staccato double octaves

[spaciiey]

I have really tiny hands, even for my age - I can only JUST reach an octave, but it hasn't bothered me much until now; I cannot play staccato octaves without hitting extra notes in the middle. It is a requirement in the technical work for my exam... so I cannot really disguise this like I would if I had to play big chords in my pieces.  Aside from hoping my hands are going to grow bigger, how else can I avoid hitting extra notes? Thanks.

[gerryjay]

 there are two simple and effective exercises that might help:

 - to improve your octave position: RH first. place your thumb on middle-C (for example) and play a fifth (5th finger). then, play an octave (5th finger as well). switch from other to another without looking at your hand. feel what your doing, and if you hit a key by mistake, guess what it is by movement and by sound, not looking at it. do the same with your left hand, and in another places of the keyboard (including black keys).

 - when you absolutely confident with that (i mean 100 times right in 100 attempts), procede to octave changing. start with c-c and d-d. change from one to another until it cause you no problem. then, you develop this exercise twofold: 1) changing the position at the keyboard (d-d to e-e, g-g to aflat-aflat); 2) changing the gap. this last procedure is the final goal HS. start c-c to d-d, then c-c to e-e, and so forth.

 of course, after you can do it HS, it's a cool idea play it HT. then you're done. just have some patience. i use a metronome when i practice this kind of stuff, controling my speed development.

 good luck, and hope that helps!

 btw how old are you?

[spaciiey]

Thankyou... I will try it out later when I practice piano. I'd try it now but I don't want to wake my dog up lol.

For the record, I am fifteen. I am probably not going to grow too much more as well.

Thanks again.

[amelialw]

i'm pretty sure that you can play broken octaves instead, they just have to be faster.

I did that for my RCM gr 10 exam and it is acceptable