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Applying Fingering Rules
I am a late beginner player with a fingering question. I have tried to understand Christy-Lyn’s “Harp Fingering Rules” and apply them to music I am learning. Sometimes they don’t feel quite right and I wonder if I truly understand her rules. This is a two bar except from Bonny At Morn taken from “the session.org”. Please comment on my choice of fingerings and make corrections as needed. It would be helpful if you could explain your corrections. Thank you – Nels
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8 Replies
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I went with 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 2 so I don’t have to lift off the thumb after playing the D and then place the thumb on the E again.
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I would play 12 4321 212. I think it is easy to change from 2 fingers to 4 fingers. But it should fit to your hands and the rhythm. Rules you can find here:
https://www.learningtheharp.com/10-rules-of-harp-fingering-free-cheat-sheet/
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Thanks for all your suggestions! – Nels
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I’m currently adding fingerings to various songs, however I found the example sheet music a bit tricky.
I didn’t understand your choice of fingering the other day, but I’ll try it again this evening.
Depending on the song, I would either choose a simple variant like |1 2| |4 3 2 1| |2 |1| 2| or a more complex one such as [1 |3| 2 1] x [2 1] [2 |1| 2].
Has anyone bought the book by Sylvia Woods and can rate it? I wonder if it’s really worth the price and if you learn more from it than the 10 rules. Do you own it @titia.stultitia? What did you learn from it?
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I understand your fingering now, @nels.ebbesen. It’s possible putting the fingers like this, but personally I’ve found the movement to be rather unintuitive and clumsy. Since the song is quite fast and there are eighth notes in the first bar, I would pay attention to a smooth movement in this one. The second part, on the other hand, is rather an appendix with several options. I tried to follow all the rules in my proposal, but I’m not sure if I succeeded. In any case, Victoria’s and my fingering felt most appropriate for me and the piece.
Maybe @Christy-Lyn can show us what fingering she would choose?
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There are many options of what can be done here! The fingering “rules” are meant to be a guideline to help, but there’s a lot of space for personal preference, and some combinations of notes just have a lot of options that can work well. For this particular phrase I would probably play either 121321212 or the 132143212 (Victoria’s suggestion). I prefer staying on the strings rather than coming off and replacing. I like crossing under with the 3rd finger (the first option) because I can do that fast and accurately more easily than crossing under with the 4th finger. But the second option also feels great to me!
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Thank you for your quick and detailed feedback! You seem pretty excited about the book. I doubt that it will be the same for me. Also, Sylvia doesn’t seem to use brackets there?
I own her “Teach Yourself” (30th AE) and don’t like her teaching and fingering at all, so I really hope her newer work will be better. I’ll purchase it soon and try it out on my stack of non-fingered music. When the time is right, I’ll be happy to give my own opinion on it.
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Oh, really? I see brackets so often that I thought they belonged there (except for professionals). I’m glad you agree with me about her teaching book.
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