Pondering all these wonderful contributions to the early fingering discussion..... 

Fingering is of course, also very much an issue of the size of the hand, and relative length of the individual fingers, both of which vary from person to person. Thus in my experience with my small hands, and having worked with folks with giant hands, hard and fast rules must be adapted, but always of course, with the desired tonal (more an issue for pianos, of course) and grouping effects desired. 

Which brings us to my question... has anybody looked at the issue of the probable size of the hands and fingers of the performers from the harpsichord era and how that might relate to fingering choices? I find early fingerings very easy with my little hands with modest finger length. Most likely I suspect the differences are not great enough, but I am very curious. 

I'm sure we all know that Chopin's unusual almost alien hands and fingers and how that surely affected some of those patterns that are such a challenge for those without the long spidery fingers! 

Anne A 




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