Thumb pad

From this position the thumb can move easily under the palm of the hand.

The thumb base has been an important aspect of piano playing since Johann Sebastian Bach , especially in scales and comparable tone sequences.

The principle

While the index finger, middle finger and, if necessary, ring finger are playing, the thumb moves sufficiently far under the palm of the hand, then it hits the key there. Only now does the hand change position by moving the other fingers up into the new position.

Both movements are carried out very quickly, one after the other, yet fluently; In this way, the thumb base enables a passage to be played in legato .

The thumb subsection refers to sequences of more than five tones moving downward in the case of the left hand and upward in the case of the right hand. The reverse process (middle or ring finger lies over the thumb and plays the key there) is called finger overlay ; in the so-called rollover, however, z. B. the ring finger over the little finger.

In classical scale play, the thumb underlay is always alternating after the middle finger and ring finger; In addition, it is also possible to put on the index finger and even the little finger.

See also: fingering

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ludger Lohmann: Studies on articulation problems with the keyboard instruments of the 16th-18th centuries Century . Regensburg 1986 (Bosse), pp. 157/158.
2. ^ József Gát: The technique of piano playing . Kassel 1973 (Bärenreiter), p. 239.
3. ↑ Ibid., P. 240.