Jun 24, 2023
Grow your ability to control each hand!
Have you ever watched a mime? Miming is the art of using your body motions to tell a story without using any words. Mimes train to have incredible control of all of their muscles.
Playing the piano also requires us to learn fine control of our muscles. Our brains like to do the same thing with both sides of our body, so we have to work to increase our skill of using each hand independently. This activity will increase your ability to control each hand separately.
Choose a piece of music that you know very well from your review list.
Start with one small section or measure.
Choose which hand will be the mime and play silently while the other hand plays normally.
Play the section. The mime hand must touch each key, but not press the key down.
Be patient! This can be quite tricky at first! Keep trying and your brain will soon figure out how to make one play while the other hand plays silently.
For fun: Watch actor Rowan Atkinson as his character "Mr. Bean" discovers an invisible drum set. This is a great example of mime. He makes us believe objects are there just with his body motions!