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This is from the book "The Art of Piano Fingering." I'm stuck at this point. I have checked out related/duplicate questions but wasn't able to understand the answers concretely.

I think I get the intentions of writing it this way but I'm still not sure on how to execute this.

Is this a reasonable interpretation?

  • First hold C2 and C3 with 1 and 5 in LH
  • Then I let go of only the thumb(1) on C3, with pinky(5) still holding on C2
  • Then I play C3 again with NOT ONLY the thumb(1) of the LH and but also the thumb(1) of the RH, at the same time, the LH thumb(1) will now continue to hold with the LH pinky(5)
  • This way my RH can now move away and continue with remaining notes with bottom C2-C3 octave preserved?
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    I would have hoped a book called "The Art of Piano Fingering" would have explained exactly what you were supposed to be doing with your fingers! Your solution works well though. I certainly would not hold the pedal down across the sixteenth notes as suggested in another answer (though you may be interested in how it sounds when you do!)
    – Judy N.
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 14:51

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I would find this easier, especially if it's fast:

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The two low Cs need holding for both bars. If your piano has a sostenuto pedal, you can press that before you let go of those keys. Hold it down for both bars.

If you only have a sustain (damper) pedal, you can do the same. That means then all the other notes will continue to sound after they've been played. It's not a problem, as they all belong to the same chord of C major. It's all marked legato anyway.

The fingering for the semis is marked for r.h., and that is how they can be played. I would probably share the semis between hands, as l.h. isn't doing anything else.

Not wanting to use a pedal? Then hold down the two Cs, and play everything else r.h. - which is just what the music says.

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    Thank you for your answer! With regards to "Not wanting to use a pedal? Then hold down the two Cs, and play everything else r.h. - which is just what the music says." That's what I want to do, but in order to play the C3 with RH when LH is holding it down, I'm guessing I must first lift up the LH thumb first? I was trying to accomplish 3 things: 1. without pedal 2. play a note that was already held, and then immediately go back to sustaining the octave 3. make it easier for the mind?
    – user64861
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 10:27
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    Good point. Trouble comes when you take l.h. thumb off C3, in order to replay it with r.h. I'd be inclined to replay it with l.h. thumb, and hold it down for two bars. All else r.h.
    – Tim
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 10:45
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    I have to disagree that holding the pedal down across two bars of sixteenth notes musically resembles playing sixteenth notes legato
    – Judy N.
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 14:54
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Play the C with the LH, re-play it with the RH, then hold it with the LH. A lot easier to do than to explain! Don't over-think it. Once you catch the musical intention, the fingers won't be a problem.

If it was to be pedalled, I might be tempted to do this (stems down LH, stems up RH.) I'd have to phrase against the fingering, but at least I'd be hitting the right notes! enter image description here

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All the sixteenth notes are played with the right hand. Part of the right hand is simply notated in the lower staff instead of having a clef change in the upper staff.

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  • Thank you for your answer! I AM playing all the sixteenth notes with the right hand. It's just that for the very first sixteenth note I'm thinking of also adding in the left hand, to sustain the octave after the right hand thumb lifts up
    – user64861
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 10:35
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    @John Oh of course. Yes you need to do somethibg to keep a sustained C.
    – Lars Peter Schultz
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 10:41
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The cross staff notation without any LH & RH markings is what makes this unclear. As @JunyN says it seems strange a book about fingering would not explain it more clearly.

I think if you put the two hands into separate staves then explicitly notated rhythm and fingerings, it would probably be...

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...where (1) means LH 1 is brought down on the C3 key just before RH 1 releases the C3 key - a finger substitution. It's a kind of alteration of three LH 1, RH 1, (LH 1).

...Then I play C3 again with NOT ONLY the thumb(1) of the LH and but also the thumb(1) of the RH, at the same time, the LH thumb(1) will now continue to hold with the LH pinky(5)

That is how I first did my notation...

...but then I realized it means the thumb is actually repeating a sixteenth note at a fast tempo. That seems really difficult at full tempo. Alternating the hands would seem to allow for greater speed.

Also, getting back to this being an example from a fingering book, holding the sustain pedal down and then just releasing all the key to let the pedal handle the sustain not only performs something not on the page but it misses the point entirely of holding notes with the fingers rather than the pedal! Whether that is truly the aim of the book's exercise isn't clear.

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  • Thank you for your answer! I think this book deals with different aspects in different sections. Every "chapter" deals with different concepts I think. And in this particular section I think the author wanted to explain a certain pattern by demonstrating it in an example. I think the focus of learning was on the fingering pattern for the RH, the author might not even have wanted to draw attention to the LH lower clef part? As it wasn't the "point" of this example? That is not to say this won't be talked about in future sections, but for this part just pay attention to the RH pattern?
    – user64861
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 5:45
  • It's probably just me being weird by being fixated on something that wasn't the focus of this section. I could be wrong but that's my guess. Also I like your solution
    – user64861
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 5:46
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Hold down C with left hand(Thumb) and play it with the right hand(Thumb) followed by the other sixteenth notes. When right hand releases it, hold it down with the left hand(thumb) to last for the next bar as well.

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