Left hand and right hand practice

Stub

Reading the discussion on sightreading and where to start reading (bottom to top, middle out, etc) got me to thinking about something my teacher said. She said students don't spend nearly enough time on the non-melody hand, which is usually the left hand. The left hand (non-melody) part (broken or non-broken chords, Alberti bass) is often simpler than the right hand, so we tend to take it for granted that we can play it. My experience is that she was correct. My mistakes often come in the left hand (which is somewhat weaker for me, as I'm right-handed). The right hand melody, on the other hand, seems easier (it's the part you can sing along with) and takes care of itself. Playing the left hand alone (assuming it's non-melody) is often harder for me to do. You need to count carefully and you don't have the melody to help you out. Comments?

danno858

For me it will depend on the passage. Sometimes it helps to practice the left hand alone, and in the cases where you find it hard you should sing the right hand melody in your head while you practice the left hand. The thing to watch out for is spending too much time "hands alone" as you need the practice for muscle memory of playing hands together so you need to keep a balance. I'm also right handed any my right hand is more advanced than my left...

lilypad

When I'm learning a piece, I generally start out hands separate and then within a day or so go to hands together. If the rhythm is syncopated, I might start practicing hands together almost right away, as it helps me with rhythmic placement.
I've been doing this recently while learning an arrangement of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man".

If I plan to perform a piece from memory, I continue to practice both HS and HT to the point where I can play the entire piece HS.

I'm left handed, so dexterity is more of an issue for my right hand.

ranjit

Well also the melody sets into your ear quicker, and so there's less chance for error. This happens even when the melody is in the left hand.

danno858

It's harder for my left hand - even when the melody is there!

Animisha

Strangely, I make far more mistakes with my right hand - I am right handed.
But then I almost always play hands separate when a piece is new.

pseudonym58

As I think I've mentioned here before, my left hand is a bit of a slow learner, so I usually have to concentrate more on what I'm doing with it as opposed to my right hand. My right hand is capable of somewhat more autopilot operation, so to speak.

Stub

In practice I do both HS and HT right from the start, contradictory as that sounds. HT for a playthrough to get the spirit of the piece, HS for fingering. I will continue moving between HS and HT (mostly HT) until I'm starting to feel somewhat comfortable with the piece. But when I am doing hands separate I should be doing more left hand practice, such that I am very, very familiar with it. If there are big leaps, even more so.

BartK

It's not only about HS

pseudonym58

In this section from Schumann's Romance #3 for oboe and piano, you can see a similar passage to what's discussed in the video. Initially the difficult thing for me was to decide how to split the triplets between the left and right hands. I went back and forth quite a bit until deciding on what I have there. Even so, I had to transpose the G-flat from the left hand to the right at the end of the first measure shown. I saw another edition that removed two notes in the sixth measure shown. This really has to be practiced hands together, but I also practice the triplets as solid chords to further reinforce the hand positions. The tempo is about 100 to the quarter.

pseudonym58

At the risk of trying your patience, here's a section of the Schumann Romance #2. The tempo was supposed to be at least 108 to the quarter but I'll be lucky if I can play at 100 accurately enough. This is one passage where although the right hand has a lot to do, I really do have to concentrate on the left hand so as to not hit octaves that are in the wrong place. I had to remove a few notes at the beginning of the repeated section just because I couldn't get my right hand to jump back and forth quickly enough. Fortunately, the right hand has its more important notes "on the bass side of the accompaniment", with the left hand octaves being what the oboist needs to hear to ensure that we're together. Goes down to a low B!

Player1

If you're weaker on the LH, because most beginner pieces focus more on the RH, pick up one of the books from Wunderkeys. The music seems to have a lot more LH stuff, and it's more complex, than what the other method books have.

As an example, this is from Wunderkeys book The Cinderella Solos which is early intermediate/late beginner. Watch my LH and you'll see that it switches off with the RH and carries the melody sometimes before changing to harmony again.

https://rumble.com/v4wui8c-practice-is-hard-sometimes.html

Most of the Wunderkeys stuff does this. The Intermediate Performance, level 2, book I have continues with incorporating the LH more than just basic chords but it's also more advanced, easily mid level intermediate and above.

Jane

I do a lot of HS even on pieces I've memorized.
If you're subscribed to Tonebase, check out Garrick Ohlsson's video on the Chopin Barcarolle.
And how Rosina Lhévinne humiliated him in a lesson at Juilliard by asking him to "play left hand alone" in the più mosso beginning at measure 93.
"And, of course, I couldn't," he still laments... this many decades later. And in the video he displays that he most certainly can now 😉

thepianoplayer416

I learned violin in school. Like playing guitar, the LH is the one pressing the right notes on the strings while RH pulls the bow back & forth gently not to make a scratchy sound. Being right-handed, my LH is naturally weaker but from the beginning I played both hands with as much force. This is great for playing pieces from the early 18th century or before where the melodic lines overlapping are treated equally.

By the time you get to playing pieces from the late 18th century into the present, you'd play the LH softer to let the melody stands out. As long as you play all the right notes, the LH playing softer isn't a bad thing. When it comes to playing a Bach fugue, it's a good idea to play both hands at about the same volume.