WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR LEFT HAND TECHNIQUE

Pianists tend to complain that their left hand doesn’t feel as strong as their right, and students often ask me if they should be practising special exercises for the left hand alone to help their weaker hand catch up. Is it possible, though, for the left hand to be as agile as the right? In 2011, Psychology Today published some interesting research that showed that whether a pianist identified as right- or left-handed, the performance of the right hand always displayed a higher degree of evenness and motor control than did the left hand. Also, the more practice time a left-handed player had accumulated, the better the performance of their right hand.

In this article I explore a range of exercises, studies and repertoire written for the left hand alone, and offer suggestions for general practice to ensure the left hand