An Odd Question...

[clavile]

I know this is odd, but I seem to have a very small reach on the piano; only 9 keys. I've come across several pieces lately that require a 10 key stretch....

Are there any finger/hand exercises I might do to make that stretch wider?

[j_menz]

You may find that over time your reach gets a bit more just in the normal course of playing. In the meantime, or if it doesn't happen, you need to roll; plenty of pianists out there are in the same boat and get by OK.

Specific exercises to stretch your hand are much more likely to result in injury, sometimes permanent and irreversible. Many a promising career has been ended in this manner.

[clavile]

You may find that over time your reach gets a bit more just in the normal course of playing. In the meantime, or if it doesn't happen, you need to roll; plenty of pianists out there are in the same boat and get by OK.

Alright! That I shall do!

Specific exercises to stretch your hand are much more likely to result in injury, sometimes permanent and irreversible. Many a promising career has been ended in this manner.

Ahh...then it is as I suspected.  


Many thanks!

[shaggyy]

I have the same problem, I can only reach 9 keys if I stretch my fingers as far as I can. I'm practising on the Liebestraum from Liszt, and many chords I just can't reach, so I just play them as fast appregio's, and luckily that sounds also good in that piece, but it's still frustrating. I don't think you can enlarge your hand span, some people just have small hands.

[lloyd_cdb]

I don't think you can enlarge your hand span, some people just have small hands.

I agree you can't enlarge your hands, but your stretch can change both with the exercise of regular practice as well as learning to relax while playing.  Beyond that, your stretch can also change between fingers.  i.e playing C-F with 2-3 'growing' to C-G, which can improve your playing capability with 4 and 5 note chords as well as improve your range and comfort with larger arpeggios.  While there may be specific exercises, a) talk to someone who knows what they are doing, not just random people on a message board  : and b) just as j_menz said, it may not be worth it given the risks.

[shaggyy]

Yeah that's true. I think you do can enlarge the span between two fingers with exercises. But I don't think you can enlarge your span from your pinkie to your thumb (or you have to do surgery or something  ). At least, by me my pinkie and thum are already in a horizontal line with each other when I'm stretching those two fingers, so the span can never get larger (too bad, I hate my small hands  ).

[crownrib]

If you work your span, it will stretch.  To a point, though.

When I started playing, the first two years had my hands fumbling or over-reaching due to my span increasing constantly over those years.  If you can't get a 10-note span, you can leap across or share notes if possible.  Otherwise you might want to consider slightly re-writing pieces to fit your ability.

[shazeelawan]

Same problem here,small hands I'm playing a piece at a tempo of 240 with lots of long-reaching chords,like one which requires quick changes from holding F-C-F-A to B-E-G-B and A-D-F-A, so I just chopped off the bottom notes. It doesn't sound as grand, but it will do. The more you practice,your fingers will stretch,but only by a few centimetres. So you can just decide how it should sound, and play the notes which replicate it the closest. Or cheat;with two hands if the left hand has no notes. Or replace. My left hand has a 10 note span,so I replace the first note on some chords on my right hand with my left,and played the remaining notes with my right.

[clavile]

I have the same problem, I can only reach 9 keys if I stretch my fingers as far as I can. I'm practising on the Liebestraum from Liszt, and many chords I just can't reach, so I just play them as fast appregio's, and luckily that sounds also good in that piece, but it's still frustrating. I don't think you can enlarge your hand span, some people just have small hands.

OMW. I tried playing the Liebestraum from Liszt, and I just couldn't do it. In fact, that was the same piece that brought this question to mind!

I find that even when playing hymns, not being able to stretch 10 keys can be a problem.