Showing results for "fingering"

• present participle of finger.

fingering

American  

[fing-ger-ing] / ˈfɪŋ gər ɪŋ /

noun

fingerings plural

1. the act of a person who fingers.

2. Music.

   1. the action or method of using the fingers in playing on an instrument.

   2. the indication of the way the fingers are to be used in performing a piece of music.

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fingering ¹ British  

/ ˈfɪŋɡərɪŋ /

noun

1. the technique or art of using one's fingers in playing a musical instrument, esp the piano

2. the numerals in a musical part indicating this

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fingering ² British  

/ ˈfɪŋɡərɪŋ /

noun

1. fine wool for knitting

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fingerings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fingering

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at finger, -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fingering fingerings

Chopin sought to convey these moods through explicit performing directions about fingering, pedaling and slurring.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

"I tend now to play parts of chords, rather than fingering the whole damn thing. I use these shortcuts that would be a nightmare for a guitar teacher."

From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2023

For more than a decade, scientists have debated which animals alive today hail from that earliest sister, fingering two phyla as the most likely candidates: sponges and comb jellies.

From Science Magazine ● May 17, 2023

She had a leopard scarf elegantly wrapped around her head and was fingering a glittering ring and staring blankly into the distance.

From Reuters ● Feb. 7, 2023

Bones passed by me, still fingering his mouth.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

He largely taught himself to play the oboe and English horn, using a book that showed the fingerings.

From New York Times ● May 12, 2023

In junior high, he was given a battered cornet to play and, overnight, learned the fingerings of the instrument and the next day played “Pomp and Circumstance” for the band teacher.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2021

“My scores of Schumann, Chopin, Ravel, and Messiaen are still covered in the meticulous fingerings and often pointed criticisms that she would notate, bar after bar,” he wrote shortly after Loriod’s death, in 2010.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 10, 2018

Students learn and practice on a chanter, an oboe-like instrument with the same fingerings as the bagpipe’s melody pipe.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 31, 2017

Players of both bowed and plucked strings generally find fingerings and tuning to be easier in sharp keys, while woodwind and brass players often find flat keys more comfortable and in tune.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones