How to practice this

[cryptkeeper]

I have a problem playing a melody with my left hand and playing another melody with my right hand  (I'm learning on my own so you'll have to excuse me for not using the right terms).
For example 'Music box dancer'. It starts out with your left hand playing a melody. This goes ok untill i start playing with my right hand and my brain starts to freak out.
Did anyone have the same problem and how did you excercise this?

Thanx alot!

[willcowskitz]

...Practice, practice, practice.

I had that problem in the beginning. I practiced, practiced, practiced. And... WHOOPS, I could do it. All of sudden. Go note by note, slowly, bar by bar, slowly. Separately and together, turn by turn. Just keep playing until your hands start to work separately. Bach's fugues are good for this.  

[frederic]

Are you talking about counter point?

What i will do is memorize each hand then put it together. But the thing is some people cant put the two hands together after they practiced them seperately!

[rachfan]

Hi Cryptkeeper:

I am unfamiliar with that piece; but here are three general suggestions that can be useful in any situation like that: 1) Practice hands alone for awhile so that you really learn both parts and can play them independently.  Then in slow practice, put the hands together.  2) Switch the hands by crossing your arms.  In other words, play the LH melody with your RH, and vice versa.  That will get the brain thinking differently, the wrong hand will learn each part and, oddly, when you apply the correct hand to each, they will be able to cope far better.  3) Although you may be playing a "melody" in both hands (assuming one hand is not actually given over to harmony), on close examination you will find that one of the melodies is predominent.  Once you figure out which one is really foreground and which is intended as background, then lower the dynamic level in the background part.  That will enable the hand doing the predominent part to take command,while the other hand assumes a more subdued and balanced role.  I hope these ideas help you.

[cryptkeeper]

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. I will do the things you guys said and hopefully it will work, wich i'm almost sure of.  

[amee]

I think just practice slowly and take things easy.  Make sure you have everything correct.  Once you can play it slowly, gradually build up your tempo.

[BuyBuy]

What is the most difficult about that matter is not to play both melodies, but to actually hear them both as you play... If you can't hear them both, you won't be able to play them lyrically, you won't be able to change your touch independently for each of them, you will just strike down the notes in a harsh manner.

I would suggest you to practice one phrase at a time, memorizing both melody lines, and to put them together slow enough to control and to hear them. Then work on the next phrase and so forth. When everything is under control and you can hear what you're doing, increase the speed little by little.

Hope it helps.

[glamfolk]

Be careful with fingerings when practicing the song slow--you might be playing it in such a way that it's impossible to speed it up.  Some might even say that after you've learned it slow, you have to learn it again to play it fast.  maybe try practicing it a little at a time at performance speed, starting with only the first note or two, and then working up to phrases and then sections.  It's a nontraditional approach, but it might work.