Hanon Exercise #1 extreme left hand stress

[hawkranger]

Hey guys how r u all?
ok i have been playing keyboards for nearly 6 years now with my band but never practiced properly so when i decided to get started i found that i should start with Hanon book
and here when i started the #1 exercise my right hand was as expected can do the exercise at 108 tempo from first try
but the left hand after going throw exercise #1 two times at tempo of 60 i felt extreme stress and as expected "i think" the pinky and ring fingers are extremely weak
is this normal or maybe am doing something wrong with my left hand
i checked couple of vids on youtube to see the positioning and how the left hand work it seemed pretty normal to me but 2 times and i already had to stop for about 30 sec to try again and then 2 times and 30 sec rest
is this normal??
thanx for the info

[jeffkonkol]

I wouldn't call it quite normal, but I wouldn't stress about it just yet.  Depending on the genre of your band, you simply may not have gotten much left hand work at all other than held octave chords... and keyboard action, depending on the board, is a lot different than a piano.

drop the right hand entirely just to remove any stress related to syncing the two hands out of the equation.  60 is probably a good tempo to stick to for a bit.

Is the stress predominantly coming with gaining independent motion of the 5th and fourth fingers on the left hand, or is the pain and stress felt throughout the hand ?

the assumption is that after a week or two of casually working through it the motions will seem less foreign and you might even develop a bit of muscle memory for it, which will help.... if after a week though you are still feeling noticable discomfort... get that checked

[hawkranger]

well actually yes i never did much work with the left hand in my band
and yesterday after an hour of training just only the first exercise i was able to reach 90 tempo with my left hand and the stress kinda got less by time
maybe i got used to it and like u said because i never really did work with it that much so it was all new

but still my left hand is so much weaker than the right hand i guess i still have to give it it's own time and practice
do u have any recommendations??
i was thinking of Berens training of the left hand op.89 book i have it and i think it migh help to work on it beside Hanon
and thanx for replaying and for the info

[nystul]

Honestly I would not worry about the tempo at all until you can get the hang of playing it while keeping your wrist and fingers relaxed.  Not so much for exercise #1, as for the all the other ones!  Because they get a lot harder in terms of strange fingering combinations.  Going at it too hard could lead to tendonitis which will make you back off one way or another. 

[bleicher]

Go much slower, hands separately. Concentrate on keeping your wrist relaxed and keeping the fingers resting on the keys when not being played. Watch out for the 5th finger: the third between 5 and 4 in that exercise is a (slight) stretch, so after you've played the note make sure it comes back towards the other fingers and rests on the key until it's next needed. Keep the wrist in front of each note as it's being played; some pianists move the wrist in circles which can help, but the important thing is that the wrist is free. Make sure the arm is free too, and that you're not raising the shoulder. Play it very very slowly every day, and only get faster when you can play it keeping everything free and relaxed. Even when you can play it faster, play it slowly first thing each day then get faster after that.

[hawkranger]

Yes that's what i think i'll do
i'll start working my left hand alone at slow tempo
and i think it is getting better cause after reaching 90 tempo yesterday i went back to playing 70 and 60 and it was much relaxed than first time playing
i guess it really was just because it is my first time exercising
and am planing to give my left hand at least half an hour
and i think i'll try Berens "Training of the left hand op.89" book also with Hanon
maybe that will help
my fifth finger strength is much better than the fourth which is actually the thing bothering me
but still i guess that's normal for that the 4th finger to be weak in both hands tho my right is slightly stronger than the left

thanx for the info it is much appreciated
if u have any more advices it will be really great thanx again

[lostinidlewonder]

Try changing the rhythm you use to play the pattern. One basic one you might find useful;
So Long short: C   EF  GA  GF  ED FG ...etc 
Short long: CE FG AG FE DF GA ... etc

[hawkranger]

umm... sorry if i didn't get it but what do u mean by long short and short long ?? "am not experienced with terms sorry "

[lostinidlewonder]

It is just how I describe it, they are not official terms as such.

If you where to read how I grouped the letters, pause in between each space, that is how you would play it. However when on the piano, while you pause hold the notes down on the keyboard, these are the long notes.

How long you hold the note or how fast depends on what feels comfortable for your hand. You know when you are going too slow because it doesn't challenge you, you know if you are too fast because it is not steady. Doing this trains the combination between the fingers, with the pauses you can steady yourself, when you play the fast notes you have to be confident. Mixing pauses with the speed can trick the mind to learn the effortless touch thus increase speed. You may also become more aware of the exact movements that cause you problems.

[hawkranger]

i c it is like i give it an accent on the notes before the pause i'll try that