5 Piano Exercises for Hand Independence

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Happy practicing!
-Allysia

[@aland8269]

Can you play Mary had a little lamb in one hand and twinkle twinkle little star in the other?

[@hungothanh4913]

when you memorize both to combine into 1 song, totally u can. But just because it is possible, doesnt mean you should do it.

[@youtubeepicuser4209]

The question really is SHOULD you play them together, the answer is no, it would probably suck

[@milankastanojkovic1015]

dont forget to be realistic - you'll have to put in a bit of work whatever method you use for learning piano I have spent months studying how to play piano and found a fantastic resource at Turbo Piano Secret (google it if you're interested)

[@leosousa7404]

PLAY IT!

[@jjp7914]

Anyone know if doing c major scale is across entire piano;hitting every white key? Can i just start on middle c and go 1,2,3,4,5 and then back 5,4,3,2,1? I'm a beginner.

[@Sleepysidney]

Finally I have found a teaching channel that isn't full of filler material and unnecessary chatter. I've got more info to keep me going for a period from this one video than from watching a couple hours worth of other videos. Thanks. This is gold!

[@raguherbalist]

YOUVE REALLY GOT A TREASURE OR I MEAN TALENT OR CHARECTERSICTICS OF REAL TRADITIONAL TEACHER WHO HAS AN VERY SENSISBLE APPROACH TO COVER ALL BITS AND PARTS OF OBSTACLES OF PYSCOLOGICAL FEELING OF A LEARNER AND FINALLY A VERY POSITIVE APPROACH.LOADS OF SATISFACTION TO WATCH YOUR VIDEOS !!!!!!

[@jonarmstrong6214]

After a 25 year abscence from playing, my new teacher started me out on Bach's 2 part invention along with Hanons book of torture LOL

[@janele2832]

Well tempered clavier is much more torture

[@djkurtstudio]

I love Hanon. I'm a beginner but I think it's great!

[@KeepingOnTheWatch]

This video broke my brain... but it was really good! Made realize that practicing scales can be challenging, interesting and satisfying at the same time. Thanks :)

[@PianotvNet]

Lol, sometimes I'll ask my students how their brains are doing when we play things like this.

[@justelynnnjoelle]

Walter B. scales can be very, very challenging. I was at an MTAC convention this past week and one of the lecturers said he considered students advanced once they could play all 24 major and minor scales at a minimum speed of 170BPM (16th notes!) AND put emphasis on any finger he requested. 😮 Rn, I can only play 16th notes at a speed of 120BPM and only a few scales 🤕

[@iansmith8125]

I am a complete beginner (about 2 months now) and I found these exercises a real challenge but really rewarding to do (not that i am any where near finished working through them). I really like the fact i concentrate on technique and still practice my scales at the same time. Cheers Ian

[@lesturner9849]

Great video, I've been playing a little over a year and I worked hard on the left hand. Now I have more exercises to do...thanks!

[@eljesus]

The perfect set of excercises fot the next 6 months! Thanks!

[@Pokedoughman]

Why am I just now finding you?? I'm an beginner/intermediate player (if you could call me that). I play for my church so there aren't any teachers for me or anything. These exercises are what I've been looking for. Thank you!!

[@LivingGuy484]

Thank you, so much. It's been extremely challenging for me to manage the voicing in each hand, so this helps a lot

[@phalene5650]

Very good exercices indeed. Couple others which can supplement: 1. Playing the scale first 3 notes Forte on one hand and Piano on the other, reverse for next 4 notes - can also be combined with staccato and non staccato (can start with one hand first then both) 2. Playing the scale in reverse order: one hand descending and the other ascending (relatively easy in C and E but really difficult in other scales) can be combined then with forte/piano and staccato 3-Playing the scale one hand starting on the tonic and the other on the third (then alternate hands) - both hands ascending, descending then reverse (really difficult as each hand would hit the white and black keys on different notes)

[@NoxDaNerd]

Gaming helped me with this part of learning piano

[@-valkor-376]

CVizion same

[@jim123bcbhd9]

same

[@Ryan-iu5tx]

I’m a gamer but I still suck at this, idk why

[@jim123bcbhd9]

@@Ryan-iu5tx Depends on if you are a pc gamer or a console gamer

[@lochvids108]

I never thought of that

[@desteddyeggroll]

I’m learning a Bach invention right now! I’m kinda struggling, but I’m slowly getting the hang of it!!!

[@keepsaek]

Dotted rhythm and staccato all day everyday.

[@aerojetrocketdyners-2538]

Tal Dobrer yeah boi

Thank you Allysia for these distilled practice pieces!

[@owpeterj]

Challenging excercises. When not getting a strange sensation in the brain from one type of practice, there's this. Thank goodness for the relief of just playing. :-) How this kind of practice will only increase the joy of and in expressionns dynamics. Lovely. Thankyou.

[@Umangbhagat311]

What could be the best excercises to improve speed and accuracy ? I'm intermediate player and wanna be improve upto the level where my left hand can play arpeggios and can jump from octave to octave as my left hand really slows compare to right hand . Thanks.

[@PianotvNet]

At an intermediate level I mainly focus on scales, arpeggios, and triads in most keys. I've always been a fan of etudes, too - check out Czerny, as he has a ton of etude books for various levels (free online if you look on imslp.org). Etudes are great because they build specific piano techniques (like hand jumps), but in the context of a piece so it's more fun to practice.

[@boldcautionproductions9203]

Great video share, thanks.

[@SarveshParakh]

This video is a treasure. Thank you 😘

[@bjthegreat7581]

Thank you, Allysia !!

[@rhyfelwrDuw]

This is an amazing video - thanks for making it! I find it difficult to work both hands separately. I'm a flautist so used to playing one note at a time - trying to learn the piano (I'm in my late 40s) and I am finding it so frustrating *sigh* but I'm sure I'll get there eventually! :) I've printed off your 5 Piano Exercises sheet so thanks for producing it! :)

[@JustEnoughKeys]

Chopin’s “black key” étude was the name of the piece playing in the background, in case anyone was wondering.

[@icekurimu1688]

Preston Gornick r u french

[@ant7936]

I was trying, with difficulty, to concentrate on the spoken lesson.

[@Ace-dv5ce]

Preston Gornick It’s the minute waltz

[@maryannplunkett5420]

So stoked to have found this channel. Great material, delivered/taught well, and such depth/variety... from fun facts about composers to "how to's."

[@mbenk]

i wish i found this video a year early. this is the best piano tutorial video especialy about hand independence. love from indonesia! ps: you have a great eyes, (don't know your name) 😳

[@EmanuilGlavchev]

That is so helpful! Thanks a lot!

[@GrandHealerofDivineRighteous]

This one! So challenging. Wow. Good exercises

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci for this. I'll have to work into doing this.

[@Th3Razz0r]

Love your videos but I do have a small physical exercise that you can do on the go to help with a glaring problem you have. Your fingers concave for almost every note you play, this will severely limit the speed and which you play challenging pieces. Might I suggest making the ok sign with your hand, thumb and index touching. Then with your other hand, use a finger to poke the joint, make sure that the hand doing the "ok sign" does not concave. Keep the O in your hand as a perfect circle without breaking it. Do this with each of your fingers, should take 5 minutes or less to do both hands. 10 seconds per finger, no more. Another tip is to play a bit of your repertoire with your nails(cut short ofcourse), it'll force you to keep your hand properly balled up.

[@rodgermyles2871]

Very interesting! I shall try this with my scale practice.

[@VandaMorrison]

Thank you! 🌹

[@dickersonforever]

This exercises are great for warming up even when you are not a piano noob.

[@d-1beats]

Haven't finished the whole video but just stopped it to say thanks, been trying to study it

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great lesson ...thanx!

[@jenssenmanaspas]

I wish I could have a piano teacher like you, you're so beautiful !!!

[@andreafernandes8668]

Thank you.. I love these exercises

[@boldcautionproductions9203]

The reference to RCM and ABRSM levels is really helpful. I'm in the US and there isn't the emphasis on these levels, and I like structure to keep my bearings as to where I am. I bought the ABRSM Level 1 book, and the first piece is beyond me, right now. But I know that, now, and that helps to know where I am - still baby stuff.

[@lanmaixuan9308]

Thank you for sharing.

[@abhisar36]

thank you... i recently started playing the piano

[@finnjake6174]

hey alysia, i learned this method from josh wright piano, he thought to teach backwards. it has helped me tremendously(trump voice), just begun playing piano, i think i can fairly well play mozart alla truce the first few lines. It was hard but not that difficult when learning backwards. So what i do is, break the pieces of. End of the line, say the last bar of a passage learn that one first, and one step behind that, learn that one, play this piece to the end, so you go. A B C D Learn D, learn CD, learn BCD, ABCD. Do this for longer passages. The reason it works so well is because you always have the end, and the moment you make a mistake trying to learn a new piece you are immediately playing that again trying to combine with what you learned before. So the crucial part is that the longer you go into the piece it no longer gets muffled, when you start forgetting what you did at the end.

[@finnjake6174]

so i guess it falls under how to sightread and learn new pieces very fast. also, i found out that if there are a lot of jumps in a piece, if I lift my hand, and my palm up relax, then play the next step it helps me learn quick passages faster. so it is about relaxing the hand. Think of it like when someone says freeze on extragating the movement of facing my palms up. high in the air-- really weird but it works.

[@finnjake6174]

actually learned all the hand independence pieces like that. It was really easy .

[@finnjake6174]

Develop Technical Ease With Closed Hand Positions - Josh Wright Piano TV That is his video. And it is realllllllyyyy good. Also i loved your video to.

[@PianotvNet]

Cool, thanks for the additional info and suggestions!

[@Imawsome382]

Thank you. I needed this.

[@jackzafiriou1104]

Hands down the best piano channel

[@NicoleEivissa]

It’s weird, I did that “jazzy exercise” - left hand - normal melody plus right hand - jazzy - without any problem for the first time (I’m a beginner, self-teaching). I was like “yaaay I can do it! but when I switched hands, the left hand was like stucked (left hand - jazzy melody plus right hand - normal and it just didn’t happen to sound:D) Where is the point, or, what should I do? Is it just a question of practising? Thank you for your video, I really find your other videos as well helpful - playing piano is sometimes challenging af (sorry about that but it is:D) BUT I love it even though I would sometimes destroy that thing:D (not really:)) Thank you! EDIT: I think I handle it :D Somehow slowly, but yeah😄

[@Anita-L]

Great video! But could you make a video in which you give some exercises or tips to make your hands stronger, because in fast pieces my hands get tired. For example, I have small hands and Chopin's op 10. no. 5 is soo hard for me because my hands get soo tired.. I will understand if you don't have the time or do not want to do it, but if you need an idea and have time, I would be happy if you did a video on that. :)

[@PianotvNet]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@philldwyer5221]

Nice lesson, easily understood. Thank you.

[@justelynnnjoelle]

Dohnányi and I. Phillipe have great finger strengthening and independence exercise books.

[@phalene5650]

There are specific pieces that are designed to train on velocity - many composers have written for that purpose: Czerny but also Loesschorn, Gurlitt, Berens. At the end it is really just a matter of practice and time spent on it. There are also specific pieces designed for strenghening the hands, in particular last 2 fingers. The practice should focus on different items: arpeggios, scale, trills, finger dexterity, thirds, fiths, sixth, ..... Like any other physical practice, the fingers become more resistant over time. Being carefull to avoid overtraining, you can increase the intensity and duration of the training gradually: starting 10mns everyday then 15 , ..... Hope it helps.

[@petersodhi1762]

Buy Gripmaster blue from Amazon... you will thank me later

[@hcpiano]

Also when you learn a piece, try to add loud counting while playing it. It surely broke my brain the first time ^^

[@misskatya099]

those are some really good exercises! Good tips!

[@bobbydazzler4141]

Thanks!

[@Damartarossa]

I think these are really helpfull but i need some harder exercises to keep my level. For example i would be glad if you prefer some exercises to be able to move my hands much more free and play faster pieces, thank you...

[@BIGKLEE]

Great Video!!!

[@aarondrayer548]

Ur the best teacher

[@zhzh2848]

Yоur lessons are awesome ! Love you !😍

[@eliasfigueroa3324]

thank you for these exercises...Im trying to develop more hand flexibility and independence so this definitely helps.

[@csgulyas]

Here goes my next 6 months of struggle. Thank you for sharing!

[@BloodySunnday]

I'm so happy I found your channel! :-D

[@mypersonalphotosite]

Excellent

[@Regolant1]

A good and fun exercise for me is OSU! It's not the same OF COURSE. But for someone with a computer, but no piano close... Works well... And it's fun

[@justelynnnjoelle]

I would say I. Phillipe, Pischina, and Dohnányi have some really great exercises for finger independence as well.

[@ProfeARios]

These exercises are so interesting!!! I will try them out!! Thank you for sharing!

[@armandmxmx]

Wow, thank you a lot, I've looking for this kind of piano lessons for a while since I'm self thought here. I am definitely suscribing to your channel. Thanks

[@muhdazri6615]

i already get the e-book..thank u so much....:)

[@AmandaSbarros]

i love your channel so much, thanks for making videos

[@shinekibera655]

Hi, hope this finds you well. thanks you for your time and dedication. just started learning. I am a self teacher. I get my lessons from Will Barrow - learn and master piano DVDs. What do you think of the lessons. many thanks.

[@PianotvNet]

I'm not familiar with Will Barrow, but if it seems to be working for you, great!

[@shinekibera655]

pianoTV thank you for your response.

[@MegaChasbo]

Thanks for this. Very helpful

[@zayregi2364]

¡Gracias Allysia!

[@MKSdani]

very nice video.... was helpfull...

[@axeltinajero4168]

Wonderful

[@nadianadeem8528]

Thank you so much i think this will be very helpful

[@moon_joust7368]

The Eyes 😍

[@matthew1550]

*_T H E E Y E S_*

[@kalaiselvan7840]

and the Smile

[@reatisuto9919]

Her finger and the ring . ;-)

[@icekurimu1688]

Sue Dei Vo 😂

[@JD-jl4yy]

The makeup...

[@Idfk365]

This helped me an amazing amount

[@michaeltowler2632]

I wonder in the future, will they come up with some electronic controlled powered Gloves connected to the Teachers hands and Students which will move the Students Fingers in synchronization to the Teachers and then can gradually reduce the input to zero. Just thinking ! :))

[@ZahinTan]

I never realised these techniques when I want to learn songs. Would have helped me a lot to know these beforehand. I remember the struggle when I learn Billie Jean - MJ ; to play the bass and the melody was quite challenging. Love your videos, I recently subscribed so am looking forward to learn more from you. :D

[@gayjemma]

I can play the beginning of Fur Elise perfectly, because it switches between hands, but I can't do a simple rhythm of eighth notes with left hand and quarters with the right at the same time. This is the only reason that I haven't learned piano.

[@MaugLiTzu]

Wow! Thanks a lot!

[@chrisy367]

I love the Chopin in the background

[@leosousa7404]

Nice!

[@leelilian2694]

looks nice!! will try it

[@gregthesalad495]

Unfortunately my electric piano does not have pressure sensitivity, so the first exercise is literally impossible

[@456death654]

You need a better keyboard

[@keatonbentley8553]

Leigh Kaposi they’re expensive lol

[@ed9709]

Same here

[@asafvirin2181]

Yup same here

[@mithuarup1]

Very well

[@swazzyjay]

those music sheets are really helpful. helps you see what to execute better

[@TerezaPlankova]

Do you have something more challenging? I've been playing piano for around 10 years and I can play these. I want to learn a lot of Chopin and I'm having troubles with playing 3 notes in one hand and 4 in the other. Or if you have a video that might help me, I would love to watch it. Thanks.

[@samuelcosentino-hunter5545]

You can probably plug in an external recorder into your keyboard to eliminate the noise from pressing the keys.

[@alexandersmollett3539]

Canon blew my brains out... almost like it were caNNon... No problems with the other exercises, but canon... damn, that's the stuff! [ : Thanks a lot!

[@HappyTofu2424]

Thought I was decent at piano but I couldn't do a single one of these LOL back to square one :'(

[@faithharrison5727]

I CANT EITHER IM SO FRUSTRATED

[@worstpianist3985]

Brian Weng YOU’D BETTER BE PRACTICING

[@stefanusanggara1268]

I struggled with the first exercise, to get one hand play quietly and the other hand play loudly. Can you give me some advice?

[@XxXShadowchanXxX]

That one is rough. I tried playing both notes one after the other, so left soft C follow by right loud C or vice versa, then I tried to slur them together so they kind of overlap with each other but they are still kind of separate. I increase the overlap between the notes until I end up playing the notes at the same time. Then repeat with the next notes until I got confident and tried the full scale. At least that's what works for me.

[@eijitclb]

Question: Does cracking your fingers really affect our hands when playing the piano?? Also, I'm so thankful that I found your channel. It's helping me a lot 😊

[@OlwinOsazi]

your eyes, make my day

[@MindMetalworks]

Im really sorry to objectify you like this but I have to say that I have travelled the world, been to many countries and seen many things but you, honestly; are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

[@jo2ed]

That first one is tough, got me going crazy. But great exercises.

[@gerardluif1158]

I just found 354 Reading Exercises in C Position by Michael Kravchuk for free, I started with this and like it. Also for sale in a 500 Exercise edition! Question: Why only in C, like it is in most exercise books, do you have to find out other positions by yourself?

[@yEs-ci5fr]

Hey Allysia. As a beginner, one of my piano goals is to play Bach's Two Part Inventions. I've been able to confidently play a wide variety of pieces from Anna Bach's notebook and I'm able to play(and I've memorised) most of the little preludes by Bach. I've also been able to successfully do all your 5 hand independence exercise(some of the exercises, my teacher has already taught me~) and all pieces and exercises to confidence. Do you think I'm ready for Bach's first Two Part Invention?

[@PianotvNet]

Yeah give 'em a whirl! I usually get into the Inventions after the Little Preludes.

[@shirleytsim4775]

I am playing the inventions right now

[@kvnjng]

the Chopin polonaise was too good of a background music, I ended up listening to the melody of that instead. XD

[@JustEnoughKeys]

Lol do you mean the “black key” étude?

[@ant7936]

Chopin should not be "background music"!

[@1073601]

The canon broke my brain.

[@Doktormustache]

I tried it and legitimately felt like crying because it's so overwhelmingly difficult to coordinate my hands like that, or feels wrong somehow lol.

[@hexus7997]

I was literally incapable of doing the first one I am about a beginner to intermediate level Do you have any tips on how to work up to it

[@Ginebraconvention]

I am worried about something you do when playing piano. I have been taught that fingers should not bend inwards when I am pushing down the keys because it is a bad habit which can cause damage in finger articulations. I found that logical, as you are taking your articulations to unnatural position and forcing them. Hands must be placed on keyboard in its natural position and fingers should press keys down without any bending. Then, why you do that (in all videos I have seen at least)? I would like to understand why. Thanks.

[@pyotrillchtchaikovsky39]

Anibal Marrero It depends how much pressure your fingers can take tho. I have really bendy fingers, so bending them inwards for me personally is fine and never hurts me.

[@andyokus4930]

You should watch Chick Corea's fingers when he plays! Man, they are knawled as if he is clawing at the keys. Also, he has his fingers as close to the end of the keys as possible. Watching Chick play was very enlightening.

[@LucasNascimentoPiano]

Do you play Villa-Lobos? he's a brazilian composer. To play your compositions you need to have a lot of independence in your hands. Then listen Bachiana n4 Dansa Miudinho, it is a fun composition!

[@victorseiffer1385]

As someone who's a total begginer, these look IMPOSSIBLE! Hahaha, I know (I hope?) this will change in the future, but so far it seems so complicated I could barely process the act of doing the last exercises with both hands simultaneously.

[@PianotvNet]

You'll get there sooner than you think!

[@tatamatman8171]

Beauty teacher 😍

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Reminds me of an old joke with a Maine farmer when he was asked for directions? You can’t get there from here. How do I get to a Bach Fugue? You can’t get there from here, unless you row a boat.

[@chowturtlezpabus]

When you said we could amp it up, first thing that came through my mind was: Lets do a set of variations with this! lmao

[@PianotvNet]

Nerd! :)

[@diaspiano]

These are great exercises thanks! I have one specific strugle that if you could give me any advice on how to overcome. In the famvous K545 Mozart Sonata, the second part where you go to G and play a little pattern in the left hand and in the right hand you have to make a little trill with A-G-A-G-F# without disturbing the rythm in the left, it seems impossible to me! My left hand always ends up screwing up the rythm trying to copy the trill in the right hand! How could I fix this? Tks!

[@PianotvNet]

Whenever this happens to me, I have a couple approaches. One is I keep trying it at the correct speed, but I record every attempt and make little adjustments each time until the recording sounds like what it's supposed to. It takes a while, but it works for me. That way I'm training my hands to do certain movements, without letting my brain interfere and get in the way. Another approach is to slow it WAY down. Like slower than turtle speed. Almost anything is playable at a slow enough tempo. And once you figure it out at an extremely slow tempo, speed it up little by little, maybe only 5-10 beats a day at most. I also have been known to physically draw on my music - I draw lines connecting the notes that are meant to "match up". It's a great visual aid that helps you see better how all the notes are supposed to align. Hope this helps a little!

[@diaspiano]

pianoTV Yeah I will try that next time thanks! PS.: I can do it today, after a couple of days trying without success, one day I woke up and magically out of nowhere I could do it, lol, go figure

[@MrAzureJames]

same happened to me

[@ukkomies100]

What excercises would you recommend on becoming a better soloist. This is good as i have to play the left hand as i play the solo