Score notations – to follow or not to follow…

[Loonatik]

Some scores contain printed notations for fingerings, pedalings etc. How strict do you follow these notations?
Should you figure out different fingering possibilities to execute a phrase, do you practice all these different possibilities? or just stick to one fixed fingering?
Share your experiences.

[Angela Biggs]

I try the suggested fingerings, and if it is clearly a good sequence, I’ll stick with it. If there is an awkward portion, I practice it a little bit; if it remains awkward I’ll see if I can rework it to feel more natural. I do this very early on, so that I only *learn* one fingering for a piece. I am only an intermediate-level lever harper, however. I’m interested to read what more advanced players do.

[tony-morosco]

I’ll always try it the way it is notated. What works I stick with and what I don’t think feels right I change. I have definitely developed my own preferences over the years (and I recognize they are strongly influenced by the way I was originally taught) and sometimes I can know by just looking that I am going to end up changing something. But I always give the way it is written a try. Occasionally I am surprised that something that looks like it won’t work for me actually does.

[hannah-roberts]

My teacher always said, “Use the fingering that makes the passage sound the best, not the easiest fingering.” And she almost always changed the written fingering. For example, she frequently changed single notes written to be played with the thumb to be played with the second finger. Another pattern I remember her changing was 4-4321 (fourth finger slide) to 12123 (crossover). I do try out what’s written now that I’m working on my own just to see how it sounds and feels, but I very rarely use the exact fingering suggested for the entire piece. There’s at least one little change or two. That said, I find it’s very helpful to have some kind of fingering written in by the arranger!

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