Left hand

The lower line

The piano needs both clefs at once, because the right and left hands are notated separately. The right hand is in the treble clef, the left mostly in the bass clef, the F clef, whose two dots enclose the fourth line from the bottom: the note F. It stands for low registers. The mnemonics for the bass clef: for the lines from the bottom G–B–D–F–A, “Good Boys Do Fine Always”, for the spaces A–C–E–G, “All Cows Eat Grass”.

Middle C lies in the bass clef on the first ledger line above the staff. This very note connects the two clefs on the piano.

What the left hand plays

As a rule it plays bass and chords. In ragtime it is an example of an even pulse: the left hand never moves from the spot rhythmically, and for exactly that reason the right can play syncopated rhythms. In practice a fixed sequence helps: first only the left hand through the whole piece, then only the right, then both.

Piano

• Für Elise Ludwig van Beethoven, WoO 59 · piano · 3 pages

  The right hand leads the theme, the left accompanies with broken chords. In bar 4 it answers E–G♯–B with A–E–A (upbeat = bar 0).

• Wilder Reiter Robert Schumann, op. 68 No. 8 · piano · 1 page

  The left hand plays chords under the melody. In bars 3 and 7 the E major chord E–G♯–B appears there.

Common mistakes

• Misreading the clef: The left hand is mostly in the bass clef, not the treble clef.
• Putting both hands together too early: First play each hand alone with confidence.
• Dismissing the left hand as mere accompaniment: It often carries bass and pulse, and in some pieces a melody of its own.