Simpedia

Leeanne I., Australia

Do you mean hand balance, softer in LH than RH? A great way to do that is practice playing songs with the RH much louder than normal, whilst playing the LH at your usual level.

Lauren C., Australia

Thanks Leeanne Innes , yes that what I mean.

Leeanne I., Australia

I have a student in Level 4 doing this at the moment. Each week I assign a song from her playlist to work just on hand balance. Adding one thought process at a time. Love this about Simply Music!

Heidi M., Canada

This may not specifically address the left hand, but for some songs, I find it helpful to just ask the student to play the song as if they are trying to put someone to sleep….😃 At times I find that works to help them play gently.

Emily C., California

I have learned by experience when your hands and arms are relaxed, you can play really soft, especially during fast passages.

I’d recommend playing only the hand that needs to be soft first, and see how soft you can relax it, then play.

Sometimes it’s a mental thing that playing slowly= soft, which is fine to start out with, and once the student has a feel of it, then gradually increase the speed very slowly using a metronome by one or 2 numbers, or no more than 5 at a time, so the difference is so slight that the student could not feel much of a difference.

Continue doing so until the tempo wanted is reached.

Can also add in the RH first before increasing the speed to its normal tempo, to see if the student can still maintain the LH relaxed and soft^_^

Ian B., California

Similar to Leanne, but a slight twist… Have your student play “ghost notes” in whichever hand they are trying to play softer. This means their fingers just barely got the top of the keys but DON’T PRESS DOWN and, therefore, no sound. Continue playing the other hand normally. After a few days (or weeks) of this the hand will “learn” to play more softly in contrast to the other.

Lauren C., Australia

Thanks everyone, some helpful tips to try 🙂