My weak left hand....

[casparma]

Insofar, All my piano sheets rely heavily on right hand. My left hand most of time plays chords...

Therefore, as time passes, it's so dissapointing that even my left hand cant play a C scale evenly, it sounds like this, the last three notes, a,b,c, by fingers 3-5, go much faster than the rest when I try to play the C scale fast with my left hand.

I dont know why is this. My right hand can play mostly any scale fast, but my left just cant do this, even though I am left handed.


Any idea??

please help

thx

[ted]

As you guess, I think it is just because your left hand has had less work. If all it has done is play chords then it isn't surprising you cannot play scales with it. Try giving it much more work and see what happens. It might take a few weeks before you notice any difference though.

[sportsmonster]

i know of a piano piece that is just perfect for challenging the left hand:

chopins revolutionary etude (op10 nr 12)....amazing pianopiece!
but it is very hard and might be on a wrong level comparing to where you are at now.

[stringoverstrung]

I also used to worry about my LH a lot,
I also thought mmm to many etudes for the right compared for the left. I must actively seek LH etudes ...

BUT

i realised that:
1) this is not too bad as long as you follow the directions from our well known mr C.C Chang in
 https://members.aol.com/mccc8888/chapter1_3.htm
 point 20.

for this you must constantly pay attention and ask yourself: when did my RH learn a new movement? At that point you must take your time to practice it with LH also.

2) when playing "double handed runs" you must mentally give your LH the lead.

of course  more LH practice is also OK. Mr. Boris Berezovsky points out that he learned a lot with his LH by playing Godowsky-Chopin. This principle can be implemented on any level: look for LH etudes.

All i'm saying it's not absolutely necessary if practicing consciously.

When you're still young you can also try to improve your coordination in general (brush teeth with LH and so on) but that is not for you since you are Lefthanded...

[xvimbi]

This is a great example showing that practice at the piano to address a pianistic problem is only half the answer. Start working on this AWAY from the piano. Specifically, use your weak hand as much as you can during the day. Use your weak hand for whatever you would usually do with your strong hand, e.g. combing hair, brushing teeth, opening doors, pushing button, eating, writing, etc. If you have problems, carefully look at how you do things with your strong hand. Analyze the motions. Before you do anything, take a second to THINK about how you want to do it. Then try. Over time, your weak hand will become as strong as the strong hand. You will also find situations where your "weak" hand is actually the strong hand, because you have been predominantly using it for that particular activity. It's a matter of coordination, and coordination is a general issue that is not restricted to the piano.

[stormx]

...Specifically, use your weak hand as much as you can during the day. Use your weak hand for whatever you would usually do with your strong hand...,

Does this include masturbation?
Sorry, i couldn't resist 

[xvimbi]

Does this include masturbation?
Sorry, i couldn't resist 

If you would make such statements also in a room full of students, teachers, professors, parents, respectable people in general, etc., then go ahead and make such statements on a forum. If not, than make an effort to resist next time.

[aryantes]

I'm learning piano right now also and I have the same problem with left hand.

My teacher told me to do Hanon #6 and my right hand is like 10 times faster than my left and I get all out of sync but it is helping a lot. Just don't do it too much... tendonitis can be a bad thing when these exercises are overdone.

I am a beginner with probably no grounds to be giving advice but it seems to be helping me so, good luck 

[arensky]

This is a great example showing that practice at the piano to address a pianistic problem is only half the answer. Start working on this AWAY from the piano. Specifically, use your weak hand as much as you can during the day. Use your weak hand for whatever you would usually do with your strong hand, e.g. combing hair, brushing teeth, opening doors, pushing button, eating, writing, etc. If you have problems, carefully look at how you do things with your strong hand. Analyze the motions. Before you do anything, take a second to THINK about how you want to do it. Then try. Over time, your weak hand will become as strong as the strong hand. You will also find situations where your "weak" hand is actually the strong hand, because you have been predominantly using it for that particular activity. It's a matter of coordination, and coordination is a general issue that is not restricted to the piano.

Yes it is a matter of coordination, but movements that need to be coordinated are controlled or manged by the BRAIN...so you may need to do a little mental preparation as you do these things, so you don't get frustrated when at first you don't succeed. I also feel it's not a matter of the hand being STRONG, but being equally ABLE or ADEPT. I felt the same way once, so I started practicing with my LH alone, and a dislocated right shoulder aquired in a basketball game in the 10th grade pushed me along too; I had to take notes and tests and quizzes for two months with my LH, which made me very aware of how much I depended on my RH. During this period (incidentally this pre-empted my first piano competition   and was the end of my contact sport career (very undistinguished at any rate ) ) I also played at the Scriabin Nocturne for the LH, which helped a lot too.

One of the strategies for quitting smoking is to hold the cigarette with your LH or the hand you don't hold the cigarette with. This supposedly starts the dissacociation process, because the habit is programmed by the BRAIN to be carried out by the RH. It seems unnatural to hold the cigarette with the "wrong" hand. This is in line with what xvimbi is talking about...just start to do stuff with your LH, be aware of it, and practice at the piano with it only. We're not clear what level you're at, maybe the Scriabin Prelude for the LH op.9 #? would be a good exercise in addition to practicing your scales and technical exercises with the LH alone.

Here's a fun one, I make my advanced students do it;

1. Sign your name with both hands at the same time
2. Next write "My name is...."
3. Now write "My name is...." in English AND French! ("Je m'appelle...") or Spanish "Me llamo..."

You can evantually carry this to comlex extremes if you desire. I learned about this from a biography of American Presidents; evidently James Garfield the 20th President was a professor of Greek and Latin before entering politics; to impress his students he would write the same quotations on the classroom board simeltaneously in Latin and Greek, then in English and French...

And so you see it's not your HAND, it's your BRAIN. The brain controls all physical motions. Your hand will do what your brain tells it too. It may take some time before your hand is properly conditioned to do what it's supposed to at the keyboard. Be patient, impatience is an emotional reaction it can only interfere and impede your progress....

Hope this helps!  

[stringoverstrung]

You can evantually carry this to comlex extremes if you desire. I learned about this from a biography of American Presidents; evidently James Garfield the 20th President was a professor of Greek and Latin before entering politics; to impress his students he would write the same quotations on the classroom board simeltaneously in Latin and Greek, then in English and French...

And so you see it's not your HAND, it's your BRAIN. The brain controls all physical motions. Your hand will do what your brain tells it too. It may take some time before your hand is properly conditioned to do what it's supposed to at the keyboard. Be patient, impatience is an emotional reaction it can only interfere and impede your progress....

Hope this helps!   

Great post. The kind that motivates you for a long time. I'm now writing my wife's name and my name at the same time: it's cool and great fun!  !!!

[casparma]

thanks for the posts..

however, I am lefthanded, so I dont think it will do anything much if I use it for daily work...

any way, I dont know why... when I lift my both arms.. I always that my left arm is heavier..., so I feel I need more muscle strength when playing piano than right hand...

[ted]

Just a quick, seemingly silly question. Do you always sleep on your left side ? Over the years it has amazed me how many peculiar muscular and nervous reactions can be produced in bed. And no, I do not wish a flood of facetious replies please.

In particular, having your body weight cause various parts to go numb and paralysed at night, although probably harmless if occurring now and then, probably doesn't exactly do wonders for finger control if repeated over years.

Another wild guess - if you are left handed, is anything you are doing regularly putting pressure on the nerves through the elbow, wrist or palm ? That can cause quite noticeable weakness, as I once found out after an over-enthusiastic session with a bullworker.

[bearzinthehood]

<question> I have a weak LH, what do I do?

<reply> DOOD play the revolutionary etude mang!!!!!!


Why is this a recurring theme?

[maryruth]

Try practicing the scale slow, forte and stacatto (sp?) keeping it even.  Try it fast stacatto.  Then try it smooth.  This may iron it out a bit.  It usually helps for me.  I apply this to a lot of scale patterns--particularly ones with countrapunctal lines

[lostinidlewonder]

There is no other way around improving your Left hand but by practicing it! I would advise the first Hanon for the LH, the general movement will help you strengthen eveness in your basic C maj scale. If you are against doing excersises as many people are on this forum for some obscure reason, then play your pieces you know in reverse. Play the chords in the Rh and let the LH play the melody. That would be the quickest way without having to learn a new piece, otherwise just learn peices which use the LH. Start easy, build on it. easy!

[bearzinthehood]

play your pieces you know in reverse.

This is really cool.  I like to actually just play the mirror image of the RH the same time as I play the RH notes.  It sounds weird but I think it helps you figure out how to move your LH well if you can compare it to the RH.