Stretching exercises for small hands

[danny elfboy]

I'm becoming more conscious of my small hands, especially for a male
Let's not consider the piano intervals span which is misleading but the hand span measured with a measuring tape

My maximum span from thumb to little finger is: 8 inches
The middle finger (the three finger phalanx excluding the hand phalanx) is: 2,9 inches

Isn't that very little?
Although ninths and tenths are a problem what really is problematic to me is playing while I hold a note with the thumb, because of the small space between the thumb and the index finger (4,2 inches)
For example playing Shubert Fantasia Impromptu n.2 is always stressful and always kill my hands not to mention I have to release many notes

I don't think it's just a problem of thumb-to-pinky span because I'm not that bad in that regard but the way the whole hand is made ... for example the space between all the fingers and how the thumb goes down or is connected to the index.
Even Robert Henry here on pianostreet has my reach by I'm sure she has a more moveable thumb and more space between the individual fingers and has less problems playing advanced and virtuoso pieces (in fact he does all the repertory contrary to the belief that if you have small hands you can only play Bach and Mozart [someone on the forum said this once])

I've heard that Alicia de Larrocha had the same problem but she widened her seventh span to almost reach a tenth using gradual stretching exercises that she considered safe and practiced daily

Do you know anything about them? Or something similar that could work?

[will]

I do not know about these exercises. I know something (not-similar) that would work though https://www.dskeyboards.com/

[danny elfboy]

I do not know about these exercises. I know something (not-similar) that would work though https://www.dskeyboards.com/

Thanks ... may buy one when I have saved enough money ... but expensive for me right now 

Meanwhile I hope someone knows exercises
It seems like they work
De Larrocha said in an interview that if it wasn't for the stretching exercises she would still have problems playing octaves while she can play tenths right now. She's also very small ... like 4.9 feet while I am 5.11 feet. What I have notice is that I have a lot of webbing between fingers and maybe what stretching does is losening the webbing 

[franzliszt2]

Practice diminished and domintant 7ths holding all the notes down when you've pressed them. Do the same with Major 7th chords, do minor chords with major 7ths.

Don't worry about hand size, I havn't really grown in the last 2 years, but my hands have. I have a 10th in RH, and an 11th (just) in LH.  You'll find some pieces will help. When I was practicing Brahms paganini variations my fingers started getting much more flexible. It's the stretch more than the size. So focus on the stretch between every finger, and you'll find the hand becoming more and more spaced.

Most impotantly, do dominant and diminished chords, as these strect all the fingers

[molto-marcato]

....and don't overpractice finger-stretching. In a similar way Schumann got a serious    tendosynovitis and hat to end his career as a virtuoso.

I have small hands too for a male and figured doing a lot of Rachmaninoff may help. He must have had huge hands. Can you actually play an octave with 1-3? If so i wouldn't be concerned very much. My teacher btw, can't, but she developed technique to play fast octave runs, legato, with 1-4 1-5.

[danny elfboy]

....and don't overpractice finger-stretching. In a similar way Schumann got a serious    tendosynovitis and hat to end his career as a virtuoso.

But didn't Schumann use an hand device that he kept on for hours daily and all night?
I hope that stretching exercises alone can't have a similar effect

I have small hands too for a male and figured doing a lot of Rachmaninoff may help. He must have had huge hands. Can you actually play an octave with 1-3? If so i wouldn't be concerned very much. My teacher btw, can't, but she developed technique to play fast octave runs, legato, with 1-4 1-5.

It's very uncomfortable the octave with 1-3 ... my hand is abducted (ulnar deviated) in this position

[danny elfboy]

Practice diminished and domintant 7ths holding all the notes down when you've pressed them. Do the same with Major 7th chords, do minor chords with major 7ths.

Don't worry about hand size, I havn't really grown in the last 2 years, but my hands have. I have a 10th in RH, and an 11th (just) in LH.  You'll find some pieces will help.

So you mean that you can play a 11th in your LH because it is the hand you have stretched the most playing wide chord accompainments?

[franzliszt2]

Well if you look at the hand, the thumb can stretch a very long way as nothing gets in the way. You just need to be able to stretch it on its own. The 4th and 5th finger can also seperate very far distances. It takes time, do not force oit though, you'll injure yourself

[sharon_f]

A warm up exercise I use helps with both stretching and flexibility.

Hands one octave apart starting on C in unison using RH 1-2-3-4-5 / LH 5-4-3-2-1 play the following pattern: C, C#,D, D#, E and back down D#, D, C#. Then repeat the pattern in whole step C, D, E, F#, G#, F#, E, D then repeat with a minor third between notes C, D#, F#, A, C, A, F#, D# then repeat with a major third between notes C, E, G#, C, E, C, G#, E and then instead of landing back on the C land on C# and start the whole group again until you have gone through all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. Everything is to be played legato with as much ease as possible. (Start slowly.)

You can make the exercise really difficult by adding one last pattern to the group this time in fourths. (C, F, B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, E-flat, B-flat, F) 

[danny elfboy]

Well if you look at the hand, the thumb can stretch a very long way as nothing gets in the way.

I'm my hand there's the skin web between the thumb and the index that gets in the way because it's very tight. So the thumb can't stretch very far. At my maximum stretch the thumb and pinky are in a V line and not in a straight line

[danny elfboy]

A warm up exercise I use helps with both stretching and flexibility.

Hands one octave apart starting on C in unison using RH 1-2-3-4-5 / LH 5-4-3-2-1 play the following pattern: C, C#,D, D#, E and back down D#, D, C#. Then repeat the pattern in whole step C, D, E, F#, G#, F#, E, D then repeat with a minor third between notes C, D#, F#, A, C, A, F#, D# then repeat with a major third between notes C, E, G#, C, E, C, G#, E and then instead of landing back on the C land on C# and start the whole group again until you have gone through all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. Everything is to be played legato with as much ease as possible. (Start slowly.)

You can make the exercise really difficult by adding one last pattern to the group this time in fourths. (C, F, B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, E-flat, B-flat, F) 

Thanks a lot
I will definitely try this
What hand span do you have sharon? And did these exercises increase your span?