Pieces with different LH techniques for practice?

[lecafe88]

Hi all,

I can't help but keep thinking that my left hand is considerably weaker than my RH, however instead of correcting it I seem to have avoided this problem the whole time by deliberately choosing repertoire with a less taxing LH compared to the RH.

I'm about to start learning the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Les Adieux, and that has a very tough left hand part from what I've seen from scores/synthesia/performances.

So I'm wondering if I should jump straight into the Les Adieux 3rd to deal with the LH problem, or should I build up a better foundation for my LH first? If so, what suggestions do you have, other than the Revolutionary Etude? I'm particularly interested in those with lots of scales, but preferable not Hanon/Czerny style pieces please.

My sig has most of the repertoire I've done but here's some of the recent works I've done. As you can probably tell, other than the Bach, these works take considerably more skill in the right hand compared to the left. 

Bach prelude and fugue in C minor (not too bad of a LH, except for the presto section as all fingers were tested)

Pathetique 1st (a big endurance exercise, but otherwise the non octave tremolos sections were easy)

Moonlight 3rd (relatively easy LH in my opinion, only alberti bass, tremolos and repeated single notes)

Tempest sonata-Ironically the hardest LH part was in the 2nd movement, the 1st and 3rd movement LH parts were a joke.

Mozart K284 -this one tripped me up slightly. It's always a hit or miss at the section in the 1st movement where the hands do the turning scale in similar motion.

Mozart K331 (again more alberti bass and staccato parts, nothing undoable)

[awesom_o]

Very weak sauce. Many people have this kind of sauce.

JUGGLE! Juggling will make both hands equally strong and your piano playing will thank you for it!

Also, try doing all sorts of activities you normally do only with your right hand  with your left instead.

Examples include: brushing your teeth, throwing a ball, writing with a pen or pencil, etc!

Really push your brain so that your LH doesn't suck!

Playing advanced repertoire with a LH that sucks=a waste of time!

Quite a good piece for developing symmetry of the hands is this:

It's also a lovely and charming little piece. You can find the music on imslp!

[symphonicdance]

Chopin-Godowsky etudes.  Many of them are for LH only.  And it's better to play them very slowly first.

[ted]

If I have a weakness or injury, as I did a couple of years ago, I find it best to invent my own material, musically interesting to me, which targets specific problematic movements. That way I am doing two things at once. Other people's pieces are likely to have been written with very general issues in mind, and might not appeal to me musically.

If the left hand is weak generally, at and away from the piano, you could try a wrist ball; many people assert it does some good. I have always found my non-dominant hand, although perhaps lacking the brute strength of its opposite, has greater flexibility and agility, particularly in finger work. Therefore I am not sure how valuable complete symmetry of technique really is. Sure, you can practise all playing forms in mirrored positions about D and Ab, but then piano sound itself is decidedly unsymmetrical; what sounds good up top might sound horrible down below and vice-versa, for example the inversion of a stride bass is musically pointless.

I agree with awesome's suggestion of deliberately using the non-dominant hand in everyday activities though.