How big is your hands

[mussorgsky]

22ish cm

WHAT A BIG HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[oxy60]

It is a Clavinova old chap.

Thal

Which model is it?

I have the little brother of it, the P-85 and love the action and sound. Through my Bose head phones I can think I'm sitting at a $100,000 grand. If I add some reverb I can imagine myself in a large glittereing concert hall... (Are my tails back from the cleaners yet?)

Now if the playing could only match the setting...

[thalbergmad]

It is a CLP 330 old chap.

I much prefer the sound with headphones on. I like the overall feel as well.

This is my 3rd Clavinova and I guess my 4th will be the same.

Thal

[johnmar78]

WHAT A BIG HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Musso, you won the Rac most favourite chords.

[49410enrique]

i'm remarkably average with slightly better than that flexibility in 1-5, i could probably stretch out a major 10th on white keys with 'bad hand placement' i.e outer edges but i doubt i'd ever actualy try to play that interval in any musical context (i.e would i ever atually approach depressing the keys in that way?), i can hit a minor 10th on some black keys as in my scriabin but as the picture shows, i am relegated to the realm of 'large hand imposter' with quick creative movements and rolling....

my un spectacular M9th span...

[49410enrique]

Between 5 and 7 frets.

Thal

are the frets different on a banjo vs std guitar?

i think you should take up the guitarron (think acoustic bass guitar lol , notoriously in permanent 'out of tune' lol! at the very least you must get a mariachi suit even for your banjo work.

[thalbergmad]

I want one of those hats

[costicina]

I want one of those hats

...but you must post a photo of you wearing it...

Enrique, after Mussorgsky  monstruous hand span your  9th was  such a relief!!!!

[49410enrique]

...but you must post a photo of you wearing it...

Enrique, after Mussorgsky  monstruous hand span your  9th was  such a relief!!!!

we aim to please. i do what i can.

and now a chihuahua

[49410enrique]

I want one of those hats

you could totally pull it off! ariba!

[thalbergmad]

Quality. I is even better looking with that hat.

Thal

[littletune]

Hihi   that's cool! 
Oh I don't think it's Mussorgsky who has such a huge hand, I think he just quoted someone elses picture...

[thalbergmad]

I have bought a sombrero from E bay.

Picture to follow.

Thal

[oxy60]

Hihi   that's cool! 
Oh I don't think it's Mussorgsky who has such a huge hand, I think he just quoted someone else's picture...

As soon as you start to learn one of M's pieces you will have other ideas about the size of hands. Getting those octave chard passages right takes some effort.

I have bought a sombrero from E bay.

Picture to follow.

Thal

Next comes the suit to go with it and the bass guitar...

[49410enrique]

I have bought a sombrero from E bay.

Picture to follow.

Thal

do try to get a beluga whale in the shot if possible. they love anything mariachi! andale hermano thal!

[costicina]

Ok Enrique,  here is a mission impossible for you:  find a picture/video showing a lovely worm, the most loathsome creature I can think of….

Thal, you  promised it: you have to post a picture of you with your mew sombrero (I find that hats in general become you very well... but I’ve to admit that I’m very partial to you  )

[49410enrique]

Ok Enrique,  here is a mission impossible for you:  find a picture/video showing a lovely worm, the most loathsome creature I can think of….

i think this little guy is rather cute, adorable little worm with bad hair.

[costicina]

  Ok, I should have known that there is nothing like a mission impossibile for you in this field (and in many others I suspect  )

The least I can do now is to persuade our cat Felipe to share the house  with a new pet: a cute, lovely, sweet little worm 

[candlelightpiano]

Am I in the wrong room here?  I thought we were talking about hands ...but I find the talk has turned to cute beluga whales, fuzzy wriggly worms and some not too Mexican looking fella in a sombrero!!   

[fftransform]

10th vaguely comfortably, augmented 10ths are max, and some I can't reach.

[oxy60]

Am I in the wrong room here?  I thought we were talking about hands ...but I find the talk has turned to cute beluga whales, fuzzy wriggly worms and some not too Mexican looking fella in a sombrero!!   

True but how much can be said about hand size? I too can hit a tenth but only with certain voicing of the filler notes. That chord near the end of Traumerei is about my limit.

While we are waiting for Thal's sombrero to arrive we can fill the time with idle comments. I could go to a nearby store and pick one up for a few dollars but it would still need to be shipped 6000+ miles to him. And they come in different head sizes...

More curious is your quote, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." -Les Brown. Would that be the same Les Brown who was known for "his band of renown?"

[49410enrique]

[/quote]

you could totally pull it off! ariba!

I have bought a sombrero from E bay.

Picture to follow.

Thal

surely your sombrero has arrived by now right? are you having so much crazy mariachi fun you haven't been able to take said picture? i could understand how holding a camera still while mariachi dancing would be a challenge

[piano_vs_science]

i read somewhere there was a russian pianist with a span of something like 20 white keys but i can't remember his name

[piano_vs_science]

Photos, please!!!!

Here is my RH&LH maximum extension (a nineth) 

you have a galaxy on your piano???
wow!!! you must really like astronomy, probably almost as much as me!!!
i liked astronomy so much that i quit piano (the main reason was my family moving to Australia if my dad had brought that keyboard here, i would now be good enough to play Circus Galop!!! )

_{if you can't see the galaxy, use your imagination!!!}

[costicina]

  Probably my imagination  is very poor, but honestly I don't get it.....

[piano_vs_science]

it's at the top of the picture
and who's that kid wearing pink???

[costicina]

She is my daughter Costanza!!!!!

[pianovlad1996]

23,5 cm  and I can reach a 11th comfortably and with a bit of effort a 12th.
Timea 

[costicina]

 

[pianowolfi]

23,5 cm   and I can reach a 11th comfortably and with a bit of effort a 12th.
Timea  

Are you by chance Rachmaninoff's granddaughter?  

[costicina]

 

[birba]

Iv'e just finished browsing through this thread (could have been doing something more useful, like the appassionata) and I just found out where all the fun has been going on at pianostreet.com.  I think there was  a similar thread years ago.  (In fact, I never looked here because I thought it was that one.)   We have gone here from hand size to marachi bands, sombreros, white belugas, clavinola keyboards (the most boring post) right up to Rachmaninov's grand daughter.

[m1469]

 

[pianovlad1996]

 
I am russian so probably there is a chance... 
Timea

[pianovlad1996]

Oh, and I didn't mention I'm 17 years old...
Timea

[pianowolfi]

Oh, and I didn't mention I'm 17 years old...
Timea

Then rather the great granddaughter  

I have actually a 12 year old female student who can reach a tenth

[pianovlad1996]

I love this non-ranking thread. It's so spontaneous- spongebob (my aquatic hero), belugas  , mariachis  and huge handed people (excepting costiciana    ).
Timea

[costicina]

STOP REMINDING ME HOW SMALL MY DAMNED HANDS ARE!!!!! 
And don't dare to suggest me to switch to Mozart: I HATE his Sonatas   

[pianowolfi]

STOP REMINDING ME HOW SMALL MY DAMNED HANDS ARE!!!!!  
And don't dare to suggest me to switch to Mozart: I HATE his Sonatas  

Dear costicina, your hands are not too small at all! 

Alicia de Larrocha made a world career with hands like your's, and she did play much more than only Mozart sonatas

[sueyin]

Why is it that I can comfortably reach a 10th in my left hand but not in my right?  Anyone know the answer to that? 

[johnmar78]

Why is it that I can comfortably reach a 10th in my left hand but not in my right?  Anyone know the answer to that? 

Perhaps you have too much tension on your rh, an dless on the LH. Or perhaps you are born of defect.....

And Wolfi, you can hit 12, you are not human you are a beast.

[sueyin]

Perhaps you have too much tension on your rh, an dless on the LH. Or perhaps you are born of defect.....

Thanks a lot!!   

[pianowolfi]

And Wolfi, you can hit 12, you are not human you are a beast.

No I can only reach a tenth. But not a tenth like D to F#, only like C to E,
and even so, I often have to roll certain chords if they are to be hit within a fast passage.

Perhaps you have misread my post above about the 12 year old student? Is that possible?

[pianowolfi]

Why is it that I can comfortably reach a 10th in my left hand but not in my right?  Anyone know the answer to that? 

Your hands might just differ a bit from each other. I think that's absolutely normal. We all are not exactly symmetric.

[birba]

Dear costicina, your hands are not too small at all! 

Alicia de Larrocha made a world career with hands like your's, and she did play much more than only Mozart sonatas

She played a mean Scarbo!  What a pianist.

[costicina]

Wolfi, your Trostung is much welcome...

Alicia (thanks Alicia!!!) is my Rettungsboot whenever it cames to hands size  ...And she was such a fine interpreter: I like very much her recordings!!!!!

[pianowolfi]

Anyway, I feel a bit bad, and sad, about where this thread all of a sudden has led to. I don't think that the size of the handspan has very much to do with the quality of an individual's pianism. Every handspan that is slightly exceeding an octave can do very well at piano playing and even many handspans that are not yet reaching an octave. There are even videos on youtube of persons who have no fingers, or only four fingers in total!!! And they play wonderfully!! As Timea said, we badly need to get rid of the "ranking" state of mind and try to make the best out of what we have got.

I am a huge fan of Rachmaninoff and I am practicing many of his compositions. I don't even closely have got his handspan. After I had played one of his major works in concert, a colleague said to me he doesn't believe that anyone could play this major opus of him without having a handspan similar to his own!

I can tell you that I will prove him wrong (the colleague I mean)! I sense it!

[birba]

O meno male!  Un pò di sagezza!

[costicina]

Ok, I know that I'm not bad at piano playing because of my hands span... But it's a good scapegoat  (so please, don't let this thread die in a sea of wisdom!!!) 

[pianovlad1996]

My grandmother had a hand span of 26,5 cm and she was a concert pianist. Maybe it is genetically transmitted (the hand span). Period.
PS: Happy Easter everybody!
Timea