You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Left hand? Right hand? Equal rights...and equal lefts.

Episode Date: January 5, 2022

It's Speakpipe Wednesday! Peter and Adam discuss a listeners' question on practicing piano with both hands. Mentioned in this episode: Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand | buy | listenPeter's performance of Donna LeeGeoffrey Keezer's performance of Stevie's "These Three Words"Share your musical journey: Leave us a SpeakPipeWoosh or No Woosh? Hit us up on Twitter and let us know which team you are onCheck out Open Studio Pro hereSupport the pod by spreading the word with the link youllhearit.com Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. What's up, Adam? I'm feeling pretty questionable today. You know why? Why? It is Speak Pike Wednesday. Speak Pike Wednesday. Say it three times in a row with me.

Adam, come on. Speak by Wednesday. Speak by Wednesday. I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear Podcast. Music advice and inspiration coming at you. Coming at you today.

Sponsored by Open Studio. go to Open StudioJaz.com for all of your jazz lesson needs. Peter, it's SpeakPipe Wednesday, my favorite day of the week, besides all the other days. Wednesday, it's hump day, so it's an important one, right? Remember that? Yeah. I remember that year when you couldn't say Wednesday.

Actually, there was that year where you thought hump day was Tuesday. Remember that? Right, because you're trying to get over the hump between, I don't know what. Wait, so is Wednesday is actually hump day? Oh, my God. He still doesn't know. Yeah, it's hump day. I thought I knew of the week.

Yeah, but you're laughing at me, so I didn't, so it really should be midnight on Wednesday, between Wednesday and Thursday, technically, then. No, man, the whole day is the hump day where you're getting over the hump in the middle of the week. I remember there was a two-month period where you thought Friday was hump day. And I was always trying to wrap my head around why you would think Friday is hump day. But I stopped caring about that kind of stuff a long time ago, Peter. This is episode 897 or whatever. Well, hold up. Now you've got me thinking about this.

Let's just, let's digress. Let's digress quickly here. Hump day should be noon central time on Thursdays technically halfway through the week, right? Exactly halfway through the week, yeah. But are we talking about the work week or the full week? I mean, come on, man. I guess it would matter. That would be halfway through either way.

Exactly. Yeah. See, this is how I get you to digress. So you were smiling before. Now you got a quizzical look on your face. I've gone cross-eyed. I'm confused. And now hopefully folks won't even notice this, but we can let them in on a little

secret ad we are actually recording this remote today but we think perhaps because we can see each other that we may have nailed this to the point where it sounds like we're recording it together yeah i think it's going to sound great man yeah we're having a bit of a you know a bit of a precautionary separation here that now this is the time man everybody's getting it but uh i think we're trying not to we're trying to we're trying to be the last one trying to be safe that's right yeah the last one we want to be the last one last man out uh so hopefully we'll be back recording live by the end of the week. But no, we've been in the pandemic so long now.

I feel like we've got this part of it nailed. Like we can do anything pretty much around the world. There's not even a reason to see anybody in person anymore. You know what I mean? That's right. Well, and interestingly enough, a little benefit, so you're smiling still, but I'm about to turn your smile into a frown once you realize what I'm about to say.

I am in your chair in the pod suite where you normally sit. You're at your home studio. So this gives me the ability to do things like this. Yeah. At will. Team swoosh. Yeah, that's right. Would that be something you might be interested in?

I'm always interested. I'm in control of that today. I'm excited about that. I'm a little nervous, too, but it's all good. Be weary listeners. Well, it is SpeakPipe Wednesday. This is where we take questions from our listeners, and we've got a lot of great questions this week,

but I want to focus on one from John. If you would like to leave us a speak pipe, Peter, where can the good people go for that? The good and the bad end, the mediocre and the medium and everybody can go to, you'll hear it. That is Y-O-O-U-A-Posophil-L-Hear-It.com, right? Omit the apostrophe, though, please. That's right.

That's a backhanded way of spelling our website's name. But yeah, go to you'll hear.com and it leaves a message right there. This is a message from John about some frustration with the piano. Yes. Hey, Peter. Hey, Adam. This is John from California. I just had a quick question.

I wanted you guys' opinion about. Something that kind of bugs me about piano, which is when I practice, I try to practice both hands equally. I actually try to spend more time with my left hand to get it up to the same level of skill and speed as my right hand that everyone right hand has naturally. And I like that feeling of playing and using both my hands somewhat equally, you know. But it seems like most piano music in general just more heavily favors the right hand, where the right hand is taking. care of more of the complex fast work and the left hand is kind of just accompanying and doing more simple work in general and you know so it kind of makes me feel like I'm leaving my left hand behind you know when I'm playing in that way but

that's how most piano music seems to be so I was just wondering if you guys have any suggestions as far as learning tunes or coming up with your own arrangements for tunes in a way that uses both hands more equally, you know, or even certain songs or certain artists who use their hands in a more equal way that I can kind of emulate so that I don't feel like I'm leaving my left hand behind all the time when I'm playing if that makes sense. So I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts about that. Thank you very much. Yeah, it's a great question, John. I love the way John put that, too, of like just feeling like it's left behind. Not, we get a lot of like, how could I make my left hand

like my right hand? John seems to have a handle on that. But in, I hear you got a handle on that. In practical terms, though, as far as like just playing and you're learning music and you're hearing a lot of just right hand centric playing, who are some people to listen to what can John do to sort of get more, get his left hand more involved? Right. Well, one thing that does come to mind, and this is a little bit of a joke, but actually could somewhat lead to somewhere useful for. us, I think, is Revelle's left-hand piano concerto, which is, that kind of takes care of the problem. If you want to learn something that's written out that only features the left-handed, you want to really bulk it up, or at least, you know, kind of what you're doing with it, you could go there.

But I think that that leads one to the place. I wouldn't worry as much about focusing on, like, players that you can study or emulate that are using the left-hand more, because the actual, I think musically, the application of where, you know, the melodies and the accompaniment lie on the piano is more about the registers than the actual hands. Because if you think about left-handed pianists, they don't solo down in the bass and tenor region with their left hand and then comp with their right hand, even though that might be more natural for them. They learn to play just like we do with, you know, primarily accompaniment underneath a melodic thing. Now, of course, there's counter melodies, there's baselines, there's combinations of those, there's inner movements and all that stuff we want to be able to do. So it's kind of like we want to be able to develop the non-dominant hand,

which for what is it, 90% of us is the left hand. And maybe for pianists, it's even higher than that. But I believe it's something like that for the general population. But we want to develop our non-dominant hand, whichever one that is, to get as close to the dominant hand in terms of our control of it. independence of it, independence of the fingers, strength of it, you know, the agility, all the different things that we feel we have. We want to try to normalize those. And so even if we still, you know, gravitate towards the melodies and, you know, that becomes more of a stylistic thing. But even if

that becomes more on the right hand side of the keyboard, because we've got the accompaniment and different things underneath. But we've got that ability. And so with that in mind, when we practice, we can really think about just the things that you normally feel like you can do with your right hand, do them with your left hand. So if you're learning a tune or a phrase or even a solo, you know, put your right hand in your lap for a little bit and just play it with your left hand. Practice it with your left hand. You know, that's really the way that we can accomplish some kind of, you know, something approaching equality. And so a lot of times what people will do is practice hands together. And I don't think that that, you know, so you're playing melodies at the same

time. I don't think that that will accomplish as quickly that normalization process as practicing with just your left hand, something a little bit more challenging, something higher up on the keyboard that you're normally going to associate with your right hand, because then your right hand is just leading the left hand. And our brain works in a funny way with the dominant hand, because the right hand and the brain just kind of leads the left hand along. And that's why it feels like we can play things sometimes with our left hand, if we're playing with the right hand also, that when we take the right hand away, become very difficult all of a sudden. Yeah, that's totally true. and as far as like dealing with the range and I think the role is what you were sort of hinting at of you know the left hand right thinking about it not in terms of soloing like you know you can go all the way back to art tatum who was a true two-handed pianist with a very proficient left hand and it's not like he's down there soloing all the time I mean he's doing some virtuastic stuff with his left hand but that could be a place to start John is like go to art

You want your left hand to get the work in? I mean, it's all there for you. You're kind of a tough teacher today, Adam. You said, a good place to start is Art Tatum. I love it. I'm just saying, like, you know, John seems like he wants to challenge his left hand. He wants to play music that has lots to do with the left hand. And Art Tatum, one of the greatest jazz pianists and a very early pianist really was, I mean, a virtuoso in both hands.

And it wasn't until much later that the role of the. left hand was sort of was put you know more on the back burner which that's not even true actually that's not the case as you were just alluding to like some other players you might check out phineas newborn of course known for unison lines double lines uh oscar peterson obviously could also do like block cords double lines so so easily chick korea. use two hands in a very unique way, not in the same way that Art Tatum or a Phineas Newborn use them, although you could do that,

but more along the lines of like... Yeah. Like, all the way off the keyboard, you don't know what hand is playing what. Like, arpeggio is using two hands, shapes using two hands. Casino time from bottom to top. To a really effective use.

Obviously, you know, Brad Meldow for a while was known there for doing all this virtuosic firework stuff with both hands. Peter Martin, my co-host here, go check out his version on YouTube of Dona Lee, playing the head to Donnell Lee, like, insanely fast with both hands.

Really? Yeah, oh yeah, man. I might have overdub that left hand. I can't remember. You didn't know, it was live. And then Benny Green is another, I think, is someone who's also really well known for, unison lines, two octave lines with both hands, being able to really get the most out of it. And then I'll say,

there's a bunch of young players who can do this as well. You know, obviously Sullivan Fortner can do this really, really well. And then some really great, like, like fusioning players like domy, young player from France and Jesus Molina, obviously. But tons of stuff to check out. Like you don't have to leave your left hand behind at all. And for practice purposes, I think you're in the right zone here, John. Jeffrey Keiser always says because he's,

there's another player, obviously. I was going to say, yeah, Keyzer for sure. And some innovative ways that he approached it to. He's great with the, with, you know, two actors apart, you know, in unison. But he's also really good with, check out his version of these three words by Stevie Wonder from around 2000. It's a little ways back. He's an incredible solo piano version of that. I forget the name of the record.

But really innovative, like kind of under the radar, left-hand stuff until you start listening to it with this kind of a, thing on your mind. Just brilliant, brilliant left-hand work there. Totally. Totally. And that's stuff you could transcribe, right? You know what I? Absolutely. Or try at least. Yeah. There's so much to do. So don't feel like you just have to, in fact, don't just comp chords in your left hand and play and play things in your right. I had a teacher in college at the new school tell me, like, very emphatically, your right hand is your alto saxophone. Just worry about that. And I was like, I don't know about that. Right. I mean, there is a time for that. Like, you want to be able to do that.

But you don't want to limit yourself to that. Like that's a starting place. And maybe for some people that's an ending, but you don't want to only be doing that because your left hand is technically holding you back from other ideas. Because even if the left hand never gets to the right hand point like an Art Tatum or these other folks, oh, Mary Lou Williams. That was, she had darn near equality between her hands as far as I could tell, you know.

Yeah. And then obviously the greats like Keith Jarrett, Fred Hirsch has a very interesting, like, contrapuntal way to play with two hands, you know, almost like it's like a bach corral on some, some chords. It's really beautiful using both hands. There's a ton of options. Don't feel limited to just like left hand chords, right hand melody. Right. And then, but even when you're playing,

if you do that, like there's the practicing and trying to get up to the point of doing this, but then this is not going to happen overnight and that's okay. So don't feel like, oh, I can't just comp in my left hand and solo. That's a great sound. That's an appropriate sound for a lot of things that we play. But I mean, the other thing is like, if you want to practice some, you know, without even getting all the way to the Ravelle left-hand piano concerto,

Bach Inventions, the two-part and especially the three-part, they're pretty challenging, you know, for the left hand as much as for the right hand, I would say. And like well-tempered clavier, the fugues, Bach fugues, for sure. So there is repertoire there that's going to challenge your left hand as much as your right hand. There's several Chopin attitudes that are specific to the left hand.

I'm forgetting the number. now, but those are really easy to find, you know, just by Googling those. What's the deal with the left-hand concerto? Wasn't that written for someone who would hurt themselves or something? I think it was, yeah, for somebody who had like a stroke or something and couldn't use their right hand. Like a famous pianist of the time. Yeah.

We should have Googled that before we started this episode. We should have. If only we, it's such an awkward pause there. But do you know what? This is for our dear listeners to do now. We want them to practice that. I'll do it. I'm Googling it.

I got you. It's going to go to you now. No, John, it's a great question. But, you know, check out all those players. And honestly, do start with Art Tatum because I think if you go listen to a bunch of like just the solo piano Tatum stuff. Actually, Peter, it's something we haven't gone back to, I think, in a few months. We should probably do some kind of listing session on some Art Tatum. It's been a while for me.

But it's so inspiring. I mean, talk about a sound that's used still to this day from, you know, low. a hundred years ago almost now. It's really, really incredible. So the Ravel Piano Concertor for the Left Hand and D major, this is a beautiful work too. It's just really fun to listen to

even if you don't learn it, but I was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War, ever heard of it. That's amazing. Would that be something you might be interested in? Absolutely, I would be interested in that.

Not in losing your right arm, but it... No. But that's a story, though. I know. It says in preparing for composition, Revelle studied several pieces written for one-handed piano, including Camille Saint-San, six etudes for La Man-Gosch.

Do you know what La Man-Gosch is? Is that a Formula One race? It sounds like Le Mans Gauch, the left side of Zehold. No, that's left hand. La Man is the means hand and gauche. Interestingly, it means left. Like if you say, oh, you're so gauche.

That means you're left? Well, that goes back to this thing of 90% of people being right-handed. So it was a little bit of an ism, as we would say, right-handism when we discriminate against left-handed people. So that's how gauche became part of that vernacular. Also, did you know that I'm ambidextrous? Did I know that about me? Yeah. I did not know that.

How did that never come up in today's conversation specifically? I know. Well, no, I was thinking about it. So I'm not left-handed, although I do right-left-handed, but I'm not. I do things with both hands. Like I play tennis left-handed. I play baseball right-handed. I do really not, I can't do the same thing with both hands, but I do certain things with one

hand and certain things with the other. That's incredible. How do I not know this? Yeah, man. Wait, so ping-ponged you, are you left-handed ping-pong? How did you not know that? I school you every time we play from the left side. You're not, you're not, that's the, you know what?

That's what, that's what's screwing me up because I'm so unconscious. You know what? I'm going to school you next time because I keep saying I'm going to serve to his left side. I'm serving to his left side. That didn't work out. Just the spin alone messes with people for the first few games if they haven't played many lefties, you know? That's funny.

So there's a couple more pieces listed here. Churny has an Ecole de la Montgosh as well, a little bit of a school of the left hand Opus 399. I'm not familiar with that. And Scriabin, who has some great technical work for piano, prelude and nocturn for the left-hand Opus 9. So there's a little bit of, as we say, long hair. selections for you.

Well, this was a great question. We've been asked some similar stuff like this before, John, but not quite in this way. And I thought it was a very thoughtful framing that you put to this. And good luck with it. You know, listen, listen, listen, listen to all those artists we mentioned. And then really to anybody, honestly, all of the greats, they are not one-handed pianist. When you really listen, they're doing a ton of stuff with both hands. Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah. So until next time. You'll hear it.