Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Newbie discoveries and breakthroughs

Here's a "duh, why didn't I think of this sooner?" Noticed recently on a Grade 1 etude my left pinky was weak. This could be partially natural, but could be a little bit of residual effect from a ruptured disk in my neck several years ago. Repaired surgically.

I've recently upgraded from a DP to an acoustic.

Anyway, this morning, as I'm working on my scales, cadences and arpeggios, it occurs to me if I go down an octave on my left hand, I'm working on those heavier keys that are causing problems. A bit of exercise each day.

This weekend I started doing 4 other exercises I found over on the teachers's forum. These are also good exercises for my weak left pinky.

Hoping these daily exercises will pay dividends!

Yes, low heavy keys for working on weight transfer (incorrectly called "finger strength"), and high light keys for working on speed and evenness because you can hear unevenness and desynchronization between the hands much better in the higher registers.

Another idea is to increase the range between both hands. So for instance if you have a piece where the hands are playing one octave apart you play the same notes but with a larger gap of two to four octaves. This does two things. First, it forces you to feel it because it's harder to look when your hands are so wide appart, and second, it makes the separation between the upper and lower voices much clearer and easier to hear, but also harder to play because it's harder to make the bass notes softer than the high notes. When you go back to playing normally it feels easier but at the same time the melody and accompaniment are much clearer. Try it for yourself!

I've been watching Josh Wright videos, and one of the exercises from them I've been doing is one in which you accent different notes of a scale/arpeggio/passage each time you go through it. It's been pretty magical for me--almost instantaneously my scales and arpeggios became noticeably smoother, without the banging thumbs that have plagued me at higher tempo playing. I've also tried it out on some difficult music that I've been able to play in time but couldn't get to sound well (Busoni's 20th Prelude, where the left hand sixteenth note figuration is marked "uguale" & "murmurando"). I've been trying it out on virtually every aspect of my technique, from thirds to tremoli, and it's helped me soften my touch and have more control, which is more important to me than speed.

I think I've watched that video. Need to review it again. Josh says in order to play softer, practice with more emphasis on the keys. I think I have that right.

Thanks for this tip. I play slow and wonder if it is age-related. Maybe not!