I’ve been transcribing the Early American sheet music and am now moving to reviewing. I don’t think people know that they’re supposed to transcribe the penciled-in fingering that appears on many of the pages. I only know because I asked that specific question a couple months ago. So as I review, I am adding those fingering numbers. I think this would be a good add to the music instruction page.
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AND … I just discovered a concept called Figured Bass (notation). Looks the same as fingering, but it’s not hand written. It’s printed on the page.
I used Google’s AI capability to find this:
My 1st question: Fingering added to music.
My follow-up question: what about finger numbers that are greater than 5 on piano music?
Answer: Because human hands only have 5 fingers per hand, numbers greater than 5 on piano music are never fingering indications. [1]
If you see numbers like 6, 7, 8, or higher stacked or placed near the notes, they serve completely different purposes depending on the historical style or layout of the score.
1. Figured Bass (Baroque & Classical Music)
If you are playing music from the Baroque era (like J.S. Bach, Handel, or Vivaldi) and see numbers like 6, 7, or 8 stacked vertically beneath the bass clef staff, you are looking at a figured bass. [1]
- What they mean: These numbers indicate the musical intervals you need to play above the written bass note to build the correct chord.
- Example: A
6above a bass note means you should play a note that is a sixth interval above that bass note. [1, 2, 3]
There were 3 other interpretations listed, but they didn’t apply.
I am tagging these pages with #FiguredBassNotation. I only wish I’d thought to tag all the pages with fingering notation with #FingeringNotation.
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