Playing the Melody with Both Hands

OK, take a deep breath… now it’s time to combine the two hands while playing! You’ve had some experience using both hands in a song, but not at the same time. An easy way to get started with this is to play the melody of the song in both hands (sometimes referred to as “doubling” the melody). This means that you’ll be playing the same notes in both hands, separated by one or more octaves. Let’s see how this works on a well-known Christmas carol (just pretend it’s Christmas, OK?… even if you are reading this in April!). Notice that both hands are using the C Position.

Our first “hands together” song is “Jingle Bells.” Once you’ve run through the song, listen to track 24 and play along.

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As you practice this song, try playing through it “hands separately” first, figuring out where the notes are within the hand positions. Then play each hand’s part using a metronome to help you keep time. You can begin by playing slowly, increasing the tempo as you become more comfortable. Then when you combine the hands, you’ll have a head start on coordinating the hands correctly. This is a good practice technique for all of the songs we’ll be working on, from now onwards!
For extra practice, go back in the book and try “doubling” in all the songs: add the left hand to right-hand-only songs, and vice-versa. This is good practice to get the hands working together.