A close-up of the first bar of Applicatio in C major, BWV 994, from Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach that shows the fingering guide on the score. This is one of only two surviving works that have the fingering marks written in Bach's own hand.

Fingering is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing a musical instrument. For example, when playing the piano, chords or melodies can often be played with a variety of different assignments of fingers to played keys. Fingering, in this context, is the choice of which finger to use for which key, for each note. Fingering typically ]]. (A similar, although according Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach less radical, innovation was introduced by François Couperin, at roughly the same time in 1717, in his book L'art de toucher le clavecin.) Prior to Bach, playing rarely involved the thumb. Bach's new fingering retained many features of the conventional fingering up until that point, including the passing of one finger under or over another (Playing many of Bach's works requires such fingering, especially passing the third finger over the fourth or the fourth finger over the fifth.), but introduced the far greater use of the thumb. Modern fingering also uses the thumb to a similar extent, and involves the passing of the thumb under the other fingers, but does not, as Bach's did, generally involve the passing of any other fingers over or under one another.^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... This is the explanation of clefs which begins the Wilhelm Friedemann Klavierbüchlein, in Johann Sebastians hand. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (March 8, 1714 – December 14, 1788) was a German musician and composer, the second of five sons of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach. ...

References

1. ^ Schweitzer, Newman, Albert Schweitzer; C M Widor (1967). "IX. The Artist and Teacher", J.S. Bach, Volume 1, Ernest Newman (translator), Courier Dover Publications, 206–209. ISBN 0486216314. 

See also

• Bis key