Exercises to help with agility in the left hand?

[musicluvr49]

Does anyone know of any exercises that will help with this? Thanks.

[pmwpmw]

I suggest slow staccato practice against a metronome. Increase tempo at one click a day. Don't reach for notes with fingers, but position arm over the note. Stay relaxed. Use rubato where possible in between the tick of the metronome, so you stay musical. PW

[sucom]

I agree with pmwpmw about using a metronome to help left hand agility.  As an example, I got my left hand moving smoothly and quickly in the semiquaver section of the second movement of Beethoven's Appassionata by slowing the metronome right down to a speed where I could play the left hand notes smoothly and evenly.  Once the initial speed was set, quite slow to achieve smoothness and control,  I repeated the section over and over, each time increasing the speed by 5.  During each practice session, I was gradually able to reach surprisingly high speeds, while at the same time keeping the semiquavers very smooth and even.

Every day, I took the metronome back to a comfortable speed that allowed even playing, and gradually increased it by 5.  In this way, my initial starting speed slowly increased and the semiquavers became faster and faster over a period of time.  It requires a lot of patience but it really DOES help.

[pmwpmw]

Yes, following on fron sucom's comments I remember that Chopin said that to speed up scale playing (not quite what's under discussion), you must increase your speed gradually. Obvious - but no one thinks of it. The metronome gives a method for holding back speed until the necessary stamina and coordinations develop.
But attacking a problem from multiple angles als works. If you watch Richter you can see him squeezing with his finger tips. This is a very different idea to 'positioning with the arm, not reaching with the finger'. But both help.
One very hard left hand passage is the Rachmaninov prelude in B flat, starting on the b flat octave in the left hand, can't recall the opus. Staccato practice against metronome will give accuracy 'from the shoulder'. Innevitably there is going to have to be some 'reaching with fingers' but the previous thing will minimise it. This opening is the hardest part of this hardest prelude, so kill it and you've got a great piece under your belt!
I've performed the Opus 23 nos 4 and 5 a number of times and want to add the B flat - sometime soon! PW - ps I'm left handed!

[sucom]

Yes, following on fron sucom's comments I remember that Chopin said that to speed up scale playing (not quite what's under discussion), you must increase your speed gradually. Obvious - but no one thinks of it. The metronome gives a method for holding back speed until the necessary stamina and coordinations develop.

Yes, I totally agree with this.  Too often it is believed that pushing the speed, even if control is lost, is the key to increasing speed, and certainly there are times when pushing yourself will help improve speed (and a feel for the flow of the music) in general.  However, if specifically trying to speed up a certain passage, or piece, it is really important to increase speed while at the same time maintaining control over expression, fingering, evenness, etc.  Gradually increasing speed, while maintaining control, is really helpful and, in my view, very important.   

I have discovered, after many years of practice, that if speed is always given priority over speed plus control, a section of notes can remain uneven for years until control is exercised at the same time as attempting to increase speed.

[outin]

I can't really play hands together with the metronome (at least yet) because it distracts me too much. But I have started playing scales and hands separately with the metronome to force myself to play slower and the results are great. My scales got a lot faster and even with only a couple of times practicing like this. I usually speed up by 10 and continue as long as it's nice and even and then start next day again from a speed that I think I've mastered.