Resonance in piano fingering: Interplay of action and observation in playing scale passages from Beethoven’s piano works

This study examines how pianists interact with various fingering suggestions when making their fingering decisions. In semi-structured online interviews, 20 classically trained pianists responded to unfingered scores, fingered scores, and video recordings of four scale passages from Beethoven’s piano works while considering physical constraints, interpretive judgments, and embodied habits in deciding their fingerings. Rather than automatically accepting suggestions, the participants critically evaluated them, and the responses ranged from disagreement to the realization of alternatives. This study highlights scores and recordings as historically mediating agents connecting various influences on pianists’ decision-making. While negotiable, standard fingering tends to strongly influence choices as collective embodied knowledge. Pianists act as both executors and reflective observers, selecting and attuning to external and embodied influences. This study conceptualizes this dynamic network of relationships in solo piano playing as resonance—selective engagement through which pianists negotiate between personal preferences and external influences.