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Or maybe even broader, how do you choose fingerings for any given passage, especially with extended runs? I taught myself piano, so I don't know if there are any hard-and-fast techniques.
If I try to do this passage with my left hand using the same fingerings (reversed) as my right hand, then my fingers land awkwardly on some of the black keys, and there is no way to cross over my thumb to continue the phrase.
Thanks.
To answer broadly, studying traditional scale fingerings and technical sequences (like Hanon) will give you an intuitive sense of what fingerings to use in most situations.
I'm not really sure why you would expect the reverse of right hand fingerings to work for the left hand -- the keyboard itself is not symmetrical, so different fingering patterns are necessary. This will also become apparent after studying scales.
And to directly answer the question; I would suggest working from editions that include fingerings for you until you are experienced enough to come up with your own. This will help you develop good habits even if you don't understand the reasoning. Eventually you will need these less and less, or perhaps even find improvements that work better for you than what some editor came up with.
Right, the first two measures are bad because the Bb screws with the otherwise obvious pattern (standard fingering but crossing under 4 on the way down to buy the extra note). Several editions list the first two measures as:
5_43 2132 1231 2341 | 4_32 1432 1234 1234
I personally think this is over-complicated. I hate the scrunch from 1 to 4 across the bar. I would do the first measure as:
5_43 2132 1212 3123
And then continue as above.
The fingering 5_43 2132 1231 2341 | 4_32 1432 1234 1234 is apparently based on the logic that the first bar is an F major scale, so finger it like one. But starting with 5 won't give you a "natural" accent on the first beat of the bar. You could try 3-21 4321 3123 4123 | 4- etc. (I would prefer 3123 on the third beat rather than 2123, again to get a natural accent from the 3, but YMMV).
But starting the second bar with 4 is even weaker than 5, so try something like 3-21 4321 3121 2312 | 3- etc. and then you can repeat the same fingering for each bar in the sequence.
But the best advice here is "get a teacher". We have no idea how big your hands are, and what standard your playing has reached. The "best" fingering for me (who first played this 40 years ago) is unlikely to be the "best" for you.
