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Are there any exercises to tame down the touch of left hand?


lovenara

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As a selftaught amateur pianoplayer ,( began at nearly 30 )

I can play some classical pieces but with same amount of energy in both hands

so my bass is always slamming and sometime louder than right hand!!!

i notice Ciani and other great pianists' lefthands

are very lightly but enough to hold the song

Please tell this amateur,how good pianists like many of you practise lefthand for this purpose?

thnx in advance

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I'm interested in this too since I have the same problem.

 

I've been trying to practice scales being very careful to push the keys with the 10 fingers with the same force, but I still need some work.

Korg Kronos X73 / ARP Odyssey / Motif ES Rack / Roland D-05 / JP-08 / SE-05 / Jupiter Xm / Novation Mininova / NL2X / Waldorf Pulse II

MBP-LOGIC

American Deluxe P-Bass, Yamaha RBX760

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Here's some advice:

Start with single notes. Play one hand slightly before the other, left hand always softer. Play right before left, then left before right. Later, play a simple melody with right hand over a very simple left hand figure, like an Alberti bass or simple arpeggio. Try to give each part a different weight:

Right hand melody 100%

Left hand bass note 80%

Left hand other notes 50%

Try to think of your right hand as "the song" - the melody has to stand out. RECORD YOURSELF. It takes a bit of time to "reprogram" your left hand, but it can be done.

 

Carlo

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Rod: If your problem is lack of balance and force among your fingers, the only way is to practice slowly and with a deep touch, and also play Hanon, scales, etc. with a half-staccato articulation, thinking of your whole arm as a single lever from shoulder to key. Let your elbow and wrist rather loose.

Also try this: play a note and hold it. Then, with the adjacent finger, repeat the adjacent note several times, taking care in not blocking your arm movements anywhere. Do this with all combinations of adjacent fingers.

Hope this helps

 

Carlo

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Thanks Carlo. I'll give try it this week. I have to look for a Hanon book since I don't have one, but I'll definitely try to exercise of holding one key down while playing the other fingers.

Korg Kronos X73 / ARP Odyssey / Motif ES Rack / Roland D-05 / JP-08 / SE-05 / Jupiter Xm / Novation Mininova / NL2X / Waldorf Pulse II

MBP-LOGIC

American Deluxe P-Bass, Yamaha RBX760

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Originally posted by Rod CA:

Thanks Carlo. I'll give try it this week. I have to look for a Hanon book since I don't have one, but I'll definitely try to exercise of holding one key down while playing the other fingers.

 

Any classical music shop will have Hanon.

 

All the advice above strikes me as very sound, but I wonder if working on your legato touch would not also be of assistance. Work on all keys - the black notes require a little different touch to the white notes to produce a perfectly even line.

 

 

You also need to be able to connect the sound you want to the velocity required in each hand so that your ear can control it. The excercise marino suggested will do this, but it may be a bit advanced for starters.

 

I suggest starting by just playing chords in both hands, starting soft and working loud, then soft again. Try different voicings - full chords in both hands, octaves in the bass under full chords, single notes against chords. Work both for balance and for eveness of the rising and falling of volume. Keep the hands and arms relaxed throughout and enjoy the sound - its important to keep the ear engaged.

 

At the same time you can be working on getting all the fingers to go down exactly together, which is by no means an easy thing to do, especially if you have developed a poor hand or arm position.

 

Then I would work some of the easier Beethoven Sonatas.

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Originally posted by jcobelas@navegalia.com:

I don´t have an url now, but you can download Hanon from some sites. It is public domain, isn´t it?

 

JoseC.

 

Good idea Jose.

 

http://pianopublicdomain.tripod.com/hanon.html

 

Found this, and this

 

http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/downloads/Hanon/Hanon1.html

 

The last one has midi files of what it's supposed to sound like (helps me at least :D )

Korg Kronos X73 / ARP Odyssey / Motif ES Rack / Roland D-05 / JP-08 / SE-05 / Jupiter Xm / Novation Mininova / NL2X / Waldorf Pulse II

MBP-LOGIC

American Deluxe P-Bass, Yamaha RBX760

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