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Topic: Rachmaninoff's hand span  (Read 89827 times)

Offline chikchak

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #50 on: July 29, 2010, 09:36:06 AM
Your talking about small hands.. lol

I barely can do from C to D (8th) and I'm 16!

But still, I played already Rachmaninoff's Prelude 5 (op23 no5) and Elegie (Op3 no1)
Perfectly :)

It's just how much you want to succeed the piece you play

Offline birba

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #51 on: July 29, 2010, 10:31:41 AM


It's just how much you want to succeed the piece you play
  Golden words.  :)

Offline bach_rach_and_roll

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #52 on: July 31, 2010, 05:03:43 PM
When people hold their hands up to mine they go "OMG chibi hand!!"
I can stretch my hand so that my thumb and pinky are in one line, but when I do that I barely reach an octave if I use proper posture. If I slide to the edge of the keys I can kinda get a ninth. I've never dreamed of stretching a tenth. I can't even roll the C-G one as a grace note. You lucky, long handed people. >:(
Actually, my teacher forbids me to play Rachmaninoff because of my limited reach. I'm allowed to play the Polichinelle from Opus 3, but that's it. And if she found out I've read through 3/2, the Prelude in c#, I think she'd seriously slap me.   :-[

and birba, for your last comment about chikchak's thing... that's the only reason I've played Polichinelle and the prelude from Debussy's Pour le Piano... it's not so bad if you look back and say "well I did that with a little determination and a couple dropped notes... I can do it again!" thanks for the reminder :D

Offline gyzzzmo

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #53 on: August 01, 2010, 08:53:22 PM
A relativly big reach due to good spread has indeed some advantages, especially when playing some of the Rachmaninov repetoire.
But on the other hand, it has some disadvantages too. I have to keep my fingers more curved (takes more time) at fast passages on notes between the black keys, because of my broader fingers. And there are alot more compositions of those, than those big-chord-pieces of Rachmaninov ;)

Gyzzzmo
1+1=11

Offline overfjell

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #54 on: February 17, 2011, 10:46:25 AM
. And if she found out I've read through 3/2, the Prelude in c#, I think she'd seriously slap me.   :-[

Why? There's no particularly big stretches in there. There is that C# to B, but that's not even a stretch, more a jump. Apart from that, the biggest stretch is an octave, I think...
Now learning:
Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 1 in C Major
Rachmaninoff Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G Minor
Chopin Polonaise Op. 40 No. 2 in C Minor
Scriabin Prelude for the Left Hand Alone

Offline tb230

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #55 on: February 22, 2011, 09:21:06 AM
A bit on the side of topic, but you can measure your hand span on https://www.steinbuhler.com/index.html
According to this, although my little finger measures only 4.5 cm (1.8 inches) ::) , I have a normal span due to good flex.

Offline pianoplayjl

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Re: Rachmaninoff's hand span
Reply #56 on: October 27, 2011, 02:18:04 AM
Rachmaninoff's hand in the right could play the chord c-e flat-g-c-g and reach a thirteenth. I think probably because he had some sort of illness and thats why he was tall.
Funny? How? How am I funny?
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