Thank you so much - the whole video was helpful, but one thing stood out: the advice at #4 about orchestral reductions. It explains so much about two books of soundtracks from my favorite composer I recently bought. They are unplayable for the most part - there's one measure, for example, of 3-note chords, all marked tremolo, which simply can't be played with rotation, but a string section would have no problem. I have never improvised, but I think it's time to start!
Thank you for this, especially for point 5 and the resources provided there. Last summer I sustained a minor injury on my right wrist and could not return for 1 month. So in the duration of that month, I decided to completely rehaul my piano technique because I felt it would get worse at some point. I was utterly shocked at the idea of utilizing the weight of your arm, forearm rotation, shifting, proper alignment, on and on. I continue to add on to my newfound piano technique and I am back to my rigorous practice routine without sustaining any pain or discomfort (which is a miracle). At most I can reach a 9th without pain/tension/discomfort and without going outside the keyboard, and I always thought that having big hands would've made things easier. While a good part of that is true, having good technique is just as integral, if not more, than having big hands.
Thank you for this interesting discussion FYI Carpal tunnel is an issue with the median nerve , not a tendon Cubital tunnel relates to the ulnar nerve , not a tendon
What counts as small hands anyway? I can only reach a 9th if its between 2 white or 2 black keys. I've never seen it as an impediment and someone with my hand size can still play >99.9% of the piano repertoire. Not sure how common it is for adults to not be able to reach an octave easily but, for those who can't, that does significantly limit what the can play since arpeggiating octaves or leaving out a note is a pretty bad option.
You have hands that are too small for the modern piano if you can’t COMFORTABLY play an octave. I’m a short guy so my hands can only play octaves if my fingers are on the edge of the keys. I’m fine with beginner - intermediate repertoire but can run into trouble with some advanced, and definitely don’t see myself playing virtuosic pieces.
Good man, as always. Thanks for the book recommendations. I have a DSSF 6" octave keyboard on a Yamaha C6 but as you say you will always find a difficulty somewhere so physiology and a more relaxed idea of what music making is helps a lot.
thank you so much! I have extremely small hands, so the octaves in River flows in you are difficult for me & unpleasant. I’m also a piano teacher & this is super helpful advice for my kids
If corporations stopped being so greedy as fk, and just stocked the custom pianos that exist, it would usher in a new age where smaller handed people could finally play these pieces And before someone comes with the nonsensical "but then you would lose the ability to play on the normal sized pianos" no you wouldn't. You don't just lose the ability to play on the normal size pianos, you just gain a new one ^ this is number 1. Everything else is just workarounds that sound bad (like spreading 10ths) or playing 3rds instead
There's a video on those custom pianos I've seen. Criminal how large the proportion of the population is that standard keys are too big for, and manufacturers not changing
@nezkeys79 That would certainly make life easier for a lot of us, but a good knowledge of the principles of piano technique would still be required in order to have ease of playing and avoid injury.
Thank you, thank you for your tips. I will try them all. I have been playing for decades with hands so small I cannot make an octave. I often use the sustain pedal to lengthen bass notes (to sound like octave). I've often written to piano teachers here on You Tube who never answered my question about small hands.
i've just given myself permission to simplify 2 bars of Brahms Clarinet sonata in f minor 1st mvmt for a recorded exam. The musical result is so much better than scrambling to play every note written. Would welcome some advice elsewhere
Once again, ultimate piano wisdom for every day and all time. My hands are about average to slightly larger size, a lot of women play piano. I can reach most 10ths, depending, have to roll the others, a valuable skill anyway. You have helped the piano universe in big time measure. Orchestral reductions are often very awkward. Frank Loesser's music was conceived for the orchestra, reductions are not idiomatic to the piano, which is important. Adapt, take a chance, get the framework and do your best. Every one of your points should be seriously observed. Craig Walstead at Piano Lab does a good job with basic anatomy and physiology applied to piano. It amazes me how pervasive bad teaching can be so durable when the results aren't very good. Thank you, again.
My piano tutor keeps telling me to try and reach these wide octaves and hold finger 5 of my RH in place (eg Moonlight Sonata 1st movement Recap). I may have to have a chat....especially as I have confirmed cubital tunnel too 😮. I was under the impression that it was something that a learner gradually stretched to reach over time, and that I must keep pushing and trying.
I hope you don't mind someone else trying to help, but something that helped me stretch my fingers was doing one of Josh Wright's finger stretches, they are extremely easy to do. He has a video from 13 years ago on finger stretches that I would find hard to explain how to do the stretches but they are shown very clearly in his video from a top-down angle over the piano. This helped me quite a bit, but my span is still only a comfortable octave. The only thing I can say other than that is to improve wrist looseness a lot (most Chopin pieces will help with learning this, especially most of the left hand in his nocturnes), but this might not be an issue you have. I hope this helped
I don’t have much to say about stretching, but I have heard about a technique that hula dancers do to enhance the expressiveness with their hands, which is sort of what we (if I might be so bold as to include myself), as piano players do, and it does kind of wake my hands up...that is to either actually, or perhaps more practically, imagine, dipping your hand in honey, and then wipe it all off, using only that hand...
It's a shame wider keys got normalized after most the great music we love was written. Bach to Liszt was all written on narrower keyed keyboards. I can hit a tenth and shouldn't complain, but it still strikes me as odd we don't accept some of the new smaller keyboard manufacturers more readily.
As a church organist/pianist, orchestral reductions are the absolute BANE of my existence. Every time Christmas or Easter rolls around and we bring out the Handel Messiah or something like that and i have to figure out how to turn this thing that works beautifully on string instruments but absolutely horribly on the keyboard is just the worst part of my job. There are lots of contemporary choral anthems as well whose accompaniments are just orchestral reductions.
My father (who can't quite reach a 10th) once told me (I can't quite reach a 9th) "Every pianist in the world, if they keep playing for long enough, will eventually have small hands..... because Rachmaninoff existed... You just have small hands a bit sooner than the rest of them."
I'm so glad to see a reaction against "piano performance" as human player pianos. It's a 20th-century aberration that killed improvised performances and artistry.
Wonderful advice, even for people who don’t have small hands. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you so much - the whole video was helpful, but one thing stood out: the advice at #4 about orchestral reductions. It explains so much about two books of soundtracks from my favorite composer I recently bought. They are unplayable for the most part - there's one measure, for example, of 3-note chords, all marked tremolo, which simply can't be played with rotation, but a string section would have no problem. I have never improvised, but I think it's time to start!
Thank you for this, especially for point 5 and the resources provided there. Last summer I sustained a minor injury on my right wrist and could not return for 1 month. So in the duration of that month, I decided to completely rehaul my piano technique because I felt it would get worse at some point. I was utterly shocked at the idea of utilizing the weight of your arm, forearm rotation, shifting, proper alignment, on and on.
I continue to add on to my newfound piano technique and I am back to my rigorous practice routine without sustaining any pain or discomfort (which is a miracle). At most I can reach a 9th without pain/tension/discomfort and without going outside the keyboard, and I always thought that having big hands would've made things easier. While a good part of that is true, having good technique is just as integral, if not more, than having big hands.
I have very small hands (I'm 5'1" and a woman), so I greatly appreciate this video/advice -- and will buy the book!
Thank you for this interesting discussion
FYI
Carpal tunnel is an issue with the median nerve , not a tendon
Cubital tunnel relates to the ulnar nerve , not a tendon
OMG!! I really NEEDED this! Lately I have been struggling with this sort of thing recently.
What counts as small hands anyway? I can only reach a 9th if its between 2 white or 2 black keys. I've never seen it as an impediment and someone with my hand size can still play >99.9% of the piano repertoire. Not sure how common it is for adults to not be able to reach an octave easily but, for those who can't, that does significantly limit what the can play since arpeggiating octaves or leaving out a note is a pretty bad option.
You have hands that are too small for the modern piano if you can’t COMFORTABLY play an octave. I’m a short guy so my hands can only play octaves if my fingers are on the edge of the keys. I’m fine with beginner - intermediate repertoire but can run into trouble with some advanced, and definitely don’t see myself playing virtuosic pieces.
Good man, as always. Thanks for the book recommendations. I have a DSSF 6" octave keyboard on a Yamaha C6 but as you say you will always find a difficulty somewhere so physiology and a more relaxed idea of what music making is helps a lot.
Excellent advice!
For point 4, another culprit would be any piece written in MIDI format, as they may not have been intended to be played by a human.
thank you so much! I have extremely small hands, so the octaves in River flows in you are difficult for me & unpleasant. I’m also a piano teacher & this is super helpful advice for my kids
If corporations stopped being so greedy as fk, and just stocked the custom pianos that exist, it would usher in a new age where smaller handed people could finally play these pieces
And before someone comes with the nonsensical "but then you would lose the ability to play on the normal sized pianos" no you wouldn't. You don't just lose the ability to play on the normal size pianos, you just gain a new one
^ this is number 1. Everything else is just workarounds that sound bad (like spreading 10ths) or playing 3rds instead
There's a video on those custom pianos I've seen. Criminal how large the proportion of the population is that standard keys are too big for, and manufacturers not changing
@nezkeys79 That would certainly make life easier for a lot of us, but a good knowledge of the principles of piano technique would still be required in order to have ease of playing and avoid injury.
Thank you, thank you for your tips. I will try them all. I have been playing for decades with hands so small I cannot make an octave. I often use the sustain pedal to lengthen bass notes (to sound like octave). I've often written to piano teachers here on You Tube who never answered my question about small hands.
I am with you 💯, use All the joints in the Arms, they move so learner's from the start need to be taught how to use the joints in the entire arm 😊
i've just given myself permission to simplify 2 bars of Brahms Clarinet sonata in f minor 1st mvmt for a recorded exam. The musical result is so much better than scrambling to play every note written.
Would welcome some advice elsewhere
Once again, ultimate piano wisdom for every day and all time. My hands are about average to slightly larger size, a lot of women play piano. I can reach most 10ths, depending, have to roll the others, a valuable skill anyway. You have helped the piano universe in big time measure. Orchestral reductions are often very awkward. Frank Loesser's music was conceived for the orchestra, reductions are not idiomatic to the piano, which is important. Adapt, take a chance, get the framework and do your best. Every one of your points should be seriously observed. Craig Walstead at Piano Lab does a good job with basic anatomy and physiology applied to piano. It amazes me how pervasive bad teaching can be so durable when the results aren't very good. Thank you, again.
What counts as small hands?
My piano tutor keeps telling me to try and reach these wide octaves and hold finger 5 of my RH in place (eg Moonlight Sonata 1st movement Recap). I may have to have a chat....especially as I have confirmed cubital tunnel too 😮. I was under the impression that it was something that a learner gradually stretched to reach over time, and that I must keep pushing and trying.
Hi sir thank you so much for this tutorial. I guess I have medium sized hands I can reach an octave as well as a 10th would stretching help me?
I hope you don't mind someone else trying to help, but something that helped me stretch my fingers was doing one of Josh Wright's finger stretches, they are extremely easy to do. He has a video from 13 years ago on finger stretches that I would find hard to explain how to do the stretches but they are shown very clearly in his video from a top-down angle over the piano. This helped me quite a bit, but my span is still only a comfortable octave. The only thing I can say other than that is to improve wrist looseness a lot (most Chopin pieces will help with learning this, especially most of the left hand in his nocturnes), but this might not be an issue you have. I hope this helped
I don’t have much to say about stretching, but I have heard about a technique that hula dancers do to enhance the expressiveness with their hands, which is sort of what we (if I might be so bold as to include myself), as piano players do, and it does kind of wake my hands up...that is to either actually, or perhaps more practically, imagine, dipping your hand in honey, and then wipe it all off, using only that hand...
Why does the widths of the keys come in only one size? That, in my opinion, is one of the problems.
There are alternate-size keyboards out there, but that is a topic for another video.
It's a shame wider keys got normalized after most the great music we love was written.
Bach to Liszt was all written on narrower keyed keyboards.
I can hit a tenth and shouldn't complain, but it still strikes me as odd we don't accept some of the new smaller keyboard manufacturers more readily.
There are also older instruments where the keys in the bass range are narrower than the keys in the treble range.
What app are you using on the iPad?
Penultimate
@@cedarvillemusic Thank you sir
Although the simplest (or maybe the hardest) solution is to change the whole stupid piano industry and allow keyboard with totally different sizes.
As a church organist/pianist, orchestral reductions are the absolute BANE of my existence. Every time Christmas or Easter rolls around and we bring out the Handel Messiah or something like that and i have to figure out how to turn this thing that works beautifully on string instruments but absolutely horribly on the keyboard is just the worst part of my job. There are lots of contemporary choral anthems as well whose accompaniments are just orchestral reductions.
FIRST COMMENT!!
I do not have small hands, but the advice is great!
My father (who can't quite reach a 10th) once told me (I can't quite reach a 9th)
"Every pianist in the world, if they keep playing for long enough, will eventually have small hands..... because Rachmaninoff existed... You just have small hands a bit sooner than the rest of them."
Larry Sitsky (irrc) and Alicia de Larrocha both have quite small hands apparently but could still manage most anything.
Alicia de Larrocha can hit a 10th LOL
I'm so glad to see a reaction against "piano performance" as human player pianos. It's a 20th-century aberration that killed improvised performances and artistry.
get a smaller piano duh