Help weak left hand

[yumaisch]

Hey!
I am right now playing playing Bach’s prelude in c minor! I just realized why I just don’t improve (played it for a while now, but then got stuck although I know the note material!)

The problem is that my left hand (especially fingers 3-5) is soooo weak! :/ that’s also why my scales have been uneven when played in higher speed!

So I want to know how I can improve my left hand to match up with my right hand! Any suggestion on certain exercises/Etudes/pieces?
Or any other advice? All suggestions are welcome!

Thanks in advance

[raytia]

Hey yumaisch! It’s tricky to help people with technique without seeing what they do, but you could check your hand balance. I find that oftentimes when the 4th and 5th finger feel ‘weak’ it is because the student doesn’t shift the weight of their hand to those fingers.

One exercise you can do is to very slowly play a descending scale and pay particular attention to the weight balance in your hand - it needs to shift to the 4th and 5th finger. This is not a big movement at all, in fact it is barely noticeable, but you can test the balance of your hand by lifting the hand slightly and dropping it back into the key on the 4th/5th finger, and ask yourself whether that feels stable and secure.

Sorry this is a bit cryptic, it’s not easy to explain using just words. It also may not be the issue. This is where having a teacher who can observe you is critical.

[indianajo]

exercises by Aloys Schmitt should be done in the first and second year.  These have as a primary purpose balancing out the strength of the fingers, and promoting independence. Even volume and speed is the goal, especially at louder volumes. Also practice the exercise as soft as you can play it evenly. 
 I started piano study as a cheap form of physical therapy for my injured and rather useless right hand.  It was quite successful, and I can use the right hand now to play advanced melodies at the college level, even though I am left handed.
Aloys Schmitt exercises can be downloaded from piano street. I used the G Schirmer version.
AFter 18 months or so, other exercises as assigned by a teacher are appropriate.  I was guided through the Edna Mae Berman books.  The teaching points are not in those books, so you really need a teacher to benefit from them.  
Fingers 4 and 5 are naturally weak, and 3 and 4 are not really independent.  I maintain strength of 4 and 5 fingers by playing Scott Joplin rags 3 times a week or more.  Fingers 4 & 5  don't get much exercise in ordinary life, and muscles deteriorate rapidly after age 55 if not stressed regularly.  

[lostinidlewonder]

With strings of continuous notes you can always play with the rhythm to helps fluency. For instance you could play in groups of two notes with "short long", and "Long short" type rhythms. You can make the short very short and the long as long as you require to maintain control.

short long: da daaaa, da daaaa etc
long short: daaaa da, daaaa da etc

This could also be done with other groupings of notes, for example groups of 4 notes could be

short short short long: da da da daaaa, da da da daaaa etc
long short short short: daaaa da da da, daaaa da da da etc

During practice routines you can investigate different types of groupings (or even combinations of different groupings) that might help you and then slowly remove the long notes between them. IT may also help you locate weaknesses and catch yourself in the act.

[stillnimble]

Practice your scales. 3 Octaves in triplets and 4 octaves in fours left hands first. than both hands together. 15 minute daily  at first  and then both hands together. Practice slowly at first and when you feel the left hand is improving increase the speed but gradually. SCALES ARE MOST IMPORTANT.
Always play your scales before starting pieces.

[brogers70]

I found these studies for the left hand by Berens helpful

https://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Pflege_der_linken_Hand%2C_Op.89_(Berens%2C_Hermann)

[agajewski]

I had exactly the same issue with my left hand and noticed that Hanon 1-5 helped with that issue. Perhaps some say Hanon is boring but at least it helped

[sucom]

If your left hand is weaker than your right hand, it's possibly because you are right-handed, which would mean your left hand is naturally weaker because you use it less.  To counteract this would mean to practice the left hand MORE than the right hand to balance the two hands equally.

Also, many piano students tend to see the left hand as the 'accompanying' hand, the one that provides the accompaniment to a melody so tend to focus more on the right hand when practicing.   The left hand then begins to lag behind as a result.  I often think this - if a violinist and a cellist were playing a duet, would you say to the violinist 'Here, you had better practice this a lot!  It's difficult'  while at the same time saying to the cellist 'Don't worry about practicing this piece - you only have the accompaniment to play! No-one will notice if you're not that good at it'   No, of course you wouldn't say this, it would be crazy to think such a thing, and yet I can bet there are quite a few people practicing the piano with this in mind.

It's true there are pieces which are going to challenge your left hand, but my best advice would be to begin thinking of your left hand as learning a piece of music like the cellist, giving the left hand part equal importance to the right hand part.  In this way, your hands will begin to balance up in ability. If your left hand scales are not as even or speedy as your right hand scales, practice them a little more.  At the same time, the Bach you are currently playing will go a long way to helping you improve your left hand.  I would play more Bach because the left and right hand parts are very balanced in their use.

Good luck with your playing!

[ted]

There is also the well known trick of practising figures reflected about D and Ab. So the figure Gb,Bb,Db,F, for example in the right hand, is mirror symmetric with Bb,Gb,Eb,B in the left. This means that anything which one hand plays can be physically replicated for the other hand, making any differences and deficiencies in action very clear. It is a very obvious idea and I have used it to good effect for years on the Virgil Practice Clavier. Completely symmetrical dexterity of the hands, of course, has nothing to do with musical effect but it cannot do any harm.