Tips To Improve Hand Coordination At The Piano
Hand coordination is one thing that every beginner at the piano struggles with at the start. After all, you might have never found yourself in a position where you needed your hands to work together this way, especially if this is your first instrument. This is a part of piano playing that definitely takes time to achieve but that also can allow you to widen the number of pieces you can play. As such, make sure you don’t give up on it so quickly if you find it challenging, and here are some tips to help you improve your hand coordination:
One hand at the time
While it’s important that you get your other hand involved when you play, it’s also just as important to do so at the right time. Start by first learning how to play the part with your left hand, then learn to play the other with your right hand, and once you feel confident in both, you can combine them. Of course, you should start byplaying slowly with the two hands, and avoid going straight into playing a fast piece. This is hard enough without adding the complexity of a fast tempo!
Take your time and before you know it, playing pieces with both hands will come naturally.
Try hand coordination exercises
While you wait to get to a level where you can feel confident playing a piece that requires the use of both hands, practice your hand coordination with exercises. You can find plenty of exercises suited for beginners online, one of them can involve playing the scale up with your right hand, and down at the same time with your left hand, starting with your thumbs meeting on the middle C.
Like with everything else you learn for the first time on the piano: keep it slow. There is no advantage to moving quickly between notes, if anything, that could only delay progress in your hand coordination.
Strengthen your hands
As a beginner pianist, your hands are likely to get tired quickly. Once you start alternating hands, you’ll also notice that one hand might be weaker than the other. This is completely normal, every pianist has one hand that tends to lead the way while the other might take longer to learn a piece.
Just take your time to strengthen both hands with regular practice.
Use a metronome
As always, a metronome can be a great companion in your practice, and also help you improve your hand coordination. Include it in your hand exercises to make sure that both of your hands are keeping up with the right tempo. Start slow and then gradually progress in speed as you gain confidence in your piano playing with both hands.
I hope that these tips keep you inspired to continue in your practice and master hand coordination. As always, learning a skill as complex as playing with two hands takes time but with consistent practice, you’ll soon find this easier and easier. Keep going!
