Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Help with fingering -- mov. 3 of Ravel's Sonatine

I've just started working on the third movement of Ravel's Sonatine. My next lesson isn't until two weeks later, but in the meantime, I have some questions about the fingering for the opening of the third movement.

My score (Dover edition) doesn't indicate what hands to use where, but in the few YouTube videos I've seen, everyone seems to start with some left-right-left crossings. Does anyone have suggestions for fingerings for the first few (say six) measures?

Would it be awkward if I use only left hand for the first three measures (e.g., 4-3-2-1-3-2-3-2-3-1-1-2)? I am learning this at snail's pace, so I'm not sure whether the fingerings that I came up with will become totally hopeless at tempo.

Thanks for your help!

Did you mean 2-3 on the last two notes?

Ah, 2-3 would be better, yes.

So, is it fine to use only the left hand for that figure?

I haven't played it, so I don't know if using only the LH on the first few measures is better. You should look at the Youtube performances of the best pianists to help decide. I can still remember from over 50 years ago hearing the next door neighbor, who went to Juilliard, practicing those opening measures over and over.

You need to use the two hands to accent the C# notes; it's also implied from the score because the writing moves from left, right, left.

Your fingering will likely become too slow, especially with the 1-1 on the repeated As.

Personally, my fingering (I need to get back to work on this piece, but I got this part quick enough) was:

LH: 3-2 || RH: 2-3 || LH:2 || RH: 3-2-3-2-1-4-2

Where the 1-4 switch takes place on the A which repeats itself.

I just played this piece for auditions, and I divided the first 3 measures between my hands.

Left- 4 3 2 1 Right- 2 3 2 3 2 1 Left- 1 2

The way I played it, the repeated A was divided between my two thumbs. I'm sure there are more ways to play this that are just as good, but this way seemed to work the best for me.

Good luck with this beautiful piece!

I performed this piece about a hundred years ago and used exactly the same fingering as ninjapianist. There are a million different ways to approach this...you need to find what works best for you.

Please ignore the suggested fingering in my first post. I was making this suggestion based on the incorrect assumption that the last four notes of the passage were C#-A-F#-D#. My suggested fingereing was almost impossible and not at all good for the first three measures(maybe it was suitable for measure 7)!

@PLUS Ah, I thought you were offering an alternative to avoid having the thumb repeating on A and breaking the flow. I guess the difficulty there is that I wouldn't get in position in time for the start of the next measure.

Thanks everyone, for your alternatives. I will try out some of the two handed suggestions and see what works out for me.

mine is:

L 3 - R 1 2 4
L 3 - R 3 2 3
R 2 1 4 2

then on the 4 and following measures only the 8th, 9th and 10th notes of the lower staff with RH