I have trouble playing one hand softer than the other. How is this done? If you strike the left hand keys, say, more gently than the right hand keys won't the left hand sound later than the right?

Am I missing something? Are there exercises anyone can recommend?

Not slower. Just softer. Less velocity and power in your left hand, or perhaps more correctly, really leaning on the notes in your right, so that the melody is emphasized over the tones of the chords and harmony. It's a difficult thing to explain and a difficult thing to do. I started out with slow pieces, and really slowed them down, and practiced hands separate. Each time, I practiced the left hand very very softly. Each time, I practiced the right hand loudly. (and it probably wasn't pleasant to listen to), but when I put it all together, it gave me the desired effect. I quieted the right hand down, but sort of shifted my weight from my shoulders to the right a little. That helped a little too.... Mostly, it's practice, practice, practice. Be patient with yourself. You'll get it. Good luck!

This is a common problem. (And it gets worse: one day you will need to play both melody and harmony with the same hand, bringing one out over the other).

When I first struggled with this, my teacher recommended lifting the finger that was going to play the louder note a little higher than my other fingers before striking the notes. The fingers need to arrive at the bottom of the keys at the same time (assuming everything needs to sound at the same time), but with the louder note my finger motion started just a little earlier from a further distance. You can practice this in a very exaggerated way with scales or some other simple pattern until you begin to feel what you need to do. Eventually, you can learn to just play a little more forcefully for the notes you want to bring out without a lot of extra finger height, but this approach helped me a lot at first.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try them. Glad to know I'm not the only one who finds this confusing.

byomtov - join the club. Have the same problem. I am left-handed and of course my left is stronger than my right.

Sometimes I manage to get my left hand to play softly and sometimes it sounds like the Anvil Chorus from Aida. Exaggerated I admit, but it is tricky - wish I had the answer.

try to do alternating 'loud' and 'soft' either with one hand or both hands. in both hands case, try to do one hand softer and the other louder and after a while switch the hands. it's a touch control issue and takes time to get used to it. as you practice more, you'd get better.