Beginner fingering question in Bach Minuet in G
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I completely new to Synthesia and playing piano. I know nothing about how and why of fingerings. I've been trying to play the right hand part of the in Bach Minuet in G that comes with Synthesia. In measure 13 C4 is played with the 3rd finger but in measure 14 it is played with the 4th finger. SInce the F in measure 12 is played with the 1st finger doesn't it make more sense to leave your hand in the same position and play the C and D with the 4th and 5th fingers in measure 13 instead of the 3rd and 4th fingers shown in the notation?
If I remember correctly, this was a piece where we did not have any suggested fingering and I did the best I could with it. Here is the part you are asking about:
I think I agree with you, it would be better to bring your hand back into 5 finger position with the thumb on G in measure 12. You will be stretching an octave with 5 and 1 between G4 and G3 on beat 2 but you should be able to bring the fingers together when you play the second G3 on beat 3. You are then set for measures 12 and 13. This does leave the question of the best place to compress the hand to set up the thumb to play the F3 in measure 15.
I believe you can overide the supplied finger hints with your own.
Based on your question and analysis it doesn't seem like you are new to playing piano. But if you really are, be aware that this is not a beginner piece. You should work up to pieces with this much movement of the hands gradually so you can comfortably make the moves in tempo for each piece as you work your way through graded exercises. The rule of thumb I use is that if I can't play the piece pretty comfortably at 50% speed in Rhythm Mode after a few runs through in Melody Mode to get the notes, then the piece is too hard for me at this time. It is much better to play easy music really well than more difficult music just OK as long as you steadily push what you can play really well.
- Minuet in G-JS Bach fingering.png (15.42 KiB) Viewed 6919 times
I believe you can overide the supplied finger hints with your own.
Based on your question and analysis it doesn't seem like you are new to playing piano. But if you really are, be aware that this is not a beginner piece. You should work up to pieces with this much movement of the hands gradually so you can comfortably make the moves in tempo for each piece as you work your way through graded exercises. The rule of thumb I use is that if I can't play the piece pretty comfortably at 50% speed in Rhythm Mode after a few runs through in Melody Mode to get the notes, then the piece is too hard for me at this time. It is much better to play easy music really well than more difficult music just OK as long as you steadily push what you can play really well.
Thanks for the detailed reply. I didn't know if the fingerings were definitive based on some best practices or just a guideline. I'm feeling better about doing something different now.
I did have a few piano lessons about 40 years ago and I did attempt to play bass for a couple years - I just never practiced much. I'm finding Synthesia entertaining and getting inspired to practice. I like your "50% speed in Rhythm Mode" guideline. By that measure the Minuet is too hard for me but I like it a lot and I'm only planning on doing the right hand. I'm not finding the fingerings and movement hard - maybe that comes from playing bass, in spite of the fact it's the opposite hand.
I did have a few piano lessons about 40 years ago and I did attempt to play bass for a couple years - I just never practiced much. I'm finding Synthesia entertaining and getting inspired to practice. I like your "50% speed in Rhythm Mode" guideline. By that measure the Minuet is too hard for me but I like it a lot and I'm only planning on doing the right hand. I'm not finding the fingerings and movement hard - maybe that comes from playing bass, in spite of the fact it's the opposite hand.
Finger hints, suggestions, whatever, are certainly not set in stone. That said, I would give more credence to the fingering supplied with the G Major pieces other than "Keyboard Classics" because they were copied from fingerings given by Gilbert Bendetti who is a music educator. In early teaching pieces you sometimes encounter fingerings that are more difficult than necessary in that piece because they are preparing you for situations in future pieces where such a move is necessary. Because of differing hand anatomies and sizes, you will sometimes want to deviate from a suggested fingering but you should do so thoughtfully. What is important is to figure out a fingering for a piece and then use it consistently. If you change a given fingering, mark the changes so you won't be confused as to the fingering you decided to use.