Fingering (music)
set of signs that recommends how to use an instrument, which fingers and hand gestures to use and in what position
In music, fingering, or on stringed instruments sometimes also called stopping, is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. Fingering typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good fingering for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand position too often. A fingering can be the result of the working process of the composer, who puts it into the manuscript, an editor, who adds it into the printed score, or the performer, who puts his or her own fingering in the score or in performance.
Fingering ... also stopping ... (1) A system of symbols (usually Arabic numbers) for the fingers of the hand (or some subset of them) used to associate specific notes with specific fingers ... . (2) Control of finger movements and position to achieve physiological efficiency, acoustical accuracy [frequency and amplitude] (or effect) and musical articulation.
A substitute fingering is an alternative to the indicated fingering, not to be confused with a finger substitution. Depending on the instrument, not all the fingers may be used. For example, saxophonists do not use the right thumb, bowed instruments (usually) only use the fingers and not the thumbs, and harpists pluck with every digit except the little finger.
“Fingering (music)” enters the record as set of signs that recommends how to use an instrument, which fingers and hand gestures to use and in what position. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fingering, music and signs can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q608487. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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