Piano Forum



Watch the Chopin Competition With Us!
During the 18th International Chopin Competition, Piano Street presented a new version of its popular tool for navigating the hundreds of great performances taking place during the event. Use our list of pieces and pianists to find and compare your personal favorites among this year’s 160 contestants. Read more >>

Topic: New Digital Keyboard for Small Hands at NAMM Show 2022  (Read 1271 times)

Offline smallhands

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 2
I have small hands and have been paying attention to keyboard developments specially designed for small hands for many years. I’d like to share with you the news about an upcoming digital piano controller Narrow Keys that fits smaller hands www.narrowkeys.com. It has slimmer keys with a reduced octave width of 5.5 inch, so an octave feels like a 7th interval on a regular keyboard with 6.5 inch octave. It has 88 full-length weighted keys and is portable.

Narrow Keys will be exhibited at NAMM show on June 3-5, 2022 (Anaheim, California). If you’re planning to attend NAMM, please check it out (booth 10602). I’d love to hear some feedback.

Offline truecam

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 13
Re: New Digital Keyboard for Small Hands at NAMM Show 2022
Reply #1 on: May 03, 2022, 12:52:19 AM
That is quite interesting.

I wonder do people make pianos for large fingers, but for regular sized hands?

I have always found playing black notes and playing in the keys difficult because my fingers are fat, but I can only barely reach an 11th since my hands are not really that long. Seems like their most be some type of market for pianos that are custom made for certain types of hands.

Offline smallhands

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 2
Re: New Digital Keyboard for Small Hands at NAMM Show 2022
Reply #2 on: May 03, 2022, 01:50:25 AM
In the small-handed pianist group that I belong to, there have been a few people with fat fingers that complained about the narrow space between sharps. They don't necessarily have big hands. A well known artist with fat fingers and not that big hands is Elton John.

I'm not aware of any commercial products for fatter fingers. The major piano manufacturers do not seem to be interested in changing the keyboard size to suit different hand shapes. They don't believe there's a market.

I can think of 2 possible options for fat fingers: (1) Have a custom acoustic piano keyboard built with narrower sharps, by a keyboard maker. (2) Modify the keys by sanding down the sharps a bit (if sharps are made of wood/ebony) or have a qualified piano technician replace the black key tops with slightly narrower and more tapered sharps. Both options are certainly not cheap and hard to find the right craftsman to do the job.

Online perfect_pitch

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 7904
Re: New Digital Keyboard for Small Hands at NAMM Show 2022
Reply #3 on: November 14, 2022, 10:03:24 AM
My fat fingers have always made it difficult for me to play black notes and in the keys, and even though my hands aren't really that long, I can barely reach an 11th. It seems likely that there is a market for pianos made specifically for different types of hands.

I was going to take your post seriously, until I say that NOT ONLY did you put some degenerate hyperlink for some crappy flash game - you also paraphrased truecams message claiming it as your own. Bugger off.

I'm happy enough for this post to be deleted when his is deleted.
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert