I was googling around the internet the other day when I ran into an article that began with this question: “I have completely different fingerprint patterns on both hands. On my right, each finger has a very distinct and similar loop pattern. But on my left hand each finger has a distinct whorl pattern. Why does this happen?”  According to the article,  there is not a definitive scientific answer for this, but the question still intrigues me, particularly in light of our topic for today. 

In harp playing, our right and left hands have very distinctive roles, at least most of the time. Our right hand usually plays melody while our left hand plays an accompaniment. Most of the time, the melody that our right hand plays is made up of connected notes. Our fingers need to place from one note to the next to make the melody sound singing and smooth.

Our left hand accompaniment, though, is often made up of chords and low notes, so that our hand needs to lift to negotiate the necessary jumps between octaves. Our hands may be playing the same harp, but they’re doing very different things. 

Usually it’s our right hand that gets the spotlight, but today we are going to focus on the left hand. I want to walk you through the technical details of some of the most important patterns the left hand plays, as well as help you prepare your left hand for those moments when it gets the spotlight. These five key techniques will help your left hand be ready for anything that comes its way.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Just for teachers! Enroll in our 1-Day Teacher Accreditation Seminar
• Free PDF Left Hand Techniques Practice Sheet
• Related resource 3 Strategies for Left Hand Fluency blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected] 

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-165