This is the clearest, most useful and insightful videos to achieve left hand quietness I've ever seen on RUclips, in books or elsewhere and I've seen/read of hundreds instruction videos here over the years. After three years of being self-taught I still need to improve this technique, so thank you very much.
Hi Diana, thanks so much for your great comment and feedback - it made my day! I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful and good luck with your continuing musical journey. Cheers Jane
Hi Julie I would use the ‘Play it on your Legs’ trick - just to check the weighting of your quieter hand versus your louder hand. Really try to feel the difference and do it slowly first. Then try taking a small 2 bar section at a faster speed - always checking your weighting. Try it again even faster. Extend the section you’re working on to 4 or 8 bars following the same process, and gradually try it out on the keyboard. The ‘Pretend Play’ technique will work quite well too - remember when you want to play the quieter hand for real, don’t overwork your fingers as this will mean you’ll tend to depress the keys faster and as a result, make the notes louder. Use your natural arm weight into the keys and stay relatively close. Also, try to feel the ‘gesture’ of the pattern which needs to be quiet - try not to think note by note but feel the shape of the music. That way you’ll avoid accenting every note and having it sound very syllabic and chunky, which of course, just exaggerates things even more. Finally, you could try perfecting and solidifying your technique on an easier piece alongside the current music you’re learning. Cheers Jane
This is the clearest, most useful and insightful videos to achieve left hand quietness I've ever seen on RUclips, in books or elsewhere and I've seen/read of hundreds instruction videos here over the years. After three years of being self-taught I still need to improve this technique, so thank you very much.
Hi Diana, thanks so much for your great comment and feedback - it made my day! I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful and good luck with your continuing musical journey. Cheers Jane
How do you keep the left hand soft when the piece is played fast?
Hi Julie
I would use the ‘Play it on your Legs’ trick - just to check the weighting of your quieter hand versus your louder hand. Really try to feel the difference and do it slowly first.
Then try taking a small 2 bar section at a faster speed - always checking your weighting. Try it again even faster. Extend the section you’re working on to 4 or 8 bars following the same process, and gradually try it out on the keyboard.
The ‘Pretend Play’ technique will work quite well too - remember when you want to play the quieter hand for real, don’t overwork your fingers as this will mean you’ll tend to depress the keys faster and as a result, make the notes louder. Use your natural arm weight into the keys and stay relatively close.
Also, try to feel the ‘gesture’ of the pattern which needs to be quiet - try not to think note by note but feel the shape of the music. That way you’ll avoid accenting every note and having it sound very syllabic and chunky, which of course, just exaggerates things even more.
Finally, you could try perfecting and solidifying your technique on an easier piece alongside the current music you’re learning.
Cheers
Jane