# How big is your hand?



## beethovenian

I am curious how far you people here can stretch your hand on the keyboard.

I can only do a little bit more than an octave, 8 keys to be exact.. 
But i do not think it will affect my playing much.


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## Curiosity

I can manage an 11th.


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## Rasa

Bad poll, because it's entirely dependent on which interval. White key white key, black key black key, black white, white black...

Besides, it's not because you can reach that it's actually an applicable stance for playing the interval loud enough for a piece of in a chod.


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## beethovenian

I apologise for not being clear, but i meant white key to white key.


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## Manxfeeder

I can get 11 keys. Not quite Rachmaninov's reach, but still respectable.


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## elgar's ghost

No idea with a piano but I can span from Q to P easily enough on my laptop!


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## beethovenian

elgars ghost said:


> No idea with a piano but I can span from Q to P easily enough on my laptop!


Hmm i think that translate to about a 7th or 8th on the piano.:lol:


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## kv466

10 or 11, or uhh...'tab' to 'delete' on my handy board here


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## Philip

not all keyboards are the same!


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## Meaghan

I put 9th, but I can often reach a 10th, just not so well in the context of a piece. A 9th is the largest octave that doesn't mess up my playing.


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## Yoshi

More like how small is my hand . I can barely reach 9 keys.


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## Curiosity

BTW, Liszt did not have large hands. I've read an anecdote that described how he struggled to reach the 10th chords in the Adagio sostenuto of the Hammerklavier sonata. Now Rachmaninoff I've heard could legitimately reach a 14th.


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## clavichorder

I have pretty big hands with poor thumb flexibility, so I can only just get tenth and its hard for me to slap it out but I have to stretch from key to key so maybe 9th is more appropriate. My poor thumb just won't go out straight like it should. It inhibits my ambitions to play brahms a bit, but I kid myself in saying that I can stretch it and maybe it will get better with time.


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## elgar's ghost

I read Weber's hands were large (or maybe his fingers were just incredibly long and supple) to the degree that many of his piano works were - literally - out of reach for many performers. Perhaps it explains why so little (if any) of it entered in the repertoire for any real length (ouch...) of time.


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## Meaghan

clavichorder said:


> I have pretty big hands with poor thumb flexibility, so I can only just get tenth and its hard for me to slap it out but I have to stretch from key to key so maybe 9th is more appropriate. My poor thumb just won't go out straight like it should. It inhibits my ambitions to play brahms a bit, but I kid myself in saying that I can stretch it and maybe it will get better with time.


Don't pull a Schumann!


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## clavichorder

Meaghan said:


> Don't pull a Schumann!


No "hand training" contraptions it that's what your worried about, poor Schumann.

Occasionally I do practice Schumann kinderszenen because it has 10th intervals that are spread and may gradually train my hand?


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## Orange Soda King

I am in the majority... I can only reach a ninth practically! But that makes no difference in my repertoire choice, except for the Schumann Toccata, haha.


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## hlolli

damn, hate calculating those numbers, I can only reach 11th not 13th.

Cant change my vote, now I have to change my biological hands.


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## Krummhorn

I can easily span the 10th, but only with the left hand ... with the right, only a 9th. Must be the fat thumb on the right hand .


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## Ukko

Krummhorn said:


> I can easily span the 10th, but only with the left hand ... with the right, only a 9th. Must be the fat thumb on the right hand .


Hey, same deal with me - but because the right is more arthritic. Not that it matters for me, except when bowling.


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## Lukecash12

You know, Chopin used to sleep with wine corks between his fingers. I did something similar in my developmental period, and applied liniment to my hands before I went to bed, and did stretching exercises away from the piano until I wound down to sleep. You see, because of my insomnia (which was worse back then), it used to take me anywhere from one and a half to two and a half hours to fall asleep, so I was always thinking of ways to use that time productively (and in ways that would make me sleepy).


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## StlukesguildOhio

No idea with a piano but I can span from Q to P easily enough on my laptop!

I can do that using my first two fingers...........................................................................

on my cell phone


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## Lukecash12

StlukesguildOhio said:


> No idea with a piano but I can span from Q to P easily enough on my laptop!
> 
> I can do that using my first two fingers...........................................................................
> 
> on my cell phone


Ah, dude! I read through a bit of that message, and it initiated a memorably intense challenge. I did it between my thumb and index, but my one and two could only manage p-w.


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## hlolli

I did Q-Ð(icelandic keyboard, right to P)









My 11th span (6/4 F major chord)


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## h1478971

I have Horowitz's hands a 11th


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## bassClef

Are there some works that are impossible to play on a standard sized piano if you hands are "normal" size?


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## Ravellian

I think a good test for finger flexibility is whether or not you can play all the opening chords of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto without rolling any of them. 

I can just barely reach a minor 11th, but I'm really only comfortable with 10ths.


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## Jeremy Marchant

Major second

- Nora the piano playing cat
as told to Jeremy


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## Polednice

A more pertinent question is how big is my fist?


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## Rasa

I just wonder how many of these 10th and higher stretcher can actually applicably play with it.


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## Polednice

Rasa said:


> I just wonder how many of these 10th and higher stretcher can actually applicably play with it.


I can certainly only do rapid octaves. 10ths are only possible if I'm doing reasonably slow chords.


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## Huilunsoittaja

I like having big hands.  Doesn't help me too much with flute, certainly not with piccolo, but definitely with piano.


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## Lukecash12

hlolli said:


> I did Q-Ð(icelandic keyboard, right to P)
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> My 11th span (6/4 F major chord)


I understand now. My dodo head was thinking of my index and middle as my one and two, as opposed to my thumb and index. It interests me that your fingers are almost as bony as mine. Of course, we hear and read often about pianists with bony hands and fingers, but I wonder just how prevalent of a trait this is.


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## Rasa

Rachmaninoff supposedly had Marfan syndrome, which has big thin hands for one of the symptoms.


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## Lukecash12

Rasa said:


> Rachmaninoff supposedly had Marfan syndrome, which has big thin hands for one of the symptoms.


Yes. Apparently he could reach a 16th?


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## eorrific

Lukecash12 said:


> Yes. Apparently he could reach a 16th?


That's not impressive at all. I could reach a 19th with two hands.
All joking aside, I've heard that 16th reach is about right for Rach.

As for my own hands, I could do a 9th (all white keys), but with my hands dangling over the edge. AND I voted for the wrong option. Hooray.


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## Webernite

I thought Rachmaninoff could reach a 12th/13th maximum, not a 16th.


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## Lukecash12

Webernite said:


> I thought Rachmaninoff could reach a 12th/13th maximum, not a 16th.


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## TzarIvan

I have a relatively small hand, I can only barely hit the 10th key, with lots of tension and pain. Wish someday I get a hand-transplant that can hit 12th or 13th key easily


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## Aramis

I voted 10th but though I can reach it, I don't think I would be able to play this way any faster passage. 

Recently after leaving Chopin's museum I told my friend that there was mold of Chopin's hand. He came out with idea that they should use it to create Chopin Gloves, simply hollow most of the mold so you could put your hand into it and, voila, you have Chopin's hand like your own. Same goes with Liszt and Rachmaninoff whose hands were also molded.


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## violadude

I could crush the world with my hands, I just choose not to. You guys are lucky I'm a nice guy.


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## nbharakey

I have big hands but short fingers.
How about Dinu Lipattis hands?


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## AmateurComposer

hlolli said:


> I did Q-Ð(icelandic keyboard, right to P)
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> My 11th span (6/4 F major chord)


Thank you very much for these pictures. After seeing them I do not feel like composing chords larger than an octave for the piano.


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## Rasa

Anything larger than an ocatave will probably be arpeggiated.


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## Klavierspieler

Rasa said:


> Anything larger than an ocatave will probably be arpeggiated.


Will _definitely_ be arpeggiated.


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## Rasa

In the Rachmaninov étude I'm working on, there's several occasions where I to take larger then octave chords without arpeggiating. In the case of this étude it's about making a melodic line with the top notes, and wherever I can I try to avoid the muddles arpeggio and instead strike it whole.




























(E flat minor key, which is the only reason I manage)


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## TrazomGangflow

I can make it to ten but not much farther.


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## AmateurComposer

Rasa said:


> In the Rachmaninov étude I'm working on, there's several occasions where I to take larger then octave chords without arpeggiating. In the case of this étude it's about making a melodic line with the top notes, and wherever I can I try to avoid the muddles arpeggio and instead strike it whole.
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With Rachmaninov's reputation of very large hands, I am not surprised.


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## Rasa

These chords are not as big as they seem, yet bigger than an octave, that's all.


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## AlainB

I personally can reach 11 keys, with quite some effort _perhaps_ the 12th. I have fairly big hands, but not that big, haha.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

11ths for me are not the most comfortable, but I can hold those keys down if I had to.


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## Il_Penseroso

I can reach often 10ths on white keys with both hands and rarely 11ths with left hand. I have quite small hands and narrow fingers, so this is just the result of hard practicing for many years ! But I don't advise anyone to do it because hand-stretching practicing could damage your hands by any risk if you got small hands (Remember Scriabin) !


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## Il_Penseroso

Also see here , amazing !


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## chopianist

I can do a tenth comfortably and an eleventh uncomfortably, haha. I can also hit 6 or 7 notes on one hand and still maintain a decent span (just over an octave). It's all relative.


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## Manok

From C to the next octave above and the e. So thats what? 10th?


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## Lukecash12

Manok said:


> From C to the next octave above and the e. So thats what? 10th?


Yes, that's a 10th.


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## Nssie

Comfortable ninth, can stretch ten on edges of white keys or on black keys. Don't hurt your hands, people, please!,


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## Bagnew

I can play ninths quickly and comfortably, and tenths with a little more preparation time.


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## Sofronitsky

13th at a stretch. Quite large, but a bunch of kids at school have larger hand than I do.


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## Il_Penseroso

Sofronitsky said:


> 13th at a stretch. Quite large, but a bunch of kids at school have larger hand than I do.


As big as Rachmaninov's and Lhevinne's hands ! How good for you !


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## Klavierspieler

Sofronitsky said:


> 13th at a stretch. Quite large, *but a bunch of kids at school have larger hand than I do.*


 That's amazing!


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## Lukecash12

> 13th at a stretch. Quite large, but a bunch of kids at school have larger hand than I do.


Larger than that is probably unhealthy.


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## Rasa

Marfan syndrome!


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## Sofronitsky

Hahaha I know I have large hands, but maybe I have overestimated? When I say 13th, I mean I can reach a 13th only in the easiest distance (i.e. no black to white) and could never do so quickly, only after stretching a large amount.


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## Lukecash12

Sofronitsky said:


> Hahaha I know I have large hands, but maybe I have overestimated? When I say 13th, I mean I can reach a 13th only in the easiest distance (i.e. no black to white) and could never do so quickly, only after stretching a large amount.


That's still pretty big, brohah.


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## Sofronitsky

Do a little searching around, the guiness world record for largest hand is over a foot in diameter. My size is not very uncommon, or that's what my doctor says! 

In any case it REALLY helps for Scriabin. I was playing through the Second Sonata the other day and noticed that I could take the right hand chords that Ashkenazy had to arpeggiate pretty easily.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Sofronitsky said:


> Do a little searching around, the guiness world record for largest hand is over a foot in diameter. My size is not very uncommon, or that's what my doctor says!
> 
> In any case it REALLY helps for Scriabin. I was playing through the Second Sonata the other day and noticed that I could take the right hand chords that Ashkenazy had to arpeggiate pretty easily.


Once a handspan is twelve inches it becomes a foot.


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## Lukecash12

Sofronitsky said:


> Do a little searching around, the guiness world record for largest hand is over a foot in diameter. My size is not very uncommon, or that's what my doctor says!
> 
> In any case it REALLY helps for Scriabin. I was playing through the Second Sonata the other day and noticed that I could take the right hand chords that Ashkenazy had to arpeggiate pretty easily.


Try his fifth sonata or his piano concerto. One would think that Scriabin expected a lot of things to be arpeggiated, at least by himself.


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## Sofronitsky

The Fifth Sonata is my favorite piece by Scriabin, but I've also heard that it is his most difficult. I want to wait a long time to play it, so I'll be ready emotionally and technically.


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## Lukecash12

Sofronitsky said:


> The Fifth Sonata is my favorite piece by Scriabin, but I've also heard that it is his most difficult. I want to wait a long time to play it, so I'll be ready emotionally and technically.


Yes, I would agree that you don't want to go after his more substantial sonatas, poems, and etudes, during anything of a period of trepidation.


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## Sofronitsky

Lukecash12 said:


> Yes, I would agree that you don't want to go after his more substantial sonatas, poems, and etudes, during anything of a period of trepidation.


Exactly! I want to take the 5th when I'm wild and fearless, like Horowitz in that Pasadena bootleg!





56:52 is the sonata (Little derail, sorry!)


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## Guest

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Once a handspan is twelve inches it becomes a foot.


Absolutely brilliant..............


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## Oliver

9th.  Even C to E is a real stretch and I couldn't pull it off in a piece at any decent speed, my fingers just barely reach the edges of the keys.


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## Guest

With two hands and no gaps between I can get over three octaves.


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## Yoshi

Well since the time I voted 8th on this thread, my hand can now reach a 9th easily. I guess that's a decent improvement but I still wish it was bigger.


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## Moira

Piano music occasionally calls on a pianist for a 10th, but how often would the music call upon a stretch larger than that. I can just make the 10th, but I always feel insecure with stretches that span that much. 

I think it is rude of composers/arrangers to do anything more than an octave.


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