Introduction
In the 20th century, many piano teaching methods were based on the middle C approach. The goal was to use middle C as the place where the two thumbs would reside. As a result, Bass F and treble G became the domain of the two pinkies. It worked better in theory than application.
Rise and Fall of the Middle C Methods
Thankfully, these methods have largely fallen out of favor and out of print. However, they are still used, and I had one transfer student who had been taught using these concepts. No matter the piece, and where the notes were on the page, he would always place his hands in middle C position. After several months of lessons, I finally broke him of this habit!
Repertoire Was Also Affected
One of the casualties of this teaching is that it also spread to the repertoire being written during this era. As a teacher, I want to have a wide variety of teaching resources, and some of them are clearly influenced by this old school of teaching. I’ve learned that students who haven’t been trained this way hate any pieces where they have to put their thumbs on the same note.
Two Pieces, Two Approaches
Sometimes it’s easy to just change the fingering, as shown in the excerpt from Jane Smisor Bastien’s First Sonatina. If you move the hand up by a second (one note), you can avoid having your thumbs together.
However, sometimes it’s not possible to change the fingering, because each hand has its turn to play the thumb in turn, based on the flow of the melody. That is shown in the excerpt of Judith R. Strickland’s Sonatina: A Tale of Four Cats.
Exposure to a Wide Variety of Repertoire
Sure, you could avoid exposing your students to the battling thumbs issue by avoiding pieces that have it as an issue. However, there is likely going to be sometime that they have to deal with their hands being close together. Four-hand one piano duet playing often presents these issues. Why not show them how to adapt instead?
Final Thoughts
I only recently put together the connection between the middle C methods and the repertoire that was written to conform to it. I wanted to share the observation in case my aha moment was helpful to fellow teachers. While I embrace contemporary composers who don’t write this way, I’m not willing to abandon all older pieces.
Fellow teachers, how do you approach the battling thumbs dilemma?
A Quick Note: This is the first post that I chose to be part of Notes Off the Staff. It seems especially fitting to have an article about middle C, the most famous note off the staff, to begin this new project.
