I'm a woodwind teacher but have always wanted to learn the piano so have decided that I will give it a go!

I'm really excited but I can't get my hands to do 2 separate things - any ideas!?

Take it slowly.
Start with music where only one hand actually moves at a time.
Maybe if you can get some tips from a teacher who could tailor the advice to you it would help you to see how to approach piano problems.
As a pianist learning clarinet I find that I need to be advised on how to approach clarinet practice issues.

Hello Holly , welcome to the forums.
I guess the main problem for people in your position is that you have to learn the bass clef ! Another is that when one is at a good standard on one or more instruments, its easy to become very impatient when you start trying another at a lower level. As I am retiring from work in March I am thinking about reviving the cello, which I last played for a couple of years at school (leaving in 1964), but I am not sure if I will have the patience to do so, as well as the capital cost of buying one.
Anyway thats my problem, not yours ! Are you going to have some formal piano lessons , or try to get it going yourself ? The only way really to establish independance of hands is to practise with separate hands and then put it together. I also suggest you play some simple scales in contrary motion. But I think you will make best progress if you find a teacher.

I'm far from convinced that this is the case for every piece or for every person.

OK I accept that but it worked for me most of the time !

Me too. One of the things that works for most of my pupils is to practise with a hand on each knee, and sort out differences in rhythm first. Once that bit of co-ordination is possible, add the notes. If you are trying to do it on the keyboard straight away, unless the rhythm is very simple indeed, you are doing too much in one go.

You might find something like 'the Sight Reading Source book (probably grade 2) would be useful - and in particular the step-by-step approach outlined at the start of the book.

Hi Holly

18 months ago I started off like you and thought I would never learn to play with two hands, infact it put me off learning properly for nearly 30 years! but with the help of a good teacher its amazing how quick it all comes togeather.

On the recommendation of my teacher I bought an excellent "learn the organ book" and supplemented it with bargains from my local charity shop, just a few pounds bought me lots of music books, for kids and adults, sightreading books etc for practice. I found those with tunes in I was already familiar with (such as Christmas carols) made it so much easier as I could "hear" where the left hand was supposed to be going and the right hand already knew the way

It took me a couple of months to realise I was no longer "translating" everything from treble clef to bass clef by counting up 2 notes which was a bit painful! and now 18 months down the line can happily sight read most things in my collection which is just such a joy for someone who thought she never would!

Stick with it, it soon becomes a natural thing.

If only the same could be said for my scales and arpeggios

Another thought.
Can you think about it as both hands working together as they do with woodwind rather than hands doing different things? It may not work for you but sometimes the way we look at things is what helps to create or perpetuate the problem.
It may help to remove the barrier.

Oh good, someone else has the same problem I find with the piano. I would love to be able to play even simple things on the piano using both hands.



I find that it is moving both hands left to right that is the problem, not doing independent things with the fingers, which is what woodwind instumentalists have to do. I can play left or right hand on piano, just not together!

Hi HollyBench
I would love to learn to play piano, but reading two clefs at the same time seems impossible. Ok, I know you start off slowly with one hand at a time and so build up hand and reading skills. But would I have the patience? Good luck learning, let us know how you get on.

You don't know if you don't try.
You may find it easier than you think with the right guidance.

You've got me wondering now sbhoa.... I really would love to be able to play piano, even just Fur Elise. Could be a new year resolution for me.

It might take a little time to get there and you could learn plenty of other things on the way.

I always wanted to learn piano, but could never find a carry case for one. Badum-tss.

But seriously, I thinks sbhoa is on to something with the suggestion that mental approach can help. I bet people learning piano as their first instrument don't see two staves or two hands as being as big a problem as someone who already knows how much effort they had to put into learning one stave!

However, you at least have the advantage of knowing one of those staves intimately.

As for using both hands, try doing it with other things than piano. Start brushing your teeth with your 'off' hand. Use it for drinking, or eating finger-food. Use it for opening drawers, windows etc. I haven't done this for piano, but I did it for many years when learning martial arts at quite a high level. Now, when someone sees me working in the kitchen, they often ask me if I'm ambidextrous, because I use both hands, often at the same time, for stirring, pouring, opening cupboards etc.

Don't try it with hot drinks, and don't try it with anything involving knives or scissors!

In my opinion the worse thing you can do is think of the staves and hands as entirely separate. I was convinced for a very long time that I couldn't read bass clef effectively and had a "slow" Left hand, not the case at all I just didn't practise effectively.

You shouldn't be constantly looking at your keys - you should get to know your way around the keyboard. Close your eyes and play - you'll be surprised how your muscles know exactly were they are going. This is how you will know you have practised properly.

I love the piano more so than any other instrument I have ever played until you give it a fair chance you'll never know.

There you go, that's what I get for being a non-pianist

However, I have to agree, and perhaps my post was poorly explained. My point wasn't to try to get so that you can think of both hands as being independent, but rather to get to the point where you are more comfortable with your left hand. Many people go through life without realising they have two hands, and when they come to do something that requires the use of both, they find that their long-neglected left hand is harder to coordinate. Doing some of the things I suggested will get you more in touch with your left hand. It's worked for me for martial arts, guitar and Taiko drumming.

But Pixie*Porsche speaks the truth. You need your hands, and the staves to work together, not independently. That's true in drumming and guitar (and in Martial arts to an extent), so I'm not surprised to hear it said about piano!

Why do right handed people see left hand on piano as a potential problem when us lefties just get on with the right hand?
My right hand is my dominant hand when playing piano making it tricky to say which is which under pressure (luckily something I don't have to do).

I got to that point by playing lots of Bach (who introduced me to more Baroque music) it wasn't until this point that my hands worked independently.

Hah!
Playing Bach on guitar is at least as weird. You have two parts going on, but they are moving from finger to finger! You have to learn all the lines at once, first, so you can work it which notes from which 'part' will be on which finger, then practice each part independently using the correct fingers, then put it all back together again.

I used to love playing Bach for that. Getting it so that it was a progression of interdependent melodies/harmonies, and not a progression of picked chords in lock step time.

I miss playing guitar sometimes

Fur Elise is pretty hard, it's about grade 5 level, so you could be learning a while...

Oh, didn't realise it was that advanced It would be a good thing to aim for in that case.

This is off topic but the left hand/right hand dominance always interests me. When I was learning to write I was made to sit on my left hand and write with my right. I was naturally left handed, but it was frowned upon at our Catholic school. They've got a lot to answer for