Increasing The Left Hand's Technique

[njimenez4u]

I have been trying to get my left hand up to par (technique wise) with my right hand. I'm always able to memorize and complete difficult right hand passages, but never the left. For example, i started Chopins Prelude op.28 no.18, and i have completed all the right hand passages, but it is very difficult for me to do the left hand, (which is the exact same, only an octave lower) and sync them up. Any ideas as to increasing my technique for the left hand because it is very weak compared to my right. Thank You!

[jugular]

Well there's no magic drug that's going to increase the motor skills in your left hand, so you're going to have to do it the old fashioned way:  scales and arpeggios! Make sure you use a metronome to ensure that you're playing accurately and in time. The left hand is a common weakness for right handed pianists (as it should be..), and it will take a while for it to get up to par with your right hand so keep practising!

[scherzo123]

I have been trying to get my left hand up to par (technique wise) with my right hand. I'm always able to memorize and complete difficult right hand passages, but never the left. For example, i started Chopins Prelude op.28 no.18, and i have completed all the right hand passages, but it is very difficult for me to do the left hand, (which is the exact same, only an octave lower) and sync them up. Any ideas as to increasing my technique for the left hand because it is very weak compared to my right. Thank You!

Here are some fun pieces to toughen up your left-hand technique:

Chopin's "Torrent" Etude Op.10 No.4
Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude Op.10 No.12
Chopin's "Aeolian Harp" Etude Op.25 No.1
Chopin's "Cello" Etude Op.25 No.7
Chopin's "Ocean" Etude Op.25 No.12
Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op.23 No.5

I would also recommend Hanon's 60 Exercises for Becoming a Virtuoso, Bach's WTC, Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, Mozart Piano Sonatas, and Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

Good Luck!    

[davidjosepha]

As jugular stated, scales are a great way to get it up. I'm actually on the same quest as you, although I haven't really noticed many problems with my left hand up until I started playing Bach more. My main issue isn't that I have trouble playing the left hand parts, it's just I have trouble getting my right and left hand to sync up at a faster tempo because my left hand tends to be just a tiny bit behind the beat and my right hand tends to be just a tad ahead of the beat, and the combination makes it sound sloppy. Scales and arpeggios with a metronome are definitely the answer. Lots of hands alone practice too. It's easy for your right hand to cover up your left hand's sloppiness when playing scales, so you'll want to make sure that your left hand is even, especially when crossing your thumb under your 4 on the way down, which I find to be the trickiest part. Start slow. Don't try to play faster than you can play flawlessly, perfectly evenly, or you'll just reinforce poor technique.

Here are some fun pieces to toughen up your left-hand technique:

Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op.23 No.5

I would also recommend Hanon's 60 Exercises for Becoming a Virtuoso, Bach's WTC, Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, Mozart Piano Sonatas, and Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

Good Luck!    

I can attest to how good prelude op. 23/5 is for your left hand. Your left hand has to play fast repeated chords (8th then two 16ths, repeat) for the march section and then in the quieter middle section, it plays fast broken chords. Bach WTC and Inventions are also great practice. Mozart, definitely. I haven't played much Beethoven although what I have played seems to have a very easy left hand part. Can't hurt though.

[49410enrique]

it's tough to really say, what is it that is lacking, is it accuracy with jumps, is it an endurance issue, is it tension in melodic passages, is tone quality and projection not what it should be when the LH has melody, is it a balance issue when the RH should shine?


either way, i'd probably spend sometime with some pieces for left hand only.

i.e.

[scherzo123]

I can attest to how good prelude op. 23/5 is for your left hand. Your left hand has to play fast repeated chords (8th then two 16ths, repeat) for the march section and then in the quieter middle section, it plays fast broken chords. Bach WTC and Inventions are also great practice. Mozart, definitely. I haven't played much Beethoven although what I have played seems to have a very easy left hand part. Can't hurt though.

Woops! I actually meant Prelude Op.23 No. 2, sorry!

[hfmadopter]

I have been trying to get my left hand up to par (technique wise) with my right hand. I'm always able to memorize and complete difficult right hand passages, but never the left. For example, i started Chopins Prelude op.28 no.18, and i have completed all the right hand passages, but it is very difficult for me to do the left hand, (which is the exact same, only an octave lower) and sync them up. Any ideas as to increasing my technique for the left hand because it is very weak compared to my right. Thank You!

I'd start right there with that piece you are working on and bone up on the left hand. Work on it more than your right.

Some Bach always helps ( seems to be my common response for all things bad or not working lately !). It's just that Bach makes the left hand share duty.

The answer is use it more, don't give the left hand a free pass ! I know, I'm guilty of the same thing.

[scherzo123]

I almost forgot! Another fun and exhilarating piece would be Rachmaninoff's Moment Musicaux Op.16 No.4.

[j_menz]

Some Bach always helps ( seems to be my common response for all things bad or not working lately !).

There are few ills a little Bach will not help.

[austinarg]

There are few ills a little Bach will not help.

Indeed. J.S. is the panacea of music 

[iansinclair]

I knew there was a reason being dyslexic and ambidextrous was an advantage... there had to be something (considering the grief the rest of the things in the world give me)!

And I agree -- there are very few things that a little Bach won't help out.

[ahinton]

Agreed again about Bach, many of whose keyboard works provide a surprising number and variety of solutions to problems encountered in the keyboard writing of composers very different to Bach himself; indeed, one pianist once told me that he'd never encountered any difficulties in any piano music that he'd worked on which were not amenable to solutions to be found in Bach and Chopin - and I'm referring here to a pianist whose repertoire includes not only the two major cycles of piano pieces by Albeniz and Granados but also the Symphonie and Concerto of Alkan, Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, works by Medtner and Rachmaninov, all the Scriabin sonatas, some 20 works by Sorabji (around 24 hours' worth, in fact) and a substantial amount of contemporary repertoire by Finnissy, Ferneyhough and others.

But to return to the topic of the left hand. Curiously, I have encountered two pianists who are ambidextrous but still have problems with left hand strength, resilience and agility similar to those encountered by most right-handed pianists - and, for that matter, my experience does not espeailly encourage me to conclude that left-handed pianists all have the problem in reverse, either. However, never mind that, as it's less important that ways to find solutions that may help.

The Scriabin is a useful one of a number of examples of left-hand-only piano music (of which there is, perhaps understandably, far more than there is music for right hand alone, although there's a study for right hand by Alkan that is almost insanely difficult, even for him - and, unlike so much of his music, however difficult it may be to play, not especially rewarding in terms of what can be gotten out of it compared to what has to be put into it).

The most seriously comprehensive and rewarding left-hand-alone work is, however, to be found in Godowsky's seminal work, the 54 Studien über die Etüden von Chopin, of which 22 are for left hand alone and, perhaps more than any earlier left-hand piano music, are designed to sound as though at least two hands are playing constantly. Godowsky may not quite be the greatest ever composer of piano music, but the sheer extent of his innate understanding of the capabilities of pianists and pianos place him pretty much at the top of the tree when it comes to devising superlative piano writing; his relentless and limitless imagination as this series of studies develops is seen to be utterly irrepressible.

As most here may already know, few of these studies have had more than very occasional public performances until the past quarter century or so. The best recordings of the entire set are those by Carlo Grante on Altarus and Marc-André Hamelin on Hyperion, of which both are still available. A score of this cycle of studies should be an indispensible item in the libraries of all pianists. Their difficulties should also not discourage those who are not already "super-virtuosi" (perish the term!), because studying them even without expectation of being able eventually to perform them offers its own immensely rich rewards.

Best,

Alistair

[asuhayda]

Czerny Op. 718 for the left hand is pretty good too.  I don't usually recommend Czerny, but I've found this one to be pretty effective.

Other than that... you can almost pick any piece by Bach at random and it will help you with your left hand!

Good luck!

[49410enrique]

came across this felt it was a pretty fantastic resource for all things 'bringing left hand up to par'
best list of studies and pieces for the left hand i have ever seen. links within to the downloadable PD scores
in addition to Mr Hinton's suggestions might we also offer:

List of Piano works for the left handFree public domain sheet music from IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library
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Updated 2.4.09- Normus

Solo PianoAlkan, Charles-Valentin :
3 Grandes Études, Op.76

Bach, Johann Sebastian :
Gavotte from Partita No.3 in E Major

Bartók, Béla :
Piano Pieces, DD71

Birkedal-Barfod, Ludvig :
Etuder for venstre Haand. Op.8
Lette Studier for venstre Haand, Op.15
Melodische Studien für die linke Hand, Op.19
Pianofortestudier for venstre Haand alene

Blanchet, Emile-Robert :

13 Etudes for the Left-Hand, Op.53

Blumenfeld, Felix :

Etude for the Left-Hand, Op.36

Bonamici, Ferdinando :

34 Etudes Melodiques, Op.273

Brahms, Johannes :

Study for the Left Hand after Schubert's Impromptu Op.90 No.2]]
5 Studien, Anh 1 (Bach : Chaconne in d)

Charbonnet, Alice Ellen :

Mappari from Flotows Martha
Chopin, Frederic :

2 Polonaises, Op.40

Chouquet, Louisa :

Serenade for the left hand Piano

Coenen, Willem :

Fantasia for the left hand Piano

Czerny, Carl :

24 Piano Studies for the Left Hand, Op.718

Dreyschock, Alexander :

Variations pour la Main Gauche Seule, Op.22

Fumagalli, Adolfo :

Casta Diva Che Inargenti from Bellini's 'Norma', Op.61
2 Concert Studies for the Left Hand Alone, Op.18
Grande Fantaisie pour Piano pour la main gauche sur Robert le Diable de Meyerbeer, Op.106
Studio Trascendentale, Op.102

Godowsky, Leopold :

Elegy for the Left Hand
Suite for the Left Hand
6 Waltz-Poems for the Left Hand alone
Prelude and Fugue on BACH for the Left-Hand
Capriccio Patetico Hofmann, Józef :

Etude for the left Hand alone, Op.32

Krogmann, Carrie William :

2 Waltz Episodes for the Left Hand Alone, Op.81

Langgĺrd, Siegfried :

Studie für die linke Hand

Lipatti, Dinu :

Sonatina for the Left Hand Alone

Liszt, Franz :

Ungarns Gott, S.543

Moszkowski, Moritz :

12 Etudes for the left Hand, Op.92

Nepomuceno, Alberto :

Five Little Pieces for the left hand

Pabst, Paul :

Etude for the Left Hand on Famous Themes
Ponce Cuellar, Manuel Maria :

Malgre Tout

Reinecke, Carl :

Sonate für die linke Hand alleine

Rossini, Gioacchino :

Otello

Satter, Gustav :

3 Morceaux de Concert no.1 r.hand no.2 l, hand

Saint-Saëns, Camille :

6 Etudes for the Left Hand, Op.135

Scriabin, Aleksandr :

Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op.9

Thomas, Ambroise :

Mignon

Zichy, Count Géza :

Valse d'Adčle
Viennese Pranks
Allegretto Grazioso
Polonaise in A Major

Piano and Orchestra

Bortkiewicz, Sergei Eduardovich :

Piano Concerto No.2, Op.28

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang :

Piano Concerto for the left hand, Op. 17

Ravel, Maurice :

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Strauss, Richard :

Parergon, Op.73



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Category: Scores featuring the piano left hand


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[ahinton]

There are now at least two threads devoted to what Ives would have called "southpaw pitching"; perhaps they should be united (if not defeated!)...

Best,

Alistair

[49410enrique]

There are now at least two threads devoted to what Ives would have called "southpaw pitching"; perhaps they should be united (if not defeated!)...

Best,

Alistair

INDEED