Can anyone share with me how do you help beginner students who have difficulty coodinating both hands? Thanks.

I think generally patience is the key, and not to push to fast! As usual it does depend on the pupil, but with some of my piano beginners we play games, find note x with left hand, note y with right, and gradually speed up, throwing a few hands together notes in as well.

There are early piano pieces that move from one hand to the other, that are very useful to help coordination, and if stuck you can always tailor-make things to fit individuals needs.

Perhaps if they are pupils of other instruments, you could say so, and I'm sure somebody will be able to help!

Best wishes

I get pupils to tap out the different rhythms of each part on their knees first so that they don't have to worry about notes. Then, once they have got this they try it on the piano.

You could also play one part and the pupil plays the other so that they know how the two parts are meant to sound together before trying them for themselves.

I think going slowly and keeping at it is the key! I'm not a teacher, but I know that this helped for both myself and my friend.

We tried playing crotchets on one hand, and then quavers on the other, and gradually built up coordination this way...at first we were soooo bad, but then after a little while something just clicked and from then on playing with both hands was not an issue....

Good luck with the beginner students - no doubt it'll be frustrating for them, but a little persistence is all it needs

While managing different rhythms with both hands is important, co-ordination between hands on the piano might also involve managing a legato in one hand while the other is detaching, repeating or moving somewhere. This is the area where I need the most patience with beginners and to make sure they are not discouraged if progress is slow.

For example, I ask the pupil to hold down a note in the LH and ask them to hold on for ages - keep the sound going - keep the damper off the strings etc while the RH does a down/float up slur exercise in the other hand, perhaps hopping the octave. The next difficult bit would be to change the LH note with a smooth legato, bringing the RH back down to start again. There are lots of exercises you can invent to make it fun.

There is a piece in the Red Schaum (p18 I think) which is very helpful for co-ordination - similar to what I've described but LH changing smoothly in every bar while RH floats off - something beginners find very tricky but once they've got it they shoud be fine - catch them early and don't leave it too late in their training.

Good luck

I have found that sometimes, it is their way of reading the notation that causes the coordination problem. They zig-zag with their line of vision between the top and bottom stave, and so don't take in the information simultaneously. I show them by moving a pencil across the stave, held vertically, how the notes both disappear together as the pencil passes across. This sometimes helps them to understand how to change their line of vision, and then the problem improves. It seems quite a few pupils read chunks of one hand, followed by chunks of the other, so it is useful to ask them how they actually take in the information from the score.

Also, they need to go really slowly at this point, perhaps it is better to accept some extra pauses and very slow playing, for the sake of good coordination. A mix of repertoire is quite useful, so that they still have plently of pieces that don't have the hands playing together, then they can keep their confidence with pieces they find easier.

I'm finding myself going back more and more to the Schaum books recently with new pupils - there are lots of little technical things that are well covered in nice pieces. The progression isn't always logical or suitable for everybody, but it's all there somewhere if you're prapared to jump around. (I'm a bit down with Chesters, once they get past the first book.) For an introduction to minims in one hand with crotchets in the other, The Streamline Express in the Green Pre-A Schaum book is good.

Thanks for all the tips