As a teenager in the 1960s, I was taught to play a new piece hands together right from the start. When I returned to piano lessons last year, I was surprised to be told to learn hands separately - in fact it took me some time to change but then I did find it better. Was this a foible of my particular teachers (I did have a few as I changed schools) or a fashion of the time? If so, when did it change?
Tricia

I think some people find it easier and more effective if they learn the parts separately... some of them go to pieces if they play both hands together right at the start.

I'll always play a piece through first time hands together. It may take me years, but separating hands from the start is almost as if you're practicing something that you'll never play: in the end you need to play it hands together, so it seems logical to me to learn it like that.

I was always taught to lean pieces hands separately and then when perfect put hands together. I think the rationale behind this is that if one hand isn't correct on it's own, it won't be correct when it joins with the other hand. I know a lot of teachers who do advocate learning pieces together. Quite often I'm asked to sub for absent teachers. When we come across problem bars in the pieces, almost always it's in places where one hand isn't secure. Even with my own students, when there is something not right - it's because one hand isn't right.

It hasn't gone out of fashion it just varies between teachers. It also varies between pupils due to learning styles; although I wonder if any teachers take the approach of teaching some pupils who respond well to hands separately learning to do it that way; and others who work best hands together that way; or whether they always follow their personal philosophy?

Personally I learn things hands seperately and then put them together: it allows attention to detail from the start and avoids things being pracitised in wrongly, or tempo changes for hard bits (to a certain extent at least). Others learn hands together, this gets the piece play throughable more quickly, and gets them valuable sight reading practice; but the detail must be put in later.

I personally prefer to practise hands together from the outset, as slowly as is neccessary to include all detail and articulation. Otherwise it can be like going back to the drawing board once the seperate parts are learnt. The only exception to this is Bach, and contrapuntal music, which benefits from seperate practice every time. As far as the pupils are concerned, all individuals are different!

I think for some pieces which is more difficult, especially some with different rhythms in two hands, it is better to learn hands seperately(e.g. Fantaisie Impromptu). It is uneasy for you to play the 4 against 3 rhythm with both hands at the first time. However, learning hands together should be used in most of the pieces. You can't play in hands seperately in the Sight Reading Exam.

For me it depends on the piece.
There are some things (as Dulciana said) that you really do need to do a lot of separate hand work on and some that are better with hands together from the start.
There might also be sections of a piece that benefit from either one approach or the other.

I learn most things hands together because I'm lazy and would rather just play through stuff than sit there going over and over the same bit in one hand. That is of course unless there is someone sitting next to me telling me over and over to play it hands separately etc.

You mean like when you think it's ok then your teacher prodeeds to prove that it isn't by making you take it apart and rebuild which usually gives a fairly noticable improvement and shows that the teacher really does know best?

I'm afraid so . Although I don't have a teacher, I just went back to my old teacher for a one off lesson when we both had no pupils yesterday, but I think it'll turn into more than just a one off lesson now. Best get practising...

I think it depends on the piece and the teacher (and the pupil) to quite a large extent.

I work differently depending on what the piece is like and on the aptitude of the particular student.
Sometimes it works to put hands together straight away, or almost straight away, perhaps taking apart one or two slightly more complex bars if needed. Maybe the hands are interdependent or imitative, so that they'll go quite easily together, and in some way it helps with note-learning.

Sometimes a piece is so unrewarding played hands separately that it seems worth taking a risk with hands together in order to keep interest alive ( )

Sometimes the complexities are such that it's a short-cut to nowhere if you even try to put hands together in the early stages.

My teacher likes me to try hands together from the outset.

Mind you, I sight read hands separately to check the difficulty of a piece. If I can't sight read each hand separately reasonably up-to-speed, I feel the piece is too difficult for me.

Yup - there are very few pieces that I don't, one way or another, have to practise hands separately to an extent. Or I'd probably still be playing grade 2 music

One of the things I like about this forum is that there is so much to learn from all the different replies.

It's great isn't it!

I always start hands together! But then I often break passages down if they're too hard.

I've been playing the piano for about 7 years and i have always learnt pieces playing with both hands right wawy. However, i recently changed teachers and now i have to learn them hands separately. She was actually quite shocked when i told her that i'd never learnt a piece with hands separate before! It bores me playing hands separately, as i like to hear what a piece sounds like straight away. If i play hands separately, it doesn't really sound like 'music' to me.

That is my own reaction - I found I could not work properly at hands separately and that it seemed like doing 3 different processes. However, I am now on a grade 6 piece and finding it a real challenge and am glad that I am sticking to hands separately. I have to repeat each section, even one hand at a time, instead of playing through and thinking 'I can do that' only to discover when the two go together - that I can't. So I am coming round to teacher's ways (if he wasn't so nice, he would have a smug grin on his face!). Always possible to learn new things even in the 60s.
Tricia

One good reason for learning HS is that if you learn mistakes or hesitations HT ithey are much more difficult to correct, each hand kind of cues and ties in the other. Working HS you can fiddle around with fingering as much as you like to find the most efficient/relaxed way before finally putting hands together. Also it's a good way to speed up pieces, again by working on short chunks HS. And if you work in small sections you don't have to do the whole piece HS before joining; that is truly boring!

I think playing seperate hands does allow you to explore the piece more, like many people have said though, i think it depends on the piece. Certainly with Chopin much of his bass clef writing is so melodic and inventive, that it's often very rewarding to play the Left hand alone, maybe while i'm munching on an apple or something. I certainly will continue to learn most pieces with seperate hands first. It's got to help with the finished product.

With regards to bachpensioner's statement about learning everything hands together in the sixties, although I started piano in 1963 at the age of 8, I must say I can remember my teacher letting me learn some pieces hands separately. As I progressed I would have automatically graduated to hands together from the outset. Perhaps it's not so much a generation thing after all. I tend to work the same way as a teacher: hands separately until about Grade III then (as others have said) for most purposes hands together but slowly from the outset. If there are problems with particular bars then you go back to bar-by-bar slow practice until the technique, rhythm, fingering etc is mastered.

LR