Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. I recently injured my thumb playing ping pong, of all things! Can you believe it? It’s one of those unexpected turns life throws at you. I practice piano every day, so naturally, I found myself wondering: what could I do with a sore thumb?
Discovering the World of Left-Hand Piano Music
It turns out there’s a remarkable wealth of music written for the left hand alone. I always knew about it, but I never explored it. Why? I never had any issues with my right hand before. But since I have no left hand music repertoire, last night, I sat down at the piano and began to improvise—just with my left hand. It was a new experience, and I found it surprisingly satisfying. I wanted to share that moment with you. Check out the video to hear it!
More Music Than You Might Expect
There may actually be more repertoire written for the piano left hand than some instruments have in their entire solo literature! We pianists are incredibly fortunate in that way. I don’t expect this injury to last long, so I probably won’t be tackling Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand or other major works, although they are worthy compositions in their own right. But as worthwhile as those pieces are, for now I’ll stick to improvising and exploring new musical ideas with my left hand.
The Challenge of Resting the Thumb
Right now, it’s all about cold compresses and avoiding any strain. And let me tell you—avoiding your thumb is surprisingly difficult. Not just at the piano, but in everyday life. It’s involved in almost everything you do. So I’m being very careful and giving it the time it needs to heal. Hopefully, I’ll be back to playing with both hands soon!
Sorry about your injury.
I regularly play jazz with the left hand alone. It’s a game changer for improvisation.
Get well soon.
Thanks – I am supposed to play 4-hand with my sister this weekend in a performance. I’m hoping I’ll be ready!
When I’m not watching, it sounds like a lot more than just the left hand … impressive. I’m going through something similar with my left thumb — trying to give it the rest it needs
I guess you can do some right-hand playing. Hope you feel better!
Thank you, Robert! I wish the same for you as well!
I may have to immobilize it as I keep using it for normal daily tasks and it’s prolonging the recovery time (plus – at age 76 … these things take a bit longer to heal).
On the bright side, I CAN do some of my favorite 3-4-5 fingers exercises (Plaidy, Section III-b, #6, 7, 8 — in various keys) which seems to help a lot with improving accuracy in playing chords (4-note) — it helps those fingers with the micro adjustments to find and land on their respective keys …
Working on other fingers is a very creative solution!
Wow, very impressive improvisation! In everyday life, I try to use my 4th and 5th fingers, knowing the are the most weak. They were stronger while I had horses, you know, rolling out wheelbarrowa full of manure required the use of all 5 fingers! I miss them, the horses that is, not the wheelbarrows … 🙂