of five (the fingers on each hand) within a number system of four (a ubiquitous number of note groupings and rhythmic divisions in music).

Another realization of mine (probably considered heresy by most piano teachers) is that there’s no rule that says we have to use all five fingers all the time. My alternative is to look at the five fingers as being used to form four-fingered patterns, which we’ll call sets. The main ground rule is this: The last finger of each pattern—the target finger—is always predictable because it repeatedly falls on beats 1 and 3 of a bar. We’ll call these the target beats.

For example, using four-note sets such as 1-2-3-4, 4-3-2-1, or 5-3- 4-2, the first three fingers in the set help you anticipate landing the final finger on the target beat. You eventually develop a "muscle memory" of feeling your fingers in motion toward the final finger landing on the target beat. You’ll actually feel them "coming up" as your hand progresses through a four-note set. Applying the rule of no thumb on a black key wherever possible, I discovered the trick to applying these four-fingered patterns was deciding which white key the thumb had to be on to achieve the finger pattern that will best set you up for playing the next group of notes fluidly. I’ve tried to apply the four-fingered rule to as many situations as possible. It doesn’t work perfectly with all types of arpeggios and scale-based note groupings, but it works in enough situations to make your musical life easier.

I listened to the album Cubist by the Hal Galper Quartet as I wrote this post. Incredible stuff. Do check it out.

One thing I've neglected to mention is what I'm learning piano on. No, it's not a Steinway. Far from it. More like it's polar opposite. It's a RockJam 54-Key Portable Electronic Keyboard. Yes, it has 54 keys.

Modern pianos have 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. Older pianos have 85 keys.

My concern is that a truncated keyboard may impose limitations on learning certain songs, like the intro to So What. Will those gorgeous opening chords so lovingly handcrafted by Bill Evans need to be modified? I don't know. I've delegated the question to a piano teacher who actually replied to my inquiry and will get back to you.

An interesting passage I read about Steinway pianos, from the book Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible by Alan Rusbridger:

‘Steinway has its own forest?’ He looked at me quizzically, as if wondering how this could possibly be news to anyone. Yes, it has its own forest and it takes the wood from the centre of the forest, where the trees have to grow taller in order to reach the light. The trees are therefore straighter, which means you get a superior cut of wood for the soundboard. Other, lesser, piano manufacturers presumably have to make do with the punier spruce trees at the edge of whichever plantation serves as their source.

There's a documentary on the making of the Steinway, but I haven't watched it. Not sure if I ever will either, as this kind of esoterica will not help me learn piano, music theory, or the intro to So What.

Contacted two local piano teachers last night before bed. Neither has replied back.

I wonder about the long term health of the profession, considering the superabundance of free online learning material available for instant gratification. The single advantage local piano teachers have is they can give personalized, one-on-one attention. Yet I've been dismissed or ignored by all three private music teachers I've reached out to.

On a happier note, I'm enjoying the John Cage: American Composers audiobook. I ordered a used physical copy of the book too because it discusses very technical music theory I'll want to grapple with later.