Liszt-my own hand size

[immortalbeloved]

Hey everyone,

So, I have a quick question stemming from a comment my teacher made today. I thanked her for really getting me into Liszt and after we went back and forth on his greatness asked about my hands (how big were they).

I showed her them and she told me to stretch as best I could. I could do one whole octave very easily, had some trouble with 9ths. She said that I would be able to play a lot of Liszt but maybe not some pieces. I was wondering how true this is--not for me personally, but in terms of playing LIszt, are his best players, like Lang Lang (who loves LIszt) known for their big hands? Do I need Horowitz size hands to play Liszt well in the future--does everyone need Horowitz size hands?

[adodd81802]

.

[michael_c]

As a guide, if your hands are big enough to play consecutive octaves (with 1 and 5 – the fourth finger isn't essential), they are big enough to tackle Liszt and indeed the music of most other composers. For 9ths, 10ths or awkward chords there's always a solution, usually simply to roll them. I can just manage tenths, but rather than stretching I prefer to roll them or redistribute the notes in the other hand if possible, keeping my hands comfortable.

Offhand I can't think of any piece by Liszt that isn't possible for somebody who can play octaves comfortably. Maybe your teacher could give some examples?

[visitor]

you'll be limited by your own agility in navigating >8av intervals in faster tempo areas or consecutively.  there are work arounds but at the end of the day there are just going to be some pieces you'll struggle to pony up to properly. I came across the same problem when trying to learn the Grainger Blithe Bells, since there's tons of 10ths, i can hit 9ths fine but 10ths i need to roll and there's music it just isn't an effective solution, have not found a way around them yet and not have the piece sound junky. 

[immortalbeloved]

Ah brilliant. I was really depressed about what my teacher said--well, sad, not depressed. But I never knew Hoffman had his key sizes changed. Very interesting. I actually am now reading his book on piano advice, it is free for the kindle.

[adodd81802]

.

[dcstudio]

I remember one suggestion of sitting with both feet over the pedals ready to play, while on paper for me it's logical, i found it quite uncomfortable,

yeah... that doesn't feel very logical..