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Topic: freakish handspan  (Read 7075 times)

Offline ada

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freakish handspan
on: February 07, 2007, 06:28:30 AM
A mate's hand span. Is this unnaturally HUGE?


Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.
- Roger Fry, quoted in Virginia Woolf

Offline jre58591

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #1 on: February 07, 2007, 06:44:45 AM
not really. i can reach from the F to B. i can take a pic to prove.
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Offline ahinton

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #2 on: February 07, 2007, 08:05:55 AM
No, indeed - in fact, it's perfectly normal. Rakhmaninov could manage a twelfth and Hamelin can comfortably take passagework in twelfths (or could, if what he was playing required him to do so).

What's yours, ada?

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline gruffalo

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Offline henrah

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #4 on: February 07, 2007, 10:33:46 AM
You're just freaky gruff ;D
Currently learning:<br />Liszt- Consolation No.3<br />J.W.Hässler- Sonata No.6 in C, 2nd mvt<br />Glière- No.10 from 12 Esquisses, Op.47<br />Saint-Saens- VII Aquarium<br />Mozart- Fantasie KV397<br /

Offline danny elfboy

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #5 on: February 07, 2007, 10:58:51 AM
Seems like she could reach a 11th with more stretch
If she's a woman it is indeed remarkable

Look at this page
https://www.dskeyboards.com/html/handsizepage.html
You can see that usual woman spans stop at 8,9 which is 22 cm or almost a tenth
So reaching a 11th would be very rare for a woman according to this table


Also let's not forget that piano playing increases our hand span
Gruffalo you wouldn't have those hands if it wasn't for piano playing
One reason is the growth stimulus during growth that increase the amount of cartilage that is turned into bone. Not many people know for example that playing basketball increases the final height of a growing kid or that a kid who plays baseball will grow with the arm he/she uses to throw the ball way longer than the other.
The other reason is the loosening of the web of skin between the fingers
Playing piano eventually lead a pianist to be able to position the thumb and pinky in a straight line. The still tight web of people who don't play piano don't allow them to do so

Offline ada

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #6 on: February 07, 2007, 06:50:09 PM
Actually, it's a bloke's hand  :P

Alistair, I can reach an octave comfortably, a bit over at a stretch  :'(

gruffalo you are scary  :o

I obviously have led a life sheltered from er, large hands.
Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.
- Roger Fry, quoted in Virginia Woolf

Offline gruffalo

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #7 on: February 07, 2007, 07:13:17 PM
i give freakishly good massages  8)

Offline franzliszt2

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #8 on: February 07, 2007, 10:07:11 PM
I have a friend who can play 12ths using 1 and 3. He can get a 13th almost with 1-5!!

Offline cygnusdei

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #9 on: February 07, 2007, 11:33:00 PM
A mate's hand span. Is this unnaturally HUGE?




This looks like a Casio Privia, isn't it?

Offline ahinton

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Re: freakish handspan
Reply #10 on: February 08, 2007, 12:47:28 AM
Alistair, I can reach an octave comfortably, a bit over at a stretch  :'(
Well, it would have to be "at a stretch", would it not? Just keep trying hard to open recalcitrant Dandragan Estate olive oil bottles whose caps are resistant to the usual treatment and you'll find that your overall hand span will increase in time (you'd roo the day if it didn't work, wouldn't you?!...)...

I obviously have led a life sheltered from er, large hands.
There must be a remedy for that, surely? - just don't ask me what that is on a public forum...

Citizens for the right (and left) to bare hands (with overall spans in excess of a tenth)...

It's getting really late here now, so what's left of what passes for my brain can no longer stretch at all...

Buona notte!

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive
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