As a general rule, examiners do not \"examine\" fingering, but rather results produced. And the variety of ABRSM examiners is so wide that it's not often that a pianist is judging the exam.


Fingering is an incredibly subjective thing in piano playing, and there are many editions by pianists (such Joseffy) who provide alternative fingerings for smaller hands. In addition to this, there are editions in which rather unusual fingerings are provided by the composer himself. This happens especially in the case of Brahms and Beethoven.

One extreme case is the Debussy Etude Pour le huit Doigts (8 fingers!) in which you are not supposed to use the thumb in either hands! There's a video of the great pianist Mitsuko Uchida playing it on youtube in which she uses the thumbs.

Some call it cheating, but her results are magical! See for yourself! = )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbqWzFMmMQ

Dear Kiasu Parents,


My name is Julius and I would like to introduce myself as a representative of Aureus Academy, a new Music Academy opening this summer in the Orchard Area.

Aureus Academy is very unique in that it only employs world-class teachers who have at least a Bachelor’s Degree (many of our teachers have Master’s Degrees and Ph. D qualifications as well) and are themselves performing artists.

We fully understand that not all performers are great teachers, and not all teachers are great performers. Through a rigorous interview and selection process we have managed to select the very best available music teachers in Singapore.

In terms of performing, our teachers have played in halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, New York’s Carnegie Hall and have been described by the Straits Times as “Outstanding enough to grace the stages of the world’s great orchestras.”

In terms of teaching, our young students have excelled on the ABRSM exams passing with distinction and our older students have won international prizes and have been awarded positions at prestigious universities in the USA such as the Carnegie Mellon School of Music. We have also developed, in collaboration with one of our Ph. D teachers (who has more than 20+ years of teaching experience) a new Kids Programme (from 6 months to 5 years old) that is designed to develop cognitive functions and motor skills all using musical elements.

I would like to invite all members of Kiasu Parents to visit our website (http://www.aureusacademy.com) where you can find out more information about us.

You can reach us at 6818 6285 or [email protected] should you have any further questions.

We will also be actively posting in this forum should anyone have any questions regarding music, music education, instruments and anything musically related!

I look forward to being a new member of the Kiasu Parents Community!

Julius