Does anyone know the difference between Continental style and English style fingering for piano scales? I just bought a scale manual that says Continental style fingering?

Continental fingering numbers the finmgers 1(thumb) to 5.
English fingering I don't thihnk is used now but the thumb was '+' and fingers 1 to 4.

I think English fingering was when the fingers on the left hand were ordered in the same way as the fingers on the right hand. For example, the thumb on the left hand was labelled 5. A common practice with EF is that the thumb was avoided entirely or used as little as possible. The best demonstration to show how this occured is if an ascending scale was being played in the right hand, the fingers would be-
2 3 2 3 2 3

QUOTE (harpsichord @ Dec 21 2004, 01:19 AM)

I think English fingering was when the fingers on the left hand were ordered in the same way as the fingers on the right hand. For example, the thumb on the     left hand was labelled 5. A common practice with EF is that the thumb was avoided entirely or used as little as possible. The best demonstration to show how this occured is if an ascending scale was being played in the right hand, the fingers would be- 2 3 2 3 2 3

Do you know how late this remained popular? My understanding is that J S Bach used his thumbs at a time when others didn't, but presumably the new fashion would have taking a decade or two to get to Britain. The English fingering notation that survived into the 20th C. (some of my early pieces, c.1940, used it) had + for thumb and 1 for forefinger on both hands.

Thanks for replying!

QUOTE (kenm @ Dec 21 2004, 09:54 AM)

Do you know how late this remained popular? My understanding is that J S Bach used his thumbs at a time when others didn't, but presumably the new fashion would have taking a decade or two to get to Britain. The English fingering notation that survived into the 20th C. (some of my early pieces, c.1940, used it) had + for thumb and 1 for forefinger on both hands.

No I don't know. However when I think about it, Bach could well have been the first to use his thumb. If this is true (and it is pretty innovative), I'm surprised I haven't heard about it before.

[QUOTE]Bach could well have been the first to use his thumb

Pretty amazing!!!

Thanks a tonne all of you.... never knew this!

Apparently JS Bach was the first...just reading that CPE Bach talks about the use of the thumb (something his father invented) a lot in his book, "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments".