Everyone what is your hand span?

[pianojems]

 I am really curious what all of your hand spans are. I can comfortably play an octave..my hands are small. So be honest what can you play with total comfort and reach? Really curioushehe

[ranakor]

i'm very comfortable with a 10Th & i can do a chord comprising C E G C E (not comfortably, couldn't do it in an actual piece with something before it but i can play it without touching any other notes) but i can barely stretch a 11th (i can do it but barely & only from under the key)

[allchopin]

This topic has been beaten to death.  (best to post this in a Non-piano section too.)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1610.0.html
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,8870.0.html

[ako]

I can only reach an octave also. Some of the nation's top female pianists have small hands. You work with what you have. The important thing is to have stability. You can permanently damage your hands if you try to over-extend your reach  by placing your hands in awkard and straining positions.

[hodi]

my max reach is 10th
i know a pianist who studies with my teacher that can EASILY reach to 13th (from C to G) his hands are HUGE

[dudejan]

haha, my hands are really big, I can take from 'do' to 'sol' (that's an octave & four notes further) at top. But comfortable it isnt

[bardolph]

This topic may indeed have been well beaten, but here's something no one seems to have mentioned yet, here or in the other threads -- surgery!

I emailed around and received a reply from a member of the American Association for Hand Surgery. I paraphrase:

"I am familiar with this hand-span issue and have seen patients who have undergone surgery by famous and reputable surgeons. The attachments connecting the extensor tendons are cut. Be advised that this is NOT a minor procedure, and worse, the procedure simply does not work. The condition of the hands is in fact worse after the procedure."

I was looking around for a hand surgeon for my own less-than-10th hands until I got this answer. No tendon-slicing for me! (Actually I thought that the operation consisted simply of cutting some of the webbing away, skin only, not the tendons or muscles)

I am very upset by the fact that I can't do 10ths; I feel as though a huge chunk of the NORMAL piano world is out of my reach. I'd be happy if I could do all major 10ths with my LH alone. Too bad I can't afford one of those $10,000 Steinbuhler pianos (www.steinbuhler.com)

[silva]

haha, my hands are really big, I can take from 'do' to 'sol' (that's an octave & four notes further) at top. But comfortable it isnt

that is crazy! I can reach a 10th and my hands are quite large but I find it very hard reaching a tenth with an added semitone, so like 10.5 E to Ab

a 14th is so incredible

- Silva

[nanabush]

I can do 10th comfortably, and if I take like 2 seconds to stretch to the notes, I can play 11th, but absolutely no way I can play fast 11th's, barely fast 10ths..I have trouble with octaves, i usually play a 9th because it is most comfortable position...

[minimozart007]

9th

[Bouter Boogie]

haha, my hands are really big, I can take from 'do' to 'sol' (that's an octave & four notes further) at top. But comfortable it isnt

  

[celticqt]

I'm jealous of all you people with wide "wing-spans" -- I can reach an octave comfortably, and a 9th if I really stretch.

[steinwayguy]

I can play an 11th relatively easily and can baaaaaaaaaaaaaarely stretch a 12th (I could never think about playing one).

BTW, Alica de Larrocha (sp?) had some extremely small hands (an octave was her limit) and she played the Rachmaninoff Third, so . . .

[C-A]

Both of my hands have different spans.
My right can reach a 10th comfortably, but impossible to reach an 11th.
My left hand can reach an 11th comfortably, but impossible to reach a 12th.
Well, since I'm 15, my hands can still grow larger?

My cousin on the other hand, has incredibly enormous hands. His right hand has a span of 14 keys, while the left hand 15! Man I'm jealous that his hands are that big! One problem though... he can't play the piano!

[bardolph]

I read somewhere that Alicia de Larrocha was a special case because she had managed with constant stretching to get her hand span to a 10th. Wish I could recall where I'd read it.

[Jacey1973]

I think i have the average hand span - can comfortably reach a 9th, and a 10th just about.

[bardolph]

I think it's time for piano and digital-piano manufacturers to WISE UP AND GET REAL. Most women and many men can't reach 10ths easily, and 10ths are a minimum requirement for most modern pop-jazz-art-whatever piano playing. Experience has shown (at institutions and by individuals possessing 7/8 and 15/16 size keyboards made by Steinbuhler and others, e.g. www.hannahreimann.com) that people can easily switch back and forth between smaller keyboards and the standard size, so there is NO excuse for manufacturers not to make smaller keyboards so that EVERYONE can play the great music of Waller, Tatum, Rachmaninoff, Evans, etc.etc. as the music was INTENDED to be played.

Everyone: Start writing to piano and digital-piano makers DEMANDING new models with smaller keyboards!

[xvimbi]

Everyone: Start writing to piano and digital-piano makers DEMANDING new models with smaller keyboards!

Nah, the ones with fat fingers would complain. I think it's better to have interchangeable keyboards, like the ones you have mentioned. Pianos should be made so that one can simply swap out keyboards without having to adjust anything.

[pianocrazy]

i can do a 11th and can (with a lot^100000 of difficulty) do a 12th. 

then my hands will feel like thay belong to someone else.

[026497]

my hands are extremely small. I can only play 7th.
I am jealous of people who can play a 8ve or above. If I met an alian can play more that 9th, I must kill him.
When I meet pieces with 8ve, my teacher told me to spread the notes.
The sound produced is not natural!
Is there any surgery or exercise can "amend" my hands?

[Kassaa]

my hands are extremely small. I can only play 7th.
I am jealous of people who can play a 8ve or above. If I met an alian can play more that 9th, I must kill him.
When I meet pieces with 8ve, my teacher told me to spread the notes.
The sound produced is not natural!
Is there any surgery or exercise can "amend" my hands?

How old are you? Maybe your hands will grow if you're young. If you can't reach an octave you won't be able to play any Liszt

[Toivot]

Which composer was it who cut the interspace between the fingers (don't know the name) to have a bigger hand span (do you know what I mean?)?

Was it Händel?

[eusebius32]

I can reach a 9th comfortably

[techlogik]

1 Octave...and that is a stretch.  I am working on Chopin Prelude Opus 24 No 7, very simple, of course not for me, adult beginner.

It is a stretch for me to the the D,F#,D in the 5th-6th.  And at that, I need to have my hands as far back to touch the keys because the angle of my fingers will rub the inside white keys.  So I am angling that.  I am actually kind of pressing the back top edge of the keys to make them go down, not striking downward to do this.

And please, how is it possible to do the right hand in the 12, it is like a 10th!?!?!  No way, I am modifying it so I play the first three separately, then the next two notes smoothly as possible to kind of make it sound somewhat correct.  I have heard it played/recorded this same way, sounds fine to me.

How some of you can play a 12th is a joke...seriously, the average mortal can't do this.  LOL.

I can stretch an octave on top of the keys barely but again, rub the inside keys.

Unless you have huge hands, some things are just not realistic that were written by some of these genius composers.  The composer was just showing off his abilities and hand size  I assume when composing.  200 hundred years ago, most people were short and didn't have huge hands, so I wonder if Liszt/Chopin etc...were very unusual anatomically speaking for the times.  Average male height was like 4'10" for something.  Mozart appeared to be 4'5" in portraits..haha.

Or maybe they had pianos which the key spacing was not like today, but actually smaller...does anybody have answers for this type of stuff?

Thanks

[jazz_man]

I've always been told I have long fingers...  I bet I could probably comfortably stretch an 11th...  but I'm not really sure.

[brettkun]

Which composer was it who cut the interspace between the fingers (don't know the name) to have a bigger hand span (do you know what I mean?)?

Was it Händel?

no it was Robert Schumann to my knowledge

[bardolph]

It was indeed Schumann, although the exact details of his experience are vague. A scholarly guess at what probably happened is among many fascinating things in chapter 6 of a book by E.T. Jaynes, entirely readable online at:

https://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/music.html

Chapter 6, "Physiology of Piano Playing", contains the Schumann material and is well worth reading besides.

[yamagal]

I can do a 9th comfortably w/ each hand.  10th is a bit of a stretch, but I can do it and have played it ok.   I have big hands for a girl - when it's time to buy gloves I always have to get a men's size.   

[jbmajor]

I can comfortably reach a nineth over the keyboard, but a tenth is stretching it.  The best I can do presently is for ex. C E G C E on the edge of the keyboard.  I end up clipping the D if I have my hand over the keys when reaching for the E (10th).  I've been stretching my hands to increase flexibility and it has helped slightly, but after you stop growing there's only so much stretching that you can do before you risk injury.  I want to be able to play a 10th with hands over the keys someday, but I'm happy I have ten fingers to play as it is. 
You've gotta just work with what you have.  I figure that since there's some stuff of Rachmaninoff's that covers no more than an octave, then that should help to put the issue into perspective.  Scriabin on the other hand (no pun intended) was said to have rather small hands, but listen to how massive his music sounds. 

[jbmajor]

I think it's time for piano and digital-piano manufacturers to WISE UP AND GET REAL. Most women and many men can't reach 10ths easily, and 10ths are a minimum requirement for most modern pop-jazz-art-whatever piano playing. Experience has shown (at institutions and by individuals possessing 7/8 and 15/16 size keyboards made by Steinbuhler and others, e.g. www.hannahreimann.com) that people can easily switch back and forth between smaller keyboards and the standard size, so there is NO excuse for manufacturers not to make smaller keyboards so that EVERYONE can play the great music of Waller, Tatum, Rachmaninoff, Evans, etc.etc. as the music was INTENDED to be played.

Everyone: Start writing to piano and digital-piano makers DEMANDING new models with smaller keyboards!

As far as I know, I haven't run into any pop music (Billy Joel, Elton John, etc) that uses any more than a ninth (rarely), and that's usually with the octave+ninth played together for dissonance.  As I said above, even some of Rach's stuff is an octave or less.  I'm also very surprised by people saying they have hands that can reach a 14th or 15th (double octave?!).  Rachmaninoff himself was said to have enormous hands and could "only" reach a 12th with his left hand. 

I think it's best not to think about this subject, as one could become obsessed with something that can't be changed anyway.  Once your hands stop growing, just deal with it and play what you can.  That's what I told myself.   

[lauralouise]

Just an octave and its not that comfortable either.

[bearzinthehood]

CEGE without too much trouble, but C to F is impossible for me without resorting to using the edge of the keyboard.

[ivoryplayer4him]

I can reach a 12th

[omnisis]

Alright, time for a new rule before this turns into some macho collection of "big fish" stories.

Anyone who claims a span of an 11th or over needs to post pictures to back up their claim.

Whaddya say?

~omnisis

[Kassaa]

Alright, time for a new rule before this turns into some macho collection of "big fish" stories.

Anyone who claims a span of an 11th or over needs to post pictures to back up their claim.

Whaddya say?

~omnisis

11 is not uncommon, I'm 13 and I can already reach a 10, my hands will grow, so I will probably reach a 11.

[omnisis]

I wouldn't say an 11th is common as their are a good number of concert pianists who can't play an 11th cleanly.

~omnisis

[kelly_kelly]

I hate music that needs huge hands. I remember that the piano arrangement of "Morning" by Grieg was torture... all those evil rolling chords. I can comfortably reach an octave, and, if necessary, a ninth. Oh well, I'm only twelve, so I'll grow...

[guru_of_time]

I can reach a 11th (C-F) with my left hand with little ease and I can hit G if I reallllly stretching, but I have to hit F also

My right hand is not as big as my left but I can reach a 10th easily and an 11th takes a little bit of work, but not as much as the 12th on the left...

I'll put pictures up later if you guys want

EDIT: Oh, and I'm still growing lol...I have a couple more inches to grow, but I dunno about hand size...

[brettkun]

My friend who isnt a piano player sat down and to my amazement easily stretched from C to G. I was so jealous.

[Floristan]

I can reach a 10th comfortably.  (Didn't someone do a survey about this recently?)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,8870.0.html

[jeremyjchilds]

I am actually 6'7 tall, If course, I'm really not lying.

I can go from a C-G, but it really makes no difference, I mean, the only reason I really like that is because a 10th interval is really comfy.(and it's great for brahms)  It is terrible though, becuse my diminished 7th chords are really crammed and I have to be sooooooo careful to not brush black keys on the way in between them.

I guess a strength equals a weakness!!

[BoliverAllmon]

C to F. Playing inbetween the blacks is a huge pain though. My new teacher said he hated me cuz of my hands. He can barely reach an octave. LOL we had tons of fun with that one.

boliver

[paris]

last week i had lesson with prof. Livia Rev at masterclass in hungary.
maybe someone of you do know her. hm i think bernhard named one of her recordings (topic was about what recordings to avoid  )   

okay, i'm not her biggest fan when it's about chopin recordings, but her mozart and debussy were so lovely.
btw, that lady is 89 years old (yeah, during the masterclass she celebrated her 89th birthday! )  she really astonished me, she was dancing waltz in front of me, and at concert she played 4th chopin ballade 

anyway, i worked with her la campanella and chopin op.10/1 etude.
she has so small hands, can reach only octave...so she was showing me how she arranged that two pieces for her small hands.
her left hand was taking notes from right hand in chopin 1st etude, as well as in la campanella...was so funny to watch her.
i read czifra also 'cheated' a little bit when played chopin 1st 

she claims that only important thing is to sound good, no matter how do you arrange it. 

hm..i think i won't need arrangments...i have huge paw for a girl...comfortably 11th...

[Siberian Husky]

10th..average for a guy i think...not tryna insinuate us guys are better than piano than you girls..just tryna insinuate that us guys are better at life and overall than you girls...



Note: it was a joke....


PS: i think pianos should come in sizes..like clothes..small..extra large...petite...medium..etc.with all ranges of heights and action qualities too...this way..the fat, skinny, midgit, yao ming, child, adult, ugly, mexican, lawyer, doctor, fireman, hillary clinton, nils johan, Airebis, Fresh Prince of Bel Air and anyone else can play piano...this will eventually unite us all as a species..and achieve loving bonds..in order to thoroughly shave eachothers faces while sitting in a geometrically perfect circle....my dream will come true..you'll see...untill then..

*eats pop tarts*

[silverpeal]

Another female pianist here with small hands; I can reach an octave comfortably.  A 9th is a stretch.  But I'm such a beginner it hasn't been an issue yet.

[Waldszenen]

I can reach a tenth under the keys, a ninth over the keys.

[chillout]

Hi,
I can reach a 10th,but if it were to be comfortable I would have to say a 9th.

[jens]

hm... I can reach a 10th comfortably, and i'm happy with it... none of us can change it anyway...

[al]

comfortable 10th in right hand, 9th in left (which is crap because 10ths are nearly always in the left hand).  i can make one or two more notes if i really stretch.