Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Which hand do you look at when playing?

I almost always look at my left hand for some reason (I'm righthanded). I think it's because my right hand is much stronger than my left, and I need to focus more on what my left is doing.

A quote from Andrzej Jasinski, Krystian Zimerman's teacher: "When chopping wood, never look at the axe, but always at the piece of wood you want to hit. Likewise, when playing the piano, you should never look at your hands, but at the key you want to touch next."

Okay, maybe I should clarify: I either look at the score for the left hand or the keys that my left hand needs to press next.

But the quote is good. It reminds me of my motorbike lessons. The teacher told me to look at where I want to go. The bike would then go in that direction basically automatically (“der Blick führt die Bewegung“ - the eye leads the motion).

Meanwhile I developed a theory of why I do it: I follow the score for the left hand because it is easier to follow - usually fewer notes than the right hand. And it suffices to keep me going through the piece.
I look at the keys for the left hand because there are usually the jumps and also because it is easier to follow.

Yes, but when someone says they look at their LH I think they generally mean or it's taken for granted that they mean they are looking at the left side of the keyboard.

At some point in the game, you get a mental "feel" for the keyboard. You know where everything is. It's kind of like making love - if you need a road map, you had better take up Swiss banking or bale cookies...you should not have to look.

I'm not sure I get the analogy, but I won't ask you to explain.

Cheers!

Indeed. Presumably how blind people play. I was always taught to keep my eyes on the score but even with a good road map looking helps as the pieces become more and more complicated. And is an additional memory aid.

But then why do virtually all(actually I think it's 100% of sighted pianists) professional pianists look at the keyboard at least some of the time when playing without the score? Or are you saying it's not necessary to look all the time?

When the hands move generally in contrary motion or have jumps in contrary motion or there are other difficulties good memorization of both hands separately can be a great help.

I think pianists tend to look at the left side of the keyboard (or their left hand) because they can hear the melody in their head, the right hand melodic notes are closer together and so they can piece it together without looking. Whereas the left hand often has to make large jumps. Being left-handed does not give you any advantage in being more adept at left hand work without looking. Left-handed people have adapted to the RH being more active and providing the melody and find their left hand, although dominant, is less able to navigate the lower part of keyboard without looking.