Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner fingerings for Debussy's Arabesque no.1

I want to know what the "standard" fingering is for the left hand part when the 3 over 2 rhythm first appears, just a few measures in. Initially I tried: 5-2-1 *here index finger reaches over thumb* 2-1-2 *here thumb crosses back under index finger* 1-2-5. This way I preserve finger legato but it's not very comfortable and I can't play it fast. Then I tried just hopping between those sets of notes. But that's not very graceful, and in every youtube video of people playing this that I've looked at, their left hand moves in a very smooth and continuous manner, as opposed to jerkily hopping from point to point. My left hand hops around in many places throughout this piece.

Also, with the descending triplet pattern in the right hand, is it acceptable to hit the G# and F# with the thumb? I read somewhere that it's contrary to conventional wisdom to use the thumb on a black note, but mine keeps wanting to do it anyway.

This is the first substantial classical piece I've attempted after playing lots of rags, so I'm sorry if my questions sound really naive from the perspective of those of you who learned to deal with arpeggio-like patterns that don't neatly fit under the hands when you learned Fur Elise.

As fingering for the left hand, I use 5-2-1 *here middle finger reaches over thumb* 3-2-3 *here thumb crosses back under the middle finger* 1-2.

For the descending triplets, I use 4-5-2, 4-1-5, 3-4-2, 3-1-5 (and finally 3-2-1).

If you find other fingerings easier, I think it's no problem to use them. Just choose the fingering that you think plays the best, the best is one that doesn't harm the musical sound too much (like a too not legato fingering).