I'm gonna play something for you twice. Listen to them
and tell me which one sounds better. Option 1 sounds like this. Option 2 sounds like this.
Now which one sounds better to you? And what's the secret to playing like the better one? Hi
I'm Jazer! In this video, I want to teach you how to play with different volumes for each hand. I
have a bonus secret practice trick for you to try, so make sure you stick until the end of this video
to find out what this secret practice trick is. Just before we get into it all, remember to LIKE
and SUBSCRIBE to this channel so you stay in touch with more of these free piano lessons
and tutorials. Playing different volumes with each hand is one of the most important but challenging
skills of playing the piano. Many beginner and intermediate pianists struggle with this.
If we were to play both hands at exactly the same volume, it would sound something like this...
Now was that good somewhat. I give it maybe 5 out of 10. All the notes were correct, awesome. But if
you felt like this one. which was what option one, was if you felt like that sounded a little covered
up or muffled then you felt correct. If we were able to play each hand with a different volume, we
can achieve a much more polished and professional sound. It will then sound something like this.
Generally speaking, the right hand has the melody and so it has to be louder than the
left hand. Before we get into the specifics of how to do this exactly, it's important to talk about
why this is difficult to do for pianists. Once you understand why it's difficult, you'll find
your solution more easily. In my opinion, there are 2 main reasons as to why playing different
volumes in each hand is a difficult thing for us to do. The first reason is that this is a
coordination problem. Now whether you play piano for 10 days, or 10 weeks, or 10 months,
you will know that our hands don't like to coordinate with each other. They don't like doing
different things. Every new piece that you play is another new coordination project for your hands.
You need to know which hand comes and where or that part comes in together. And this part the
right hand is playing, that part the left hand is playing. The second reason is that the piano
volume actually diminishes from the moment you strike it. Now I don't know if you ever thought
about this but let me explain. Now if you are a singer or you play an instrument like the trumpet,
your note can be sustained for as long as you have breath. For example if you are a singer...
You know that can go on forever as long as you have some good
breath. Or let's say you play the trumpet...
You know that can go on forever as long as you have enough breath.
But just have a listen now to the piano
sound...
You can't you can't even hear it by this time. So about
about probably 4 or 5 seconds in, you can barely even hear the notes anymore. Now this is a
problem. Why is this a problem? This is a problem because if you look at, let's say at this piece.
As the right hand struck the D, there were more left-hand notes that were already playing
and potentially then covering up that right hand part. So,
it's so important that when you play, for example/ this piece
your right hand has to stand out so much that it can withstand the left hand chords coming
in and potentially covering up the right hand. So what you want to do is something like this.
Really pronounced. Really put this one in the spotlight. Okay let's talk about some
solutions to this problem. Now we're gonna first start with body percussion because
it's really easy to do and understand. So all you need are your 2 hands and your 2 thighs. Okay,
so let's just start patting them like this. And now can you try to pat your right
with more force than your left. So your left is just touching it very, very softly
and the right hand is doing more of a larger pat. Don't hurt yourself of course.
Okay so and in a second we're going to switch. Okay, so ready and switch! Now
left hand is doing the harder pat and right hand the very light touch. Try and get used to this.
Okay, ready? And let's switch again.
Right hand with the larger pats. Okay we're going to switch and now. Please give that a switch.
Awesome! Let's now head to the piano and do some exercises. Now I need your two hands
on the C position. So you probably learned this at the beginning of your piano studies.
Just a C position but actually let's do this one a little bit different. Can you move your right hand
to over here? Okay, so instead of the normal middle C, can you move it up an octave? And the
reason I'm asking you to do this is because you'll, you'll see why. In the exercise,
we want to hear more of a difference between each hand. So let's just move up this octave
and here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna do both of the C's. And you're gonna do
them both 8 times - 4 times the right hand is louder and the next 4 times the
left hand is louder. But they both play 8 times. So it's like this next one,
left louder now, right now, now left hand and...
...
now right. And after doing that, you should go downwards as well. Now this is not a really easy
task you might have to just pause the video and give this more of a try. Just a tip that I have
for you is as you are doing this exercise, try not to have your fingers fly up like this. Okay
so make sure they're grounded on the keyboard. So try to use force from the keyboard, for example.
So on and so forth. Now let's take this a step further. Let's do another exercise.
So you are still in that C position but now one of the hands is playing...
so for example.
And then you switch the left hand being the louder one,
so whichever hand is playing bom bom bom bom bom needs to play louder. So
next one,
not easy.
Give this a try. It's pretty hard but it's very fun. Awesome! as we approach the end
of the video. It's time to reveal the bonus secret practice trick that I have for you.
And here is what it is. The bonus secret practice trick is where you practice your piece normally
but then the left hand you are playing it completely silently like this.
Now playing silently doesn't mean you're just miming it. You actually have to
get to the key and press it down just very, very slightly so.
This will feel very, very weird because visually you can see your hands are there. But
by not making a sound, it's going to really throw you off. But why do we do this exercise? We do
this exercise because I want to push you to the extreme. So the struggle point for us is that we
can't quite play the hands with different volume. We can't quite raise the right hand and lower the
left hand volume. It's very difficult. So what we're going to do is, we're going to do something
even harder than that. We're going to do the extreme. So we're going to play the right hand,
and left hand we're gonna not just lower the volume. We're gonna lower it till zero so...
And once you do a lot of this practice and you get comfortable with it,
you're gonna really start to feel that when you play, when you play the left hand notes you are
able to control it with a really soft volume. So that your right hand can then stand out more
even just with 30 seconds of practice. I can already feel a better control when my left
hand can play a little softer, so that my right hand can be more in the spotlight. We have now
come to the end. Have fun with the things that you learned in this video. This skill of playing
different volumes with your hands will take time to develop. But if you keep working at it, you are
going to do so well. And you're going to start to have this really professional sound that will make
your practice sessions even more enjoyable because it literally sounds nicer to listen to. All the
best with this. Remember to SUBSCRIBE to this channel and I'll catch you in the next tutorial.