Piano Finger Numbers: How to Teach Them to a Child

Open a piano score and you will often see small numbers from 1 to 5 next to the notes. These are finger numbers. They tell you which finger to play that note with. They have nothing to do with pitch or rhythm. They are a guide to how to play.

This post is for parents who looked at their child’s music and wondered what the numbers were. I cover the rules of finger numbers and what I think matters when teaching them to a child.

The rules

Piano finger numbers work like this:

• 1: thumb
• 2: index finger
• 3: middle finger
• 4: ring finger
• 5: little finger

In both hands, the thumb is 1 and the little finger is 5. The two hands do not use different numbers.

Where the numbers are printed varies a little from score to score, but on the treble staff played by the right hand they are often above the notes, and on the bass staff played by the left hand they are often below. Not every note gets a number. Many scores only mark the places where the hand changes position or where it is easy to go wrong.

This numbering belongs to the piano. On the guitar, for example, the left hand counts the index finger as 1 and gives the thumb no number. And in 19th-century Britain, piano music often used a system that marked the thumb with a “+” or “0” and numbered the index to little fingers 1 to 4. The English Wikipedia article Fingering (music) describes this difference. If an old score or a book for another instrument confuses you, this may be why.

Same numbers, opposite movement

The part of finger numbers that most often trips children up is that the two hands mirror each other.

Put the right hand on the keys with the thumb on C, the index finger on D and so on, and C D E F G becomes 1 2 3 4 5. Play the same C D E F G with the left hand and the little finger lands on C and the thumb on G, so it becomes 5 4 3 2 1. The rule is the same, but as the notes go up, the right hand’s numbers rise and the left hand’s fall.

This is obvious to an adult and confusing to a child. I think it works best to practise the right and left hands separately at first, let the child get used to how numbers and keys line up in each hand, and only then move on to both hands.

Tips for teaching a child

Learn it on the hand before the score

Trying to link the numbers in the music straight to the keys is too much to look at all at once. It is easier to link the numbers to the child’s own hand first.

Spreading the hand and counting “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” together from the thumb is enough. Tracing around the hand on paper and writing a number at each fingertip also works well, I think. If you draw both the right hand and the left hand, the child can see that the thumb is 1 on both.

A game of calling numbers

Once numbers and fingers start to connect, try a game with the hands resting on a table: lift only the finger whose number the adult calls. “3” is the middle finger, “5” is the little finger. After the right hand, try the left, and then mix them: “right 2”, “left 4”.

You will notice that finger 4, the ring finger, is hard to move on its own. When the child tries to lift it, the neighbouring finger often comes up too. This is not because a child’s hand is immature. Adults find it hard as well. I don’t think it is worth worrying about.

One finger, one key at first

At the start, I think it is clearest to place the five fingers on five neighbouring keys, one each, and play pieces that need no change of hand position. Each finger number then matches exactly one key, so the number alone tells the child which key to press.

Movements that change the hand position, such as passing the thumb under the other fingers or crossing a finger over, can wait until this is comfortable. I don’t think waiting is too late.

When a child ignores the numbers

Children often ignore the finger numbers. They play everything with the index finger, or press with whichever finger is easiest. The notes still sound, and the song still gets played.

The numbers are there so that the next note, and the one after it, are easy to reach. Following them lets a phrase continue without big jumps of the hand, and the child runs out of fingers less often. In a short, easy song the difference is hard to see, but it grows as pieces get longer and faster.

Still, I believe it is better not to correct a young child’s fingering too strictly. If they are stopped every time with “wrong finger”, the piano itself stops being fun. I think the right balance is to celebrate finishing the song first, and then show once: “If you play this note with finger 3, the next one is easier.”

Choosing pieces where following the numbers naturally makes things easier also helps, meaning short pieces where the hand stays in one place. In those pieces, keeping to the numbers and playing comfortably are the same thing, so the child is more likely to notice the benefit on their own.

Practice with sheet music and finger numbers

Kinder Piano is a piano app for iPhone and iPad for children from about age 3 to the early years of primary school. I made it for my 4-year-old daughter. It shows real sheet music with treble and bass clefs, highlights the next note, shows the finger number above it, and lights up the key to press. The child can follow the number in the music, their own finger and the key all at once, so I think it works as a next step after the “link numbers to fingers” practice above.

You can choose to practise the Melody, the Accompaniment or Both hands, so a child can get used to one hand at a time before playing with both. Slow mode waits until the right key is pressed, so the child can check the finger number and go one note at a time. Everything works with the on-screen keyboard, and you can also connect a Bluetooth or USB MIDI keyboard.

All 21 nursery songs are free, the first classical piece and the first ear training level are free, and free play and MIDI connection are free too. A one-time purchase opens the rest of the classical pieces and every ear training level. There are no ads and no subscription.

How to use the app is in Getting Started with Kinder Piano, and when to start is in What Age Should a Child Start Piano?