Rohit Sailas: St. John's Church, Bangalore, India
Recently, we have taken a look at the Italian paired fingering that was suitable to play scale-like passages in the piece by Andrea Gabrieli. I have hinted that the systems of paired fingering were different from country to country. Today let's familiarize ourselves with the Spanish paired fingering as it was used in the 16th century.
Spanish music theorist, organist, and composer Tomas de Santa Maria (ca. 1510-1570) in his work "the Art of Playing Fantasia" (Arte de tañer fantasía, 1565) presented the following table:
R.h.: C(2)-D(3)-E(2)-F(3)-G(2)-A(3)-B(2)-C(3)-B(2)-A(3)-G(2)-F(3)-E(2)-D(3)-C(2)
L.h.: C(4)-D(3)-E(4)-F(3)-G(4)-A(3)-B(4)-C(3)-B(4)-A(3)-G(4)-F(3)-E(4)-D(3)-C(4)
So it appears that the "good" fingers for Santa Maria were 2 in the right hand and 4 in the left hand.
In today's piece for sight-reading, there will be plenty of places to apply paired fingering - bear in mind that these shouldn't necessarily be complete scales - excerpts of passages in step-wise motion would work for this type of fingering, too.
Here's the score of Duo I (p.1) by the famous blind Antonio de Cabezon (1510-1566) who was a contemporary of Santa Maria and the first significant Spanish Renaissance organist and composer.
In this piece there are only two voices - one for the right hand and one for the left hand. The piece starts with the note-against-note counterpoint in whole notes (m. 1-9), then moves in half notes (m. 10-18), then - four notes against one (m. 19-30).
From m. 31 Cabezon employs points of imitation when one hand plays a subject and another answers at the interval of an octave or fifth. At first imitations are played in half notes but later the movement intensifies and Cabezon uses more and more quarter note motion.
As you play this Duo today, take a slow comfortable tempo, use articulate legato touch with small breaks between each note, keep your fingers in contact with the keyboard and play on the edge of the keys.
PS Because some organists couldn't access their emails during the weekend, I'm extending Total Organist End of Summer Sale until Tuesday. If you haven't done so, start the new season and transform your organist skills by joining 30+ members in the most comprehensive organ training program online.
Spanish music theorist, organist, and composer Tomas de Santa Maria (ca. 1510-1570) in his work "the Art of Playing Fantasia" (Arte de tañer fantasía, 1565) presented the following table:
R.h.: C(2)-D(3)-E(2)-F(3)-G(2)-A(3)-B(2)-C(3)-B(2)-A(3)-G(2)-F(3)-E(2)-D(3)-C(2)
L.h.: C(4)-D(3)-E(4)-F(3)-G(4)-A(3)-B(4)-C(3)-B(4)-A(3)-G(4)-F(3)-E(4)-D(3)-C(4)
So it appears that the "good" fingers for Santa Maria were 2 in the right hand and 4 in the left hand.
In today's piece for sight-reading, there will be plenty of places to apply paired fingering - bear in mind that these shouldn't necessarily be complete scales - excerpts of passages in step-wise motion would work for this type of fingering, too.
Here's the score of Duo I (p.1) by the famous blind Antonio de Cabezon (1510-1566) who was a contemporary of Santa Maria and the first significant Spanish Renaissance organist and composer.
In this piece there are only two voices - one for the right hand and one for the left hand. The piece starts with the note-against-note counterpoint in whole notes (m. 1-9), then moves in half notes (m. 10-18), then - four notes against one (m. 19-30).
From m. 31 Cabezon employs points of imitation when one hand plays a subject and another answers at the interval of an octave or fifth. At first imitations are played in half notes but later the movement intensifies and Cabezon uses more and more quarter note motion.
As you play this Duo today, take a slow comfortable tempo, use articulate legato touch with small breaks between each note, keep your fingers in contact with the keyboard and play on the edge of the keys.
PS Because some organists couldn't access their emails during the weekend, I'm extending Total Organist End of Summer Sale until Tuesday. If you haven't done so, start the new season and transform your organist skills by joining 30+ members in the most comprehensive organ training program online.
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