Professional Piano Players, whats the most efficient fingering to play an octive

Question:is it 1, 5 (thumb and pinky) or 1, 4 (thumb and ring finger). And if it's thumb finger, does this rule apply to both hands?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: is it 1, 5 (thumb and pinky) or 1, 4 (thumb and ring finger). And if it's thumb finger, does this rule apply to both hands?

Generally, If you have large hands, 1,4 is better, simply because the ring finger has more power than your pinky. On black keys, the 5 slides off more easily than the 4, so you want to keep that in mind. On white keys though, either one would work if your pinky is strong enough. When I have to play rapid octaves in succession, I usually alternate between the 2 fingerings. When I need to maintain a legato in my octaves, I also try to alternate between the 2 fingerings. When I need to have a particularly strong pinky/ring finger sound (as is what usually happens when your pinky or ring finger is playing the main tune and your thumb is simply doubling it), I sometimes play that octave with BOTH pinky and ring finger on the same key - when it's possible. There are just some octaves that are practically impossible to play with both fingers at the same time because of constraint/positions of the notes/what happens before and after. All the things I do are mostly because my hands aren't large enough to stretch octaves repeatedly and still give a solid sound. Most of my octaves I do with 1,5 unless it's real uncomfortable - but that's just me. Your hand structure may be different from mine.

Generally that applies to both hands, though you'll always have to feel what's right and what's not comfortable. It's the only way you can come up with your own set of fingerings, because what feels good to me may not necessarily be the same for you.

When you need to 'voice' the octaves (play one note louder than the other), the trick is to lean your hand slightly towards the louder note to give it more strength and solidity. Always play octaves with firm fingers (note: firm does not mean loud! you can be firm and soft as well - in fact it's easier to get a good soft sound when your fingers are firm than when they're wobbly and jelly-ish), that will give you the depth of sound you need. When practising rapid octaves, start off very slowly first and play all of them as loud as you can without banging. This will help your fingers and hands get anchored well and prevents you from missing notes and shallow sound. Feel how each octave feels in your hands, commit that to memory, then add the dynamics, the voicing needed, phrases and groupings, etc. Speeding up is always the very LAST step. Get everything right before you start adding speed. You'll find that you make more progress quicker than if you were to straightaway plunge into a tempo that you can't handle.

Good luck and keep playing!