does anyone have advice on how to best practice hand independency?

I do have exercises already (simple arpeggios and melody), but I wonder whether there are other things that help, too?

I assume it is essential to have a metronome running?
does counting the rhythm out loud help?
tapping the foot?
are there certain backing tracks that help sticking to the rhythm?

cheers

Can you give us a better idea what you mean by hand independency? The term means different things to different people. People often think of the music of Bach as requiring hand independency but I think many composers require HI. What kind and what level of music do you play now and wish to play in the future ?

I don't think practice with a metronome has much to do with learning HI.

Anything by Bach, or if your an absolute beginner - some baroque music by other composers.
Frankly, any piano piece you'll play will require some form of hand independence and it will develop over time. No specific exercises are needed.
What does metronome has to do with it?

There is a series of books, called Technic is fun, and the first book, Elementary A, has certainly helped me a lot with gaining hand independence.

When starting a new piece I'd learn the notes at half tempo first and play the beats as accurately as possible. After that play with a metronome to correct inconsistencies.

Anything by Johann Sebastian Bach, depending on your level.

For beginners this set is also good:
https://imslp.org/wiki/200_Short_Two-Part_Canons,_Op.14_(Kunz,_Konrad_Max)

Speaking about exercises, you may proceed with playing scales in contrary motion and then scales in thirds and sixths, where the top line is played with your right hand and the bottom line with your left hand.

After that you may proceed to playing scales in polyrhythms (e.g. 4 notes in one hand against 3 notes in the other hand). Playing polyrhythm is the absolutely best exercise for hands independence in my opinion. If scales in polyrhythms seem too boring for you there are Brahms' exercises for polyrhythms which sound nicer.

https://imslp.org/wiki/51_Exercises,_WoO_6_(Brahms,_Johannes)


Beside polyrhythms there is a set of exercises called Safonoff's New Formula designed specifically for developing hands independence. You may try them, too. These are not as easy as they may seem at first sight.

https://imslp.org/wiki/New_Formula_(Safonov%2C_Vasily)

I vote for Bach too. [for HI and rhythm].

Echoing many great points:

1. Separate hand. Before both hands
2. Slow practice
3. Eg, I am working on Bach’s Prelude in C minor…and I am practicing the LH without looking at the keyboard…a lot of leaps

You can still practice Bach without reaching the performance tempo..you will learn a lot. Bach is a stable.

SLOW practice. A lot of it. Play slow enough so that there are no wrong notes. Your brain has to be at the same speed as your hands.

Steady diet of bach

No. A diet must be diverse. A diet too steady brings malnutrition and depression.

Notice how most responders list Bach as the best for hand independence but I think there are many different interpretations of hand independence and most of those listing Bach don't specify what they mean by HI. Doesn't Beethoven or Chopin or Debussy or Rachmaninov or etc. require hand independence?

Though each hand must be synchronized with the other one, sticking to the rythm and HI are 2 different skills. For me HI is the ability for each hand to execute its own line, dynamics, phrasing, articulation while keeping it synchronized with the other. So in effect HI is not about independance but about synchronization ability.

In the beginning, i would stay away from complex pieces. The simplest is to practice HI with various scale exercices, for example legato one hand and staccato in the other. Or 2 to 1 rythm, in staccato, or one hand playing arpeggio and the other a scale. And any classical piece can teach you some form of HI, but i find that classical period music is particularly helpful, Diabelli, Dussek, Kulhau, Cimarosa, Clementi, .....

Indeed. Bach is suggested because it's a good way to introduce the student to synchronizing two different lines but other composers also have hand independence challenges of their own. I think Schumann has many good pieces for learning to hear and bring out different lines and they are written in a Romantic idiom, which might prepare you better for the Chopin et. al.

But the point about varying your diet and trying different styles is also true.

I think Bach inventions are good for learning how to voice left and right hands independently.(if that's what you meant by 'hand independency')

+1 !

It's easier to slow down the hands, than to speed up the brain. But eventually, with practice, the brain _does_ speed up.

For true _independence_, Bach is hard to beat. Things like practicing scales in thirds develop hand coordination, and that can be useful. Anna Magdalena Book, 2-part Inventions would be good places to start.

Nobody said that learning classical piano is easy -- be prepared for frustration, in the early stages.

I think Bach invention are not doable for a beginner and I'm sure many Bach pieces do not teach this skill. I got an alternative composer which is more my taste bur has options which may fit 'hands independency' (whatever you meant by it). My interpretation is voicing left and right hands independently. Maybe something like number 7 you have do learn first. Just an idea.

I think we should hear back from the OP.


We don't know the answer to the question. Do we know the level, amout of experience (newish to piano, a couple of years in), etc.? I'm reading about things like polyrhythms and Bach. Hand independence difficulties can be at the level of steady unchanging block chords, in slow tempo, over regular simple melody notes.

WeightedKeys is a self-teaching beginner; started about a month ago

Thank you - that's important to know. We might not even be at a Bach level yet. Other advice coming in might be how to practice (any piece) in order to gain that hand independence in the first place. The whole question of "how to practise".

IMO: Sidokar provided a great response:

In the beginning, i would stay away from complex pieces. The simplest is to practice HI with various scale exercices, for example legato one hand and staccato in the other. Or 2 to 1 rythm, in staccato, or one hand playing arpeggio and the other a scale. And any classical piece can teach you some form of HI, but i find that classical period music is particularly helpful, Diabelli, Dussek, Kulhau, Cimarosa, Clementi, .....

This actually sounds too complicated for someone a few weeks in. "legato one hand, staccato the other" for example - or even scales. Clementi, one month in? On the "how" I was thinking, for example, of working in stages, working in chunks, rather than a whole piece. Is there a method book for beginners involved, that could introduce things bit by bit? Otoh, we have not heard back from the OP.

Agree. A few weeks in is too early to mess with hands independence. At this stage a student must be fully concerned with the touch and the tone.


weightedKey, please, ignore my first response, I was thinking of another person when answering to you.
I think you're hurrying too much. Please, watch this video first if you haven't done it already.

I repeat my suggestion.



On this site you can download a sample. Page 2, Trumpet tune by Türk. I still remember how intrigued I was by trying to play staccato and legato with one hand, and non-legato with the other hand. But maybe still a bit too difficult after only one month.

If I may suggest something, come up with simple "puzzles" on your own and see how complex you can make them. For example, one I just thought of at this moment was to play CEGCEGCEG... with one hand, and CEGCCEGCCEGC... with the other hand, simultaneously. Come up with any number of small coordination challenges for yourself and try them out.

Hand independence training - without connection to the instrument - begins immediately after birth, and children do specific exercises in kindergarten. The rhythm of spoken language during rhythmic walking is an example of two autonomous processes that are learned instinctively.
African musicians study polyrhythmic performance through visual perception.

If this were asked in a general forum or at least a non piano forum I would say what would help you the most would be taking up piano. So I agree with Ido ...


Every piece we play presents a new challenge of H I. Practice and development of this skill is built into learning the piano and doesn't really require any extra focus.

Rubbing your belly while patting your head is a good one to master though.

Bach as many have said but also Bartok. Micro Cosmos have a lot to teach on hand independence and is a whole series starting from the very easy on to the most difficult. The first books are suitable for any level beginner.

Ahhh -- forget my Bach suggestions, then!

Better to just start with Alfred's method books. It's too early to worry about "hand independence" -- before you tackle that, you need hands that will do what the brain tells them to do, quickly and reliably.

Sorry for putting up a misleading idea.

That sounds spot on.

I'm also a newbie here and the whole hand-to-brain coordination is something I'm finding very difficult. I feel like my brain catches tune very quickly but my hands are kinda stiff. I'm hoping as time progresses, my fingers will eventually become more flexible.
Side note: Should I practice Bach to fix my HI? Is it working for you?

Exactly. Any good series of method books will gradually introduce hand independence(which BTW no one on this thread has yet defined).

Definition from an internet piano site

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of hand independence, it can be described as: playing piano, using both hands in a manner seemingly independent of each other.

The problem with that definition is the phrase "n a manner seemingly independent of each other" which I think is so vague as to be meaningless.

Perhaps you can look on the internet and find s definition that you find meaningful

There seem to be two types of hand independence. The first is motional independence, when the hands do different kinds of motions, e.g. staccato/legato. The second may probably be called melodical independence, when each hand plays its own melody. The types may obviously be mixed.

Those are two kinds but I think there are many more kinds. The first one is quite rare. The second kind you mention depends on the definition of "melody".

There are degrees of hand independence, ranging from playing the tune Twinkle Twinkle in RH in C major with a straight C major chords (C-E-G) in LH simultaneously with every note in RH (which teaches nobody nothin' and sounds wrong), to Clementi's Op.36/1 with RH mostly playing melody and LH playing simple accompaniment and Alberti bass, to Bach 2-Part Inventions, then 3-Part Inventions........all the way to complete dissociation between RH & LH, with each hand playing in a different rhythm as well as in a different key.

The way to develop proper, 'sustainable', progressive hand independence is the way it has been taught for centuries by all good teachers - little by little, small step by small step. Not one small step for a man, one giant leap for, er, tomorrow.

Therefore, follow these steps:
1) Play a single-line simple melody which passes back and forth from one hand to the other. No other notes. The brain gets used to using both hands equally, in a melodic rôle, and realizes that the two hands can co-operate symbiotically towards a common good, just like dogs & cats (- one sniffs out the danger, e.g. a rat, the other pounces & attacks it tooth & claw). For instance, play Happy Birthday by ear in C major, with both hands in 5-finger position, LH on E-F-G-A-B and adjacent RH on C-D-E-F-G. Use only the fingers that are actually on the correct keys to play the tune (i.e. LH starts the ball rolling with 3).
If the student can't do that (by ear or from a written-down score) without stuttering and stumbling, he'll need to keep practicing to master this first step before going on to anything more complicated, because this is a sine qua non towards eventual complete hand independence mastery (e.g. playing Happy Birthday in LH and The Star-Spangled Banner in RH simultaneously, each hand playing at a different tempo ) in about twenty years' time.

There are lots of tunes with which to practice this, e.g. Silent Night (again in C major), with LH on C-D-E-F-G and RH on A-B-C-D-E. (Note that the RH pinky has to play one note (F) away from its position.) No amount of practice is too much to master this basic step.

2) Next step: again play a simple tune that passes back & forth from one hand to the other, but this time with a very accompaniment (single notes only) in the hand not playing the tune, all the way through. Again, no amount of practice is too much to master this basic step.

3) Now you are ready to play very simple classical pieces like this:


4) Onwards and upwards, little by little, small step by small step.......

The one you gave is clearly insufficient because it used "independent" to describe "independence" of hands.

Perhaps you can find one that is sufficient

Basically I imagined a Hanon exercise no. 1 as a point of no hand independence. (Although I admit that some hand-finger independence is still required for it.) Then if one hand played the exercise with different articulation and/or dynamics, that would be the first type of hand independence. And if one hand played a different exercise than the other hand it would be the second type of hand independence.

Obviously different exercises and different repertoire is required for developing these types of independence. A "Bach diet" would probably not be sufficient for developing the first type.

Once upon a time, as a teenager, I learned to play by ear with one hand In The Mood, and with the other - Zambezi by Bob Hilliard.

A pretty good clarification of hand independence.

Perhaps another aspect of hand independence is the degree of rhythmic independence of the the two hands. I wonder how many would consider a Chopin Waltz as requiring hand independence?

Hi, I totally agree with these definitions. I personally prefer using melodical hand independance while playing my piano as it helps to create different melodies giving us a freedom of creativity.

I follow pianote on Instagram/youtube and found this exercise useful. There are quite a few others.

The funny part in this, is that in fact what is difficult in Hand Independance is in fact .... playing hands together. What is difficult is not so much that each hand plays a different articulation or rythm, but that they play them differently while remaining synchronized and supporting each other.

What has always amazed me is how small the physical connection between the brain hemispheres really is, and still it allows us to see the images from both eyes as one image, to perceive sounds from both ears as one sound, and to operate hands in such a precise synchronized manner, while each hand is really operated by a different hemisphere.

Thanks for posting this. Exactly my thought, based on personal experience. I suppose any piece where both hands play will exercise HI, even at a beginner's level, or at least what I understand as such (as I took classes a few times in a very unstructured way). Even an apparently simple waltz, with a fixed tum-ta-ta pattern on LH and a more elaborate (not necessarily complex) pattern on the RH will do.