My left hand is crap...

[jas]

... so can anyone recommend any pieces (as opposed to exercises, if possible) that are good for developing a more solid l.h. technique. It just doesn't have the strength, stretch or control of my right hand! I play too much 19th century music, I think.
I take it I'm not the only one with this annoying and seemingly incurable problem? Go on, make me feel better!

Thanks,

Jas

[arensky]

Off the top of my head

Scarlatti Sonata in f# minor K.25/L.481. This will pit your LH against your RH,  it will have to keep up. Also K.517/L.266 in d minor.

Bach's 2-part Inventions will provide the same challenge/stimulus for your LH.

After you've done a few of these pieces you should try Chopin's Etudes op.10 #4 and op.10 #12, the famous "Revolutionary" Etude.

Hope this helps

[zheer]

Good reply by arensky, but am not sure about the 10/4 by chopin, that one is really advanced, i would play 25/1 left hand only by chopin insted ov 10/4.

[g_s_223]

Polyphonic playing is equally useful for developing LH independence. So, work your way through the following works of Bach, more-or-less in this order:
1) 2-Part Inventions
2) 3-Part Sinfonias
3) Partitas
4) WTC Bks I&II (3-part pieces)
5) WTC Bks I&II (4-part pieces)
6) Goldbergs

[stevie]

the chopin-godowsky etudes

[jamie_liszt]

lol thats the first thing that popped into my head, chopin-godowsky etudes, try the op. 25 no 12 for left hand only by godowsky, AHHHHH. the op 25 no 11 also hard.

the more you use your left hand, not just on the piano but for alot of things, the moreyou will get used to using it. try exercise for finger strength and scales to help even you playing and strengthen the weak fingers.

[brahmsian]

The Op. 25 No. 11/12 Godowsky Etudes are good for raw left hand technique

The left hand one for Op. 10 No. 3 is good for left hand control. The melody moves all over the place, sometimes it's on the bottom of chords, in the middle, or on top. It can be difficult to make the melody stick out in some parts and not just play mush.

[jamie_liszt]

It would be hard to play an arrangement of flight of the bumblebee where you play the fast parts with your left hand down lower (only an octave then normal) and the chords in the right hand up higher, maybe some sort of left hand only flight of the bumblebee arrangement lol. this would be hard to get even at presto 200 bpm ahhh@!

[ted]

Try regular improvisation using a lot of left hand. This has a marked advantage over pieces in that its effect is immediate because no learning process is involved. Also, you can make it precisely as difficult as you need, no more, no less. Another spin-off is that you are exercising your musicianship at the same time. Use voicings and patterns which place heavy demands on control rather than on velocity - irregular double notes carrying the melody in the outer fingers - that sort of thing.

[demented cow]

Other LH repertoire:
-Brahms transcribed various pieces for left hand (e.g. Bach Chaconne, Schubert Eb
Impromptu, Weber Perpetuum Mobile).
-Felix Blumenfeld: Etude for left hand alone, op. 36. This is a beautiful little piece. People have said that they liked it when I played it at a party. It's harder than e.g. Chopin op. 10/12, although it doesn't sound like it. However, it doesn't have to be played at the
tempo that Barere and Hamelin use. It works just as well much slower (cf. Daniel
Blumenthal's recording on Marco Polo).
(I was going to upload the Barere live recording as a demo, but yousendit.com is rejecting it for some reason.)

[lau]

Just find a way to make your left hand better.   

[whynot]

I read an interview with a famous pianist (I can't remember which one! someone marvelous) who recommended that every pianist spend two weeks each year playing with only the left hand, because it is such a weakness for almost everyone.  Scales, left-hand pieces, and--mainly-- their own repertoire, but just the LH parts.   

I think all the previous suggestions are great, and I have another thought to add:  Part of what our hands do is what they've practiced doing, but I think, even more so, that physical coordination and prowess is the brain or imagination sending the clearest possible signals to the nerves, which makes the hands sort of self-coordinate.  So my thought is to take one piece (or section) and memorize the whole LH part.  Learn it as its own piece, without thinking about the RH or melody at all.  If you already know the music, it's diffiicult to tune all that out, so you may have to try this with a new piece you've never heard.  When people tell me they can't memorize, I ask them if they can sing or play the melody of their piece.  "Oh sure," and they do it.  Then I ask, how does the LH go?  They have NO idea.  Your question isn't about memorization, but I think both issues involve the same areas of comprehension and attention that tell our hands what to do next, and somewhat automatically they do it. 

[danyal]

Nobody has suggested the op 135 etudes for the left hand by Saint-Saens... hmmm... Ok, I am at no liberty to say that something is too advanced or easy for you until I know approximately what level you are on. What pieces do you play at the moment? (specifically referring to the ones you have completed and rounded off as opposed to the ones you are learning...)

[ted]

I think whynot is on the right track here. Such weaknesses can form simply through habits of thought, and a heap of strenuous left-handed exercise might not be an appropriate remedy. I was interested to read Jarrett's liner notes for "Radiance", wherein he makes this very point. At sixty he is talking about "starting to let his left hand tell him things", or something to that effect. It is easy to get into the habit of thinking and hearing the music through one hand. If this has become ingrained, then perhaps single-handed practice may not address the core problem. Maybe improvising passages of simultaneous, convoluted events in both hands would do more good because it forces an equal distribution of concentration.

I'm just guessing here, I have had little formal training in anything, but that is what I know to be true about my own playing.

[whynot]

Ted, you always make me want to run to the piano and start improvising.  I think you're right, this is an intriguing and practical way to address balancing the hands.  I'm going to try it too.  Heaven knows what will come out.

[lostinidlewonder]

Ted is pretty correct in saying improvise with the LH. Even if you don't know how to improvise just play around with the LH  even if it sounds bad. It all has to do with practice and training. The more you do it the better you get. Improvisation will be quick, instant, perhaps the sound quality isn't nice but that isn't the point you want to get that hand moving about.

How does someone who breaks their legs badly learn to walk again? They don't just get up and run a marathon. They do simple excersies, learn to rehabilitate their limb with constant movement. Same with those who complain of a weak LH, don't play etudes which demand only the LH to work unless you want to torture yourself. First play excerises to strength them (hanon for example), and then muck around with Improvisations playing Chords, arpeggios and strings of notes that you have observed your RH play before. Perhaps you can even play pieces you already know in reverse, LH playing what the RH plays. Don't waste time learning pieces specifically to develop the LH, it shouldn't be treated that way because it is no weaker than the RH, it just needs to be used more often.

[letters]

im lucky cuz im left handed but just with your normal pieces practice the left hand first rather than what people normally do (the right hand first). if you get your left hand really solid and up to speed then you can introduce the right hand. and try little exercises like trills with ur 4th and 5th finger and then 4th and 3rd and then 3rd and 2nd etc with your left hand.