Piano's Darkest Secret
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- You can find out more about alternate-sized pianos here: paskpiano.org/
There's a dark shadow in the piano world, an unspoken acknowledgement that having small hands is a deadly curse for a pianist. Whenever the topic appears, people quickly hush each other and avoid it, as if dwelling on it for too long will bring out an evil spirit. But the true secret is even darker: the curse has a cure, but it's being suppressed. You go to the doctor for a disease and they prescribe you everything except the one treatment that actually works.
Learn more:
PASK (Pianists for Alternatively-Sized Keyboards) Piano: paskpiano.org/
David Steinbuhler's factory: dsstandardfoundation.org/prod...
NOTE: One of the researchers commented additional references:
Awesome video and thanks for using our data. If anyone is interested, here are a few references for research conducted at UNT.
Shamoto, Yoshiko. Piano-related musculoskeletal disorders: Posture and pain. University of North Texas, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013. 3579241.
Yoshimura, E. Risk factors for piano-related pain among college students and piano teachers: Possible solutions for reducing pain by using the ergonomically modified keyboard. University of North Texas, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2009. 3399464
Yoshimura, E. Chesky, K. The Application of an Ergonomically Modified Keyboard to Reduce Piano-Related Pain. Music Teachers National Association E-Journal. (2009). 1(2), 2-13.
Yoshimura E, Fjellman-Wiklund Paul, Aerts, Chesky. Risk factors for playing-related pain among piano teachers. Medical Problems of Performing Artists: 23(3): 107-111. 2008
Chesky K, Yoshimura E; Furuya S Hand size and PRMDs in Japanese female pianists. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 2007. 22(1):39-40
Yoshimura E, Paul PM, Aerts C, Chesky K. Risk factors for piano-related pain among college students. Medical Problems of Performing Artists. 2006. 21(3):118-125
Pak CH, Chesky K . Prevalence of hand, finger, and wrist musculoskeletal problems in keyboard instrumentalists: The University of North Texas Musician Health Survey Medical Problems of Performing Artists. 2001. 16(1):17-23.
Pak., C. Prevalence of hand, finger, and wrist musculoskeletal problems in keyboard instrumentalists: The University of North Texas Musician Health Survey. University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2000. 1402611
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You can learn more about smaller-sized keyboards here: paskpiano.org/
but basically all schools have child sized pianos, so its deinetely been a thing
Awsome video Mr Yu . I'm not a musical instrument player but listen to piano on YT when I can . A question for you , was the piano invented before the harpsichord ? From what I gather harpsichords have so much smaller keys . Am I wrong ?
@@robertkustos2931 The harpsichord came first. Late middle ages through 1600's. Pianoforte invented in late 1720's. Narrower keys were around. The size of keys was always to some extent variable and non-standardized until the late romantic era when large concert grands became the standard for everything else. These pianos primarily accommodated large-handed male virtuosos.
there is an increase handspan website that sells this glove that says it gets rid of the webbings between your fingers do you think it is sketchy?
@@igo.spekkyjarvonvreich So sketchy you will need to take it with enough grains of salt to raise your blood pressure.
Also sounds risky. A little finger stretching is fine but actually eliminating webbing sounds bizarre. Kinda reminds me of composer Robert Schumann who invented an exercise machine for his fingers and wound up causing permanent tendon damage.
In terms of very wide spans, most pianistic hands I observe create a nearly straight line of bone between thumb and baby finger when the hand span is fully extended. So stretching out webbing between fingers would hardly help for that.
I think reduced-width and other adaptive keyboards is the way to go. I have a dual elevation keyboard design that quite literally makes impossible chords easy - even for a child's hand. If you hunt, you can find it on TH-cam. I'm not able to commercialize the design right now as I'm busy with other things but I hope to circle back to it. Probably won't cost very much either.
Who ever genuinely saw Rachmaninoff and Liszt's hand and said they were “standard” really wanted to see the world burn
I always thought there was a conspiracy by accomplished pianists to not democratize virtuosity.
@@musical_lolu4811 Listz had - arguably - slightly larger than average hands while Rachmaninoff's hands were larger than an average human face. They were huge even for his remarkable height (6'6''). With that said even at the same size, hands come in all shapes, not to mention muscles and tendons can vary greatly even given the same training. Plus pretty much every hand size has its strenghts and weaknesses.
You know, this is really a #MeToo thing. Piano manufacturers have been making sexist pianos that abuse women, for a century. To watch that girl sit in front of a piano and cry, just because her fingers can reach.... Seriously.
I'm just thankful for having giant hands. Although I suffer from having almost no control over my right 4th finger.
@@395leandro That's me too. Size isn't everything. I'm living proof you can have big enough hands and still be a lousy piano player.
This is absolutely fascinating. Not something I've ever considered, but OF COURSE pianists should be given a choice. Guitarists have many choices to suit our custom specifications, so why not pianists?
even violins have four sizes
@Kristian Bušta neck size is a bit variable between brands, specially in the neck style (not so much on the width, but is highly variable in the radius), but the length from fret to fret can also be found in different sizes, as you can buy short-scale guitars and long-scale guitars (also known as baritone)
Crazy to think that an instrument as popular as the piano doesn't have any custom sizes available
@@seatheparade Well, there is one "liittle" problem...
You can take your custom guitar and go on stage. Try it with the piano. :-)
@@justahuman5342 Yeah but full size will sound best... because a smaller violin needs looser strings... but piano can be customized because the keyboard size will not change the string size.
I'm not gonna lie, I got choked up myself thinking back on the frustration I witnessed in a girl I loved. So passionate and so good despite her petite build, her frustration unfortunately led her to stop pursuing her passion and eventually just stopped playing at all.
Aw, my condolences. I know someone who's been through the same. She loved playing the piano, but she could barely reach an octave and figured there was no point in her playing anymore.
I wish i had known these mini pianos existed - I basically just went for a midi controller with mini keys instead, and play keyboard instead. But because i'm used to keyboards with synth action keys instead of weighted piano style keys, I find it harder to use actual pianos now. I mean, to be fair, a lot of modern VST plugins meant to emulate piano sound pretty damn good these days (Pianoteq in particular is amazing) - but it still would be cool if i could play a real piano.
As a non-pianist this was still the most moving and inspiring thing I've watched in a very long time. I hope you get the awareness-ball rolling so that more can play the piano in a relaxed fashion. The footage of the woman crying from just barely touching the smaller width keyboard was the absolute best part. Thank you for a great video!
Thanks for the waiting.
Videos like this put a smile on my face.
Indeed. Check out this awesome piano collection: th-cam.com/video/a-ZzsKl3qJE/w-d-xo.html
I agree, at the points I almost cried from empathy to the issue. Very good video.
That section of the woman crying brought tears to my eyes. I know the utter frustration of having smaller hands with a standard keyboard, it's a major disability to further progress.
The idiots in the late 1800s made piano key note sizes standardized for LIZST'S BIG SIZE HANDS instead of the average size hands!!!! Why?? Why the hell did they do that dumb deranged stupid arrogant annoying crap??!!!??? Mozart had "small-ish hands"....but it was no big problem BECAUSE THE PIANOS IN MOZART'S DAY HAD NARROWER SIZED KEYS!!!!
My daughter loves playing piano, but small hands run in the family. She is excited for her hands to grow, but sadly I know that might never happen. Wish this option was more widely available.
dont you mean, wish this option was less narrowly available? :)
@@lunaponta594 .
get her some kind of synthesizer, there are a lot of smaller options, don't be deluded by elitism that everyone who plays keyboard must learn the "real" keyboard aka piano...synthesizer are also fun and by smaller range they bring out creativity easier, they are not confusing for children cause ususually they have 2-4 octaves
Meat and protein will help with growth, but yeah don't be afraid to go on a synthesizer
@@pubcle they didn't ask for nutrition advice.
Thank you for doing all this research and making this video. I got out my ruler, and it turns out my hands are exactly 8.5 inches. It would be so nice to try one of these pianos with more narrow keys, and I absolutely think that piano manufacturers should start making these.
AGREED
Yeah- I have a digital piano that is a tiny bit smaller (one octave is 6.25 inches) and just that difference is really nice for my small (7.5inch handspan) hands. You'd also think that they'd make smaller keyboards for children, like they do for other instruments.
Frankly, I'd also like to try out one with slightly wider and longer keys. My hands are 11 inches, and my fingers are close to the same width as a key (though just barely wider), and it actually makes pianos feel incredibly cramped for me. I may be able to reach pretty far, but my ring, middle, and index fingers need to be curled in to where I play with my knuckles if I want to be able to use my thumbs and pinkies, and my fingers are so broad it's difficult to only press one key at a time with each finger. Makes playing really uncomfortable, so it would be interesting to play with something more appropriately sized for me.
@@Sin_Alder That’s a good point. There are definitely some pianists where their hands are so big, it can become a problem as well!
@@WeAreOnePiano that David deserves way more for what he is doing he is not even doing it for money but to help people he sure does have a big heart and lots of dedication
My story here is a bit long, so please bear with me...
I started playing piano when I was 7. I'm 172 cm (or 5'8"), but I have genetically very small hands (maximum stretch only 18.5 cm, a 2 cm short from an octive). I've always envy people who have long fingers because I can barely reach an octive. I could never properly play Turkish March because I struggled so much, even with 2 hours of daily practice until I turned 18, passed all the exams. Still, I thought that maybe I'm just not very good at it...if I were, why would I struggle so much?
I picked up the cello at the age of 25. I never thought too much about the size of the cello since I was already a grown up, so naturally I picked up the 4/4 cello. In the first lesson, I told my teacher I was classically trained, played piano for many years but I wasn't very good at it...
I turned 40 not too long ago, and started playing jazz bass as well. I noticed my teacher's hands from day one, secretly admiring her long fingers. Today, I finally said to her, "I wish I have fingers like yours, I would've been a much better piano player."
Then she said something that hit me.
"If you think that it's you, it's not, it's the music industry." Then she quoted something from your video, "80% of women have smaller hands and they all struggle to play piano."
Why didn't I think of that before? Cellos come in 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, for people in different sizes. My 4 year old plays Ukulele and that comes in different sizes, but Pianos don't.
I own all 3 instruments, play my cello and bass everyday, but not the piano because it reminds me of 'I'm not very good at it" everytime I (attempt to) play an octive. My whole life I thought I wasn't worthy of it, it only took me over 3 decades to realise that, it wasn't me all along. If I get to play a narrower keyboard, I'd cry as well. Thank you for the enlightenment.
I feel you. I’ve got hands that can only barely reach a ninth on white keys. It’s a pain playing rachmaninoff and liszt pieces, which locks away various great pieces.
What a surprisingly simple solution to a problem nearly every pianist suffers from. I am guessing that the average piano player would assume that it would be bad to learn on a narrower keyboard, because they could not adjust back to a wider one. I thought this too. This video needs to go viral, to build a demand for narrower keyboards. Thanks for the video!
Thought so too until actually playing guitars with very different scale lenghts. It's amazing how well your brain adjusts to such changes, I can easily pick up my kids way smaller guitar and hit everything intuitively after a short period of getting used to it. Not the FIRST time you pick it up, but if you've played it in different size, you seem to be able to switch relatively effortlessly.
So you learned to ride a bike on a BMX. How could you ever translate those skills onto a mountain bike...
@@kitten-inside Not a good analogy. a non-powered bike and a powered BMX are two very different animals. Merely changing the width of the keys has less variables involved.
You do know what a BMX is? Come on, it's one web search away. You can do it. I believe in you.
I used to think the same, especially because me being used to play on an old toy keyboard and then performing, in front of my class, on a keyboard with wildly different key sizes was one of the most embarassing experiences in my life.
But then I started playing guitar and whenever I was playing somebody else's I recognized the need to adjust finger jumps but I also learned that not even a few bars in I could already play it as well as my own.
The only reason a narrow-keyed piano worries me is that pianists with larger fingers might not be able to avoid pressing two keys at once with the same ease. But if it's not a problem for them (or if the idea is that they can keep using larger keys) well, I welcome this idea.
Massive respect to Mr David Steinbuhler. I hope this video eventually brings him so much business that those mega piano companies will have to eat their words and scramble to make smaller pianos for this "insignificant" market share.
Sure, after 30 years he wasn't able to find enough buyers for smaller pianos, and one yt video well magically change that.
@@ekklesiast Of course, as the main reason said, larger hands is the first thought instead of narrowed keys. I'm one of those 200k people how saw this video and now want one of his keyboards, also that 200k are interested in the topic since they actually watched the video.
@@ekklesiast well with a TH-cam video full of pianists, maybe it would. Everyone likes to be comfortable when playing their instrument, if a narrower piano would help with that I’m sure a lot of people would invest in one.
It is great to see people thinking outside of the box...especially when it comes to playing or learning to play piano!
@WAFFLES the art toad I agree with you.
It took me 5 months to compile the footage for this video. I traveled many hours to far off locations in Germany and Pennsylvania, because it's a topic that needs to be addressed seriously and I wanted to do my best to do it justice. It's my hope that people will watch this and do one simple thing: to remember this video, the next time they consider buying a piano or keyboard.
If you want to learn more: paskpiano.org/
you are a saviour for people with small hands
Damn
I love your courage for making these videos, i really appreciate it :)
Address of this shop pls? So we can all buy one and he won't lose millions dollars too lol
Thank you so much for this video! I definitely want to pursue finding a smaller keyboard for myself so I can finally play some of the pieces on my bucket list!! To play devil's advocate though, do you think that having keyboards with narrower keys available will simply push composers to write music with even larger intervals than exist in current repertoire? I think pianists with larger hands will always have an advantage...just like basketball is a tall person's sport...just some thoughts! Thanks so much for sharing!
I'm a little amazed that you didn't mention that a smaller keyboard would be so much better for young students. It's remarkable when you consider that small violins for beginners have been the norm for a very long time. Little ones can learn it long before their arms would be long enough for a full size instrument, and the same is obviously true of the piano. Thank you so much for this well researched and thoughtfully presented video!
I always blamed myself for not being able to reach some notes or play smoothly with relaxed hands like some others, until I saw the Chopin piano part of this video
This is a serious issue for pianists worldwide
Thank you for your dedication to reveal this
It's honestly insane how ingrained the hand size = talent mindset is in the piano community. So many commenters saying they'd never considered a smaller keyboard and instead wished for larger hands, as if the piano's standard size is God-given and immutable
And the manufactuers never considered that smaller pianos fit in modern apartments more easily ? Really ??? Like there could never be amafket for that? I must say this man who builds them alone js a saint. I hope this video will give him many new clients and he can hire employees and his hard work will finally pay off.
@@InXLsisDeo great point! 👍
I've been experimenting myself with reduced-width keyboards and other ergonomic keyboard innovations in the basement for years. I keep thinking the piano gods will strike me down with lightning but so far nothing.
Other than biological predispositions, talent does not exist. At the very highest level of many sports it's a well known fact that to be able to compete you must simply be genetically "gifted" or rather predisposed. Same goes for instruments, talent is just a buzzword used for one's skill, which is in fact determined by education and practice alone. So the only "real" talent comes down to biological predispositions, in this case, yes, longer fingers are a talent that allows you to play the piano as it is right now. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to overcome the lack of it by adapting the instrument itself. But yeah, theoretically speaking long fingers are a talent, it's just that we misuse the term talent so much, it sounds like an insult which it is not.
@@DMSBrian24 Uh, no.
As a manufacturing engineer, it doesn't surprise me at all how much money that guy has spent in making those keys of different sizes. High-quality one-off or low volume production is very expensive for a number of reasons. What an interesting video.
Also, I'll be honest, I'm not a pianist. I've never played, and never used to find it even that interesting (until your channel). But I sincerely hope that the industry begins acknowledging and accommodating these very basic differences. It's such a simple idea, and you really seem to be on to something. The data definitely seems to support your conclusions.
It is much easier to make smaller keys with an electronic keyboard.
the data - the factual data suggests that nobody wants to buy smaller pianos. that is the fact. everything else in this video is just false theories.
@@ekklesiast well, you have to consider the possibility that the data suggests that nobody wants to buy small pianos simply because nobody considers it a possibility. I would certainly think there isn't significant data to support your claim that these theories are false, however I could be wrong as I haven't exactly done much research on the subject.
@@ekklesiast Yeah, everybody wants to buy 1/2, 3/4, and 7/8 size guitars, violins, etc, but not 7/8 size keyboards.
Because pianos are special.
@@codybill24 Yes, millions or tens of millions of pianists for several centuries have never ever considered a possibility of buying a smaller piano. There's just one guy who makes them in secrecy for 30 years while everyone else is blind. Sure.
It's not my claim, it's your claim that needs any support. My claim is just actual facts.
I've recently taken up the piano, and I do find that practice can be painful. I definitely don't have the right hand span; it's about 7.5", and I do notice that my hands can seize up and be painful after proper practice. I didn't even think about getting smaller sized keys when I set out to buy an electric piano. It's bizarre that the thought didn't cross my mind, as I'd never heard of a smaller piano. When I think about that... isn't that crazy? So many other instruments come in different sizes, why not piano? I'm a violinist first, and violins are made in different sizes. It's logical that the instrument should fit the player. The player shouldn't be made to fit the instrument.
I have 8.5 inch span on the dot, and it's still not comfortable to play a 10th (need to play it near the bottom of the keyboard)
YES! I have tendonitist ALL THE TIME and it annoyes meeeee
And I have a 7.1 inch span, I already struggle with octaves, and theres nons in a lot of the pieces I play
@@cosmic_gate476 With a 8,0 inch span, I can casually play octaves, I strech for a ninth, and I just discovered that I can play a 10th but I have to strech a lot before and it is painful to do. I wish they were just 0.5 inches bigger
It’s a lot easier to carry your personal violin or guitar around than it is to carry your personal piano around… that’s why piano keys are standardized.
I'm fortunate enough to have big hands that can _somewhat_ comfortably stretch far enough to hit 9ths. However, it is often still awkward and difficult to play many things because I have to stretch my hand out in such a way that it can cause a lot of unwanted tension.
Considering the fact that one of Chopin's very own pianos, as well as who knows how many other famous pianists pianos, were _intentionally built_ with reduced sized keys, I think that speaks volumes for how useful they would be across the entire world.
I have actually tried smaller keyboards before. Ironically enough, many of the very cheap MIDI controllers may have thinner keys. They don't produce sound on their own, and they have terrible actions, but it is far easier to play traditionally difficult intervals on them due to the reduced key width. It always puzzled me that these reduced size variants were never available in more professional models that are more comparable to the overall feel of an acoustic piano. Where's the high-end digital pianos with these smaller keys?
Another issue that I think is worth mentioning: the overwhelming elitism that exists in Piano culture. There are _SO MANY_ snobby attitudes surrounding piano communities that it makes me want to cry. The amount of times I've heard people say "oh dear, you think that $100 piano you got from someone is a good instrument? Psssht, if it didn't cost you 8 figures it's not a REAL piano." This elitism reaches far and wide to all facets of the piano experience. Simply mention the prospect of using stickers that show the position of a note on the grand staff on your piano keys and watch the pages of arguments unfold.
I think the elitism, coupled with all of the other points you described, perfectly wrap up why these smaller sized keyboards don't exist on better models of digital pianos, or even acoustic pianos. To the classical elite who stand at the top, it's "learning wrong." It's "not correct", it's "a crutch". I can hear the arguments against it now. Oh, you play on a piano that's comfortable to you? That's wrong. That's a crutch. No other piano is like that. Why are you relying on a crutch? I learned on a normal piano so you should be forced to as well. Just get better. There is clearly an overwhelming amount of gatekeeping with the piano, and it extends well into physical differences. There's no reason someone with smaller hands should be robbed of the opportunity to learn and grow as a musician just because of their genes.
This was a fantastic video and I hope more people see it. These kinds of pianos NEED to be mass produced.
My hand size is actually the same size as yours. I've always been concerned about it and I thought I'd never be good enough to reach an advanced level. I'll probably never buy a custom keyboard, but just knowing that you (someone I assumed had larger hands) have a similar hand size to mine and is also so talented gives me so much more confidence.
If u can play slowly u can play it quickly
@@God-xw1nu if you can play small you can play large
@@prestonle8993 this is a new one but it stands true
ling ling 40 hours
5:15 You took your dog Cooper...And "emBARKED on a 6-hour road trip".....LOL! Couldn't miss that one.
The initial market to sell a smaller keyboard is not found in giant grand pianos, or any acoustic piano, but digital pianos. The keyboards are, generally, not as expensive to manufacture.
And portability is a big advantage.
I agree, that would be much easier to manufacture a narrower digital keyboard, and I bet they would sell like crazy! I'll order the first one!
I believe more people would learn to play if the keys were more narrow. My mother and I are two people that were discourged because the reach is too far for our hands. If more people could play sales would naturally increase. It is sad that these companies don't seem to care.
Thank you for making this video.
Quote by Tiffany Goff:
“There is a sort of accepted culture in classical piano. And I did experience this from a very young age, asking is this person’s hand too small to play the piano? Should we be discouraging this person from pursuing music at a professional or just a very high level? And it’s absolutely the wrong question. The instrument is a tool, instrument is a synonym for tool. So the question we should be asking is, is this piano too big for this individual? And if the answer is yes, then that individual should absolutely have an instrument of a suitable size.”
10:14 seems like a good example of survivor bias. They look at piano-players asking themselves if they would profit from smaller keyboards. They say nope. All playing on regular keyboard just fine failing to see all the people that never got far into playing, chose different instruments or don't play any instruments all together because the instrument they could play was just not available.
Yes, there are all kinds of cognitive bias involved in reactions to reduced-width keyboards.
In addition to your insightful survivor bias I would also include: confirmation bias, rationalization of status quo, sunk cost fallacy, appeal to ancient wisdom fallacy, tradition over logic fallacy, weak messenger fallacy (i.e. if David Steinbuhler also happened to be a top level concert pianist he'd be taken more seriously).
I would also include something I recall reverse Dunning Kruger effect. Regular Dunning Kruger says less educated over-estimate their expertise and more educated know better what they don't know. In reverse Dunning Kruger we see human ego adding to the bias. For example, we get musicians of considerable accomplishment who now assume they have mastery of fields in which they have no formal training like ergonomic engineering and design in this case.
Indeed, one thing that is increasingly clear in recent times is that even highly intelligent minds can fall prey to various forms of cognitive bias which are usually very emotionally charged and likely inherited in our DNA from an evolutionary history where snap decisions were necessary for survival in the primeval forest.
This has been a topic which has stopped me playing again and again. It’s so incredibly annoying and saddening when octave notes sound much better in a piece but I just can’t reach it. Drives me insane. I just want to play cool pieces at home with octaves and I wish so badly people would just make smaller pianos it’s so EASY but so… out of reach.
Same here. Although it's severe spatial issues when combined with total blindness (I literaly do not know where to put my fingers once they have to lift from their currently occupied positions) which really stops me playing anytihng but the very basics, I remember how not being able to manage an arpeggio was just another thing for which my teacher mocked me. That happened some 40 years ago and is just one reason I will always feel awkward at the keyboard. I have perfect pitch, and can well understand what I'm hearing and how it should sound, but I can't reproduce it.
As a guitarist I agree . Distance equals time. Also guitar necks come in different widths scale size and radius. You use what is easy for you. Not everyone has same hand size. And NO making keys smaller is not cheating. Music is made from the soul.
This is one of the most significant videos for musicians on TH-cam. The pictures of the "bell curves" for male and female hands tell the story clearly. With the computer-aided design facilities now available, the cost argument is mitigated. As an organist, I have wished for narrower keys to be able to do justice to the works of Cesar Franck, who wrote lots of tenths and even elevenths. Both pipe and electronic organs have electrical contacts on their keyboards, so making the keys narrower is less fraught than it is for a piano.
I abandoned my pianist education after seven years because of small hands. 19 cm = 7.5 inch (19,5 cm max for left hand). I love to play but it is very difficult, even octave is a little challenge. This video brought tears into my eyes.
I'm a violinist with small hands. It took me ages to find a smaller-than usual violin with a thinner neck. But at least there ARE violins in different shapes and sizes! I can't imagine forcing my hand into a stretch farther than it is physically possible just to play. You poor pianists have my sympathy!
also, many top-tier modern violin makers will happily make 7/8 size instruments, or adjust neck sizes.
As an aspiring pianist, it only took me a matter of days to realize that my hands are much too small to play a standard keyboard. In order to play one note just an octave apart from each other on the same hand, I have to strain my entire hand stretching out my thumb and pinky finger just to barely reach both notes.
Although I am blessed with unusually large hands for a female pianist, I'm convicted after viewing this video that I need to speak up to the piano manufacturers and do my part to help those who are currently risking or future pianists who will be risking injury to themselves because of the stubbornness of the manufacturers. I will also seek to spread awareness of the availability of pianos with smaller key widths so more people will also be requesting them of the manufacturers. This is an idea whose time has come! It's ridiculous that Liszt, Rachmaninov, and Anton Rubinstein were the pattern after which piano makers standardized the piano key width! How very short-sighted. Although, profit motive - they probably all wanted to be known as "the piano Liszt played on" or future Liszts-to-come.
I never thought of a misogynist stigma being one of the causes, but it does make sense. Just awful! With smaller key widths, we would have more Argeriches, more Wangs, more Turecks, more Grimauds and Uchidas. Thank you for pointing out this sad potential reason.
The last thing I wish to say is, good for you for valuing yourself and your musicianship enough to invest in these more suitable pianos! Your playing is spectacular! Your gift very much deserves to have these adapted instruments available to it so the world can hear what your music sounds like when you're comfortable at the instrument. I have the Kawai MP11SE, as well, what already a wonderful digital piano if one needs a digital for various reasons. I am in love with it! I purchased it to provide pandemic-safe lessons for my students under a canopy out on our deck. It has proven a terrific instrument for them on which to learn during the pandemic. Wishing you all the best and hoping to find more of your music online to listen to and enjoy! Let's start a movement here for smaller pianos!
Do connect with PASK on facebook - there is a closed group there.
And the guitar strings are sooo hard, and I have to blow hard to make a horn sound decent, and, and the basketball hoops are too high, and my hands just barely reach a full octave but are easily twice the size of some little 10 year girls who play pianos or violins, wonderfully..much better than do I! Give me a break!
@@picdoran Those little 10yo. girls, if they attempted to play some pieces by Rachmaninov, Liszt, or Anton Rubinstein with their small hands, would definitely injure themselves. They are limited. With a smaller keyboard, these little girls would be far less limited.
In order to feel empathy for someone, we need imagination to be able to put ourselves into the shoes of another person. Empathy is developed in childhood. It is helped by a mother expressing personal warmth and by the child having a secure attachment to the parents characterized by both parent and child having a mutually-responsive orientation to one another . If it is not done during childhood, it is usually not managed in adulthood. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Flocal.psy.miami.edu%2Ffaculty%2Fdmessinger%2Fc_c%2Frsrcs%2Frdgs%2Femot%2FMcDonald-Messinger_Empathy%2520Development.pdf&clen=162790&chunk=true
I'm sorry that you can't find empathy in your heart for talented musicians who need an instrument for their own body dimensions. Do you also disagree with adults having shoes that are geared towards their foot size? Should all adults wear the same size shoes and clothes? Or is it right and good for shoemakers and clothing manufacturers to spend the extra money to design the footwear and clothing to be proportional to various sizes, which takes time, money, and effort on their part?
@@picdoran finger tips can get hardened over time, lung capacity will increase after training, jumping height also increases with muscle build-up by training, and that 10 year girl will grow up n reach adulthood soon - BUT SMALL HANDS WILL NEVER GET BIGGER NO MATTER HOW HARD U PRACTICE OR HOW LONG U WAIT OR WHATEVER U DO
what a pea-brain bozo - u r just comparing apples to oranges
thanks sister. the more i think of it the more i really wonder if the keyboard size is why my neck hurts all the time.
You have my deepest respect in speaking up and spreading awareness to let other pianist know that there are alternate keyboard sizes out there.
The war on big hands...
Definitely a very important topic! Thanks for covering this and bringing awareness on this subject. Keyboard size is one of the reasons I like the world of synthesizers, despite awful non-weighted action sometimes :)))
I remember a jazz video of yours Nahre where someone showed you an easy tenth stretch, and the reaction on your face. I remember a similar visceral wince in the pit of my stomach at that point.
@Thomas Myles I also like her work on Sound Field.
Question: What is my "Hand Size"?!?🧐(Either way my hand is 8in or under...)
Measure in at 7.5in wide COMFORTABLY extended as seen here - gyazo.com/4a81c0c16ef8bc5c0b54b082fcb57ede
& then at 8in wide when I really extend which is borderline uncomfortable as seen here - gyazo.com/ce0f7a91972c1c270b98cafcde8fcb8e
~ Here's MusicalBasics hand measurement for reference - gyazo.com/ff52c46ef173d3e72fb513648d394217
I was about to write a post about this video in yiur channel bht I'm glad I don't have to.
In my mind, the action of a keyboard instrument is more important than the tone, the timbre. Properly tuned is the most important. But I'd rather have an acoustic instrument with a good action, than an instrument with a beautiful tone.
I think #4 is spot on. The makers need to know people want this stuff.
But to win this one, it must happen from the low end up as well as the top end down. You need to get the makers to make smaller keybeds for the inexpensive electronic pianos often used as trainers. I don't mean the small synthesizer keyboards that are common. I mean the 5.5 and 6.0 sizes presented in this video. If people learn on a smaller piano (that fits their hands better, especially for children), then they will demand the same of a full-size piano later for those whose hands do not grow into the standard size.
I know, I can hear the screams from all the instructors saying "NO, you will ruin yourself for moving to a 'real" piano later." I've done enough different motor skills activities in life to know humans can adapt quite well to such physical differences, and usually those that do will become better overall at the activity. Just as was stated in the video.
This is the video I just found yesterday as I looked for solutions to see if my old, dumb small hands on the piano could actually make a difference before I die. This is the video that made me cry. This is finally a real answer to what has stopped me going any further with my music past a certain level (medium to advanced at best, I guess). I already had the traditional handicap of not starting piano until I was 17, instead of 4, and was made to feel inferior even though I passed all my piano exams with honors , as a student. I wasn't quite solo concert level therefore, so I played for a Dutch Male choir for a while, had a few private pupils, got married, had kids, music stopped and basically resigned myself to hide away my classical box forever. And all the while I didn't realize why my hands felt cursed. I blamed my late start for being the only culprit for the constant struggles of trying to stretch my hands to a 10th. OMG my female hand is only barely 8.0 fully outstretched. Now, I'm prepared to try again maybe, if people actually are aware of this issue in the open, I might have a chance yet, maybe even be lucky enough to find a piano with smaller keys too, one day :)
Teachers harp day in and out on posture, hand position, curving your fingers, and so many other ergonomics lessons. They are all important not just for playing well, but for preserving your health and avoiding injury. I honestly am baffled that this isn't on the list! Hopefully it becomes more common knowledge that this is an option and people actively seek it out so bigger manufacturers incorporate it into their process.
I can play all the 10ths and a couple of the 11ths without moving my hand. It has helped learning the piano a lot by having large hands, and me being only 7-ish months into piano I can handle most things with rapid octaves or big jumps, wondering why they were considered to be so hard. I totally agree with this video, because when I was a kid, I hated playing the piano, my hands always felt stretched and uncomfortable. Here I am now, regretting I quit, and wishing I could've gotten a smaller keyboard
I've been playing the piano for 48yrs. I spent half of this video in tears. Thank you for posting. I, too, can barely reach a 9th. Did David Steinbuhler measure your hands?
The demand "isn't there" because the people with smaller hands quit
This honestly blew my mind. When I tried to learn piano this is partially the reason I gave up, the thought of being unable to play some of my favorite songs simply because my hands are so small killed my motivation. I hope this gets some traction, because I would love to be able to buy a small keyboard one day!
Mad respect for David Steinbuhler! We need more people like him.
no you don't. that is why you don't buy his pianos and hence he's constantly losing money making them.
@@ekklesiast What the hell is wrong with you
@@ekklesiast sad truth
Wow, what an absolutely fantastic video! Thank you so much for speaking up about and bringing some well-deserved attention to this topic. I found it really sad to learn how the majority of pianists are forced to play in pain and risk of injury, but it was also so wonderful to see the joyous and emotion-filled reactions that a few of those pianists had when sitting at the alternative sized pianos. I really hope that this issue gets resolved and the information and education spreads, because I would absolutely love to see the pianist community to get access to the alternative sized pianos they deserve. I know that I'll be sharing this around as much as possible to help with this
Fascinating. I never even took the time to consider alternate keyboard sizes as a possibility. I know that would make a world of difference to me. Mad props to David Steinbuhler for investing so much money into this problem, he is an absolute legend.
There was a music patroness of the arts in Santa Barbara named Cynthia Wood, who owned 2 Steinway Grand Pianos in one of her homes, with one she had specially built with narrower keys for her small hands. She willed her pianos to the library and a retirement home she established - sadly they took the narrower keyed Steinway and had it rebuilt to standard size! Such a shame (thousands of dollars to create it, then thousands more to "normalize" it). My college piano teacher Peter Yazbeck lived in one of her homes - he asked me if I wanted to try it (I was afraid I'd get too fond of the feeling), remembering the day I burst into tears wishing I could learn Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto - then froze after looking at page 1.
It's very sad that they rebuilt it. that makes me really angry. That shows me how much history there is behind the current status quo and how much of an uphill climb this fight has to endure, especially the people from PASK who have been leading this movement for decades. I'm only a few months old but I'll do my part in helping spreading awareness.
@@WeAreOnePiano We can do it! You have my full support and support of hundreds of thousands if not millions!
What a loser who did that
@@SamK-Music get over it😂
before watching your video i didn't realize just how much this topic emotionally impacted me. it's always been there in my periphery, but as you said, instead of asking "why dont they sell pianos in different sizes," my train of thought turned inwards to the path of self-hatred- "why wasn't i born with larger hands?" no one talks about the possibility of smaller keys, NO ONE. only after watching a video about the history of piano (and the instruments leading up to it) did i even learn that keys used to be smaller on similar pre-piano instruments.
it's always been, "how to play an octave with smaller hands" or "it's ok you don't have to play the octave." but i do want to!! and i want to do it comfortably! it feels so insidious that pain experienced b millions of people is ignored because manufacturers want to stick to a one-size fits all model. like someone already commented, it would be ridiculous to expect other instruments (like the guitar) to only be available in one size, so why is that the case for the piano? david is doing amazing work, and i hope his mission catches on. thank you to you for making this video! it was very informative, revealing, and entertaining :)
I'm 60 and not a pianist, but i studied it at 9 -12 years old. Then a divorce cancelled its continuation. But i remember back around 1980 i purchased a electric keyboard at Macys. What struck me odd at the time was that it had smaller keys than a standard piano. I felt it hindered my playing as it was harder for me to play. You see, i actually have the large hands you dream of. Unfortunately my skills never developed. I am in awe of your skills. I'm happy you found someone who can help the world play better piano.
I just got gifted an electronic keyboard. I’m learning how to play with it and sometimes I think the 20 mm wide keys are too small for me. It’s uncomfortable when I have both thumbs in the middle C and I often hit two notes by accident.
Amazing work! Never seen a video on this untouched subject. My deepest gratitude and respect to you. I felt as if you spoke from my heart. I never thought someone would speak about it. This video made my day. I literally had tears When the girl cried. Every music lover deserves to learn piano regardless of age and hand sizes. You spoke for the majority of women and men like us.
I hope this will spread the awareness against the discrimination. Let our voices be heard.
I've been playing the piano for about 5 years and I have tiny hands, I can barely reach a 9th and its really uncomfortable. Still I never quite realized how much of a difference that makes. In my opinion Mr. Steinbuhler is an absolute man of honor, pursuing this passion even though it doesn't pay at all. Thanks for making this video, from now on I will passionately promote his work to anyone that might be interested.
Perfect example of learned helplessness and not questioning the established consensus.
'Learned helplessness', good one. I will add that to my long list of inherent cognitive bias among those who claim the piano keyboard of the late 19thC is the ONLY legitimate keyboard.
I've always known piano sizes were variable back in the day. There was not as much standardization back in the late 1700's and early 1800's . Beethoven and Mozart alone being only 5'3 tall pretty much tells you that the instruments were made to smaller scale.
You absolutely blew my mind! A bassist I work with forwarded. I am a full-time professional pianist/keyboard player, BA Music/Piano, studied and play for over 50 years, teach private lessons, gig with everything from Skynyrd Tributes to Disco and have NEVER heard of any of this! It’s going to take time for me to process but I will be forwarding to all my students and fellow keyboardists. I’m on your team!Thank you thank you thank you, keep fighting the good fight!!
As a male guitarist with smaller hands, it hadn't even occurred to me that players of other instruments can't always have smaller versions of their instruments available.
Every instrument I play fits me... I own 3/4 scale guitars, a tenor guitar, a handful of ukuleles... not one of them is too large, and there are other versions available for people with larger hands. This has never been a barrier to me, since I picked up my first guitar years ago.
If guitar manufactures began making 99% of all guitars to the same scale, size, and dimensions tomorrow, I'd assume that they'd gone collectively mad. Yet this has been your world, forever. I'm still stunned that this is how it is for pianists. Assumptions (like my long-time assumption that keyboards commonly came in different sizes) are a hell of a thing.
Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones had small hands so he had a guitar made for him. A piano is not a guitar. Pie in the sky. Small hands no money… You’re shit out of luck. Having small hands and wanting to play piano , It’s like a politician with no money wanting to be president. Look at Trump… Small dick… A lot of money. God bless the dollar bill.
Your logic isn't logical. A piano is STILL an instrument with a customer base. You conveniently omitted that commercial fact. When 80% of women have hands that are not big enough for your pianos, you might actually find yourself in court on a discrimination case - you're favouring people based on a genetic trait, and certainly by gender, as hand size (and body size in general) is dictated by dual growth inhibiting X chromosomes. It's a very, very clear discrimination case.
@@2112jonr uh. I have small hands even for a full grown woman and I play piano and flute just fine. Could I play some of the really complicated classical stuff? Maybe not. but I play plenty of stuff. It comes down to are you willing to find a way to do it. I, and plenty of other women, have done just that. There are also little kids that play acoustic guitar and piano when they're like 3 or 4 years old. Same deal. Maybe they won't be playing Mozart for a while, but they can play.
@@SymphonicEllen, That's understandable, but there are some who simply experience too much pain playing the piano, or other instruments that are on a larger scale than what they're used to. The amount of players who experience discomfort and pain due to their smaller hand size, ESPECIALLY whenever they were playing pieces that required them to stretch their hands is still something that is important to talk about, and should be changed. It would also make the learning process faster if you use a size you're comfortable with, even if you're just a beginner.
@@nomorebushz To an inventor, a problem like this is like giant neon sign flashing "OPPORTUNITY". The cynic says it's impossible. But the innovator says, "yes, but if it WAS possible, how would you do it?"
I don't think you are an inventor.
"Comfortably play ninth"... I can only comfortably play seventh for my entire life.
Thanks for making this video! People definitely need more awareness on this issue.
Same! It's kinda crazy to think what struggles advanced children have to deal with.
wow your hands are really small. though my hands aren't too much bigger, can only conformably play octaves, and left hand barely reaches 9th
then are people like animenz that can play quaver 10ths
Omg same 😭
I couldn’t imagine that, I can comfortably play a tenth and stretch a little for an 11th, almost reaching a 12th
I- I have to stretch my hands a lot to even reach an octave. It is part of the reason why I quit piano as my hands are unlikely to grow bigger already.
Its crazy how obvious the solution of smaller keys is, compared to blaming the size of your hands. Yet I would never had come up with it. David Steiner is a real hero.
This would be amazing for children to have the option to learn on. It would make their life so much easier. I didn't even know such an option existed. This idea is amazing. I hope more people find out abour it.
I can stretch a tenth on command(easier on my LH) after many torturous years of training myself to do so. It is a sad reality that there is such a lack of awareness in this topic, though I find it crazy since different size custom pianos have existed throughout the ages. Anyone who’s studied Chopin eventually realizes that period pianos (including his beloved Pleyel) had narrower keys! This makes his compositions make a lot more sense to me when piecing his hand anatomy along side the ranges he likes to incorporate so often in his music! This content is gold, thank you for bringing this out to light for many to be made aware of!
Actually I thought this problem long time ago, and I was told one reason is that the big hand pianist would find the smaller sized piano impossible to play due to the narrow width between two black keys. So for manufacturer they prefer to produce one type of piano that meets the most demand ( not everyone is going to play Rachmaninoff obviously ). But yeah we are in 2022 it is a shame the big piano manufacture do not offer different size. Great video!
Yes. Back in the late 1800s this is the reason why standardization kept moving the keys wider. In a household or community where there is only 1 piano, this size made sense to allow everyone to play. But it's 2022 and everyone should have their own piano or keyboard that fits them (in my opinion :)
They just need some competition and then they will change their tune because they want the money too. Then they would make them. Maybe with this video, more awareness will come and people will buy so many keyboards from David Steinbuhler, that he has to make a full time operation of it and becomes a household name, and the competition begins.
Solution:
Standardize high protein consumption and make small people bigger.
@@Serpenzeye Hailun pianos in China has just started offering smaller keyboards on their HU1P upright acoustic model that costs about $10K [Edit: It costs $15K] I do not know if there is any collaboration with Steinbuhler. I read a review which says Hailun makes pianos that are of outstanding quality.
Yeah, but as we saw, even the majority of men don't have ultra large hands. And restricting your products to mostly men could easily be taken to court as a discrimination case. "Tradition" does not cut it in 2022.
Such a redemptive endeavor for Lionel to have done all the research that he did and now advocating for himself and so many others for the instrument's keyboard to accommodate their needs. God bless this!!
This is unbelievable. All it took was the thought, the question outside of the expected, the norm....you are a breath of fresh air, Lionel! I am so glad to have found you!
My limit is a ninth too. I can barly reach a tenth. I can do it, but it doesn't feel comfortable at all 🙈
I take piano lessons for one year now and i start to play pieces, where i need to stretch my hand wider. I am always so tense and playing the piano doesn't feel enjoyable sometimes. So i get the problem. Sorry to all pianist with even smaller hands than mine. Stay strong!
Mate I can feel ur pain 😢
Mate I feel ur pain 😞
@@thenotsogoodpianist4706 me too I can't even do a true full octave without it being uncomfortable 😣
Try to work around it though 🙂
If it makes you feel any better, I have huge hands, including particularly long fingers, and because of it I have to curl them pretty far inward as though I'm grasping something just for them to fit. If I don't, then having my thumbs and pinkies on keys means my index and ring fingers are nearly off the back of the keys, and my middle fingers are entirely off of them. Doesn't help that my fingers are pretty much the exact same width as keys as well, meaning it's hard to press a key without pressing one next to it.
I think that both big and small handed people have their own problems with things like this, just different sorts of problems, and then there are those lucky people with a perfect hand size.
Similar thing with a lot of technical card shuffling and cutting techniques. People with small hands don't have the reach to do a one-handed flip around cut, where as people like me that have muscular hands struggle because if your hand is too bulky there isn't enough room for one half-deck to maneuver around the other, even though their fingers and palms may be long enough for them to manipulate the cards easily.
@@nv16123 I can reach an octave comfortably
But 10th , omg it hurts
The availability of smaller-sized keyboards would also expand the future repertoire of piano compositions, as composers naturally write within the limits of possibility. As it stands, it looks like roughly 50% of the adult population would be able to benefit - that ought to mean roughly 50% of people composing keyboard music as well.
Excellent point -- especially considering harmonic density and voicing within chords/octaves --
But I need to know what a woman not trying to recruit me feals because of Buddy I'll never know because why....oh hello I don't have strings that tuff....
Same thing with ....I see what's missing ...coop
Go over cold cases for me ...Rita...please
Your computer needs me...
I have played guitar for decades, and noticed quite quickly as I attempted to try piano how much my hands hurt after just 10 minutes or so of entry level practice. Even with finger strength and dexterity going into the venture, I was surprised by this. I am 6'4" tall and do have large hands, which is actually sometimes problematic on a guitar in certain situations. I can only imagine the hurdle this must create for many, and it opens up my appreciation for their talent even more so. Very interesting research, and story. Thank you for sharing. By the way, I also have very large feet, and you know what that means...very difficult to find shoes in my size. in 2022 you would think that people would be beyond stupid inaccurate stereotypes by now!
Some of that might just be lack of muscle adaption. I had similar issues going from guitar to piano but I adjusted. However I do think there is a place for 6.0 and 5.5 keyboards for people with smaller hands. Standardisation is bad when the standard does not allow for different people and body types. I get so much joy from playing piano and that should be available to everyone.
Funny, I was playing the piano for many years, and when I got to play the guitar, I had the same feeling. :-)
Wow. Just "WOW!" Since lack of awareness is the most important reason you found, then you have made an important contribution to this issue. It is inspiring to witness someone truly "making a difference" in this world. In this, you are an Olympian. Congratulations, and Thank You.
I am a small man, 64 years old and a career auto mechanic. My tiny hands have served me well, navigating cramped spaces in modern cars. A new musical interest includes keyboards, and I struggled due to small hand size and a lack of flexibility. A decision to buy a "mini" size keyboard (Yamaha PSS a50) rocked my world. It looks like a toy, but has a great set of features. Velocity-sensitive keys gave me a HUGE boost in "expression". I previously purchased several entry-level electronic keyboards that did not have velocity-sensitive keys. I didn't realize what I was missing! The Yamaha PSSa50 sounds great when connected to amp and speakers.
I recommend anyone with small hands to go to a music store and try a quality "mini" size keyboard.
As a teen with hands of 7.25 (octave) and 7.5 (9th) inches right and left hands respectively, it really pains me to see that no one wants to manufacture these smaller pianos. I have been learning liebstraum No.3 for bit now, and even though it is one of liszts easiest pieces, it is very difficult for me to play it. What I have been doing with learning pieces is finding easier pieces or pieces with arpeggios instead of big chords, so it really limits the things I can play.
Same problem here
Pay a visit to David Steinbuhler's piano shop!
the last section is full of tenths yikes that must be hard for smaller hands
@@savrtuthd I can't reach the tenths without a stretch that would damage my hands, I just have to roll them sadly
If the Big Four can't be persuaded to produce narrower keybeds, perhaps some of the newer companies could be. Arturia, for instance. My Minilab Mk II has a 5-7/8" octave, even though it's only 25 spring-action keys. Once they start grabbing market share with a decent hammer-weighted narrow 88, the others will come around.
There are a couple of startups working on digital keyboards.
THANK YOU for doing extraordinarily extensive research on this topic. About everything shown here should be made common knowledge to everyone.
I’m from Russia and I have never heard about alternative-sized keyboard and have never thought about the possibility of making a smaller size-keyboard. I had accepted in a musical school that I would never become a true pianist not only because of lack of talent, but because of pain in my hands as I couldn’t play the hard parts of a composition. Thank you very much for the video!!!!! Incredible work!!!!
As a synthesizer aficionado who doesn’t play any keyboard (I operate by sequencers) I’ve seen a lot of smaller sized midi-keyboards.
What’s fascinating about this era is : on one side you hear about ergonomics and repetitive strain injury, and on the other side there’s the piano world which is totally oblivious to those concepts.
That reminds me of Chinese foot binding of the last century.
I love your depth of research, your courage sharing your story and calling out the piano industry for its horrible hide-bound attitudes and discrimination. Bravo, and joyful playing!
And my deepest gratitude to YOU dear Lionel for your precious research and making this amazing Video.
Professional pianist here.
My hands are 8 inches or 20 centimetres, I can play octaves pretty comfortably and I can reach a ninth if both notes are black or whites keys - if one of them is white and the other one is black, I can't play it. I think other people with my hand size would have an even smaller hand span since mine are really flexible.
Only good point I can find in having small hands is being able to play in between the black keys, and this can be needed in a bit more modern repertoire like Debussy or Ravel. Pianists with larger hands but thin fingers are still able to do this, though.
In most cases if you reach an octave you're said you're ready to go. That's true while you're a beginner, but when you try to play more difficult repertoire problems start to show. I'm not talking about Rachmaninov or Liszt, who wrote for their own gigantic hands. It can be difficult to play a Beethoven sonata. The problem is not the extension of the chords, but the amount of movement you must do to reach the different keys, especially while playing really fast.
Some milimetres make a huge difference. In my case, it would be the difference between being able to play only the first movements of Grieg piano concerto, or being able to play the complete concerto. It's so sad I can't finish it just because of my hands aren't big enough to play the accompaniment at the right tempo, even when having a great leaping and chord technique.
And finally the injuries. You probably won't injure yourself if you play half an hour a day with small. You'll probably do if you have to face Chopin's etude op 25. n°10. You'd have to care for yourself a lot for not getting injured, have a great technique, take rests, and still would be suffering to play it, and meanwhile a bigger handed pianist could play it with half the effort assuming they have the proper technique. Is it fair?
I would definitely cry if I had a smaller sized keyboard. I just hope companies start to manufacture them, and give us small hand pianists an opportunity to play those pieces I can only dream I could play.
No wonder you thought the octave repeated note part in La Campanella was the hardest! I was confused when you said this in your practice vlog, as I had much more trouble with the jumping parts later on, but it makes so much more sense now. For someone with larger hands, they are already in position for the repeated notes, but someone with smaller hands has to jump up in the space of a 32nd note.
Astounding. Thank you for making this. I can remember my grandmother having a piano, and always wanted to learn to play it, play music on it. However, as a guy with small hands (8.0 Inches from thumb to pinky range based on what you showed in the video) which means I had even smaller hands as a child, I could never reach the keys like she could… which in turn would lead to anger and frustration as I wasn’t able to follow her direction.
How I would have loved to have known about this years ago. I wish I could go back to my childhood and have had a keyboard like this made. Pianos are beautiful instruments and I’ve always wanted to learn to play, but that memory of “your hands are too small!” still echoes in my mind when I think about learning how to play. While I doubt that I ever will learn to play unless circumstances change, it is incredibly encouraging to hear of something like this.
It is enough to give me home that some day I might learn how to play. Once again, thank you for making this video. Hopefully it will help in the future to show and remind piano companies that not all people are the same. Maybe they will realize that they could, in theory, help the next Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart find their passion in life.
Wow you just shattered my brain. I've been playing piano for over 20 years. To this day, the pain while playing moonlight III, revolutionary and butterfly etudes, even some of my own music which I damn well wrote for myself didn't I, was normal to me. I even kinds worn it as a sign of pride, like I can't feel like I've really practiced that day if I'm not a bit painful by the end of it. I kept telling myself I just need to work more on relaxation. You really enlightened me, sir, and now I need to do my own research, because I too feel like I'd be willing to spend a small fortune for the possibility of just being able to play octaves comfortably, let alone 9ths!
I'm not even a pianist, and I can see the importance of this issue to other musicians. I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and I would suggest reaching out to Chuck Surack of Sweetwater Sound here in town. Being the largest internet retailer of music equipment as well as having the largest music store in the United States, Chuck, (who is also a keyboardist, by the way) might be able to pull some strings and convince at least one of the manufacturers of digital pianos to get the ball rolling by introducing a smaller scale keyboard on a professional grade instrument. He's a great guy who has done a lot of good work for our community, and I believe he may be interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic.
Pull some strings and move some hammers around...
That company got sold to a venture capital company less than a year ago. I think Chuck is still involved, though?
I was just discussing with one of my piano students the dilemma of having small hands. I can barely reach a ninth, but my piano teacher showed me how to use my thumb to play two notes, which allowed me to play pieces such as Clair de Lune. Small hands are not such a problem on the harp, and I ended up being a professional harpist rather than a professional pianist, but my true love is the piano, which is why I teach piano instead of harp. I am now in my 60s and have mild arthritis in my hands, which makes it even more difficult to play pieces that I mastered when I was young. How wonderful it would be to have smaller keyboards available to everyone!
Holy crap, I'm part of that logistic. I never thought these existed, and specifically avoided learning some pieces because they strained my hands. This is the video that got me subbed!
Excellent video. Great writing, and spacing. I hope this continues to hit the algorithm. More people need to see this.
Fortunately I dont have to worry about my hands when playing but it's still important to make the piano something accessible to all regardless of any factors like physical size not only will it make more pianists able to stand out but also shed the stigma around smaller hands
At first I was like "Oh, can't see the use in a this topic", but now I just can't believe how many people have spent their entire lives not knowing the importance of this. Thank you for doing all the research and showing us. It is truly amazing!
Thank you so much for this video! My professor at SMU is Carol Leone and I am so proud of her ongoing work advocating alternate keyboard sizes!
I have absolutely no relation to pianos and stumbled upon this randomly, but it was thoroughly fascinating and now I'm hooked. Good luck with the awareness! Great idea, great video.
As a carpenter I would love to experiment with making some sort of a piano topper that can be mounted to the top of piano that is just a smaller set of keys. The majority of the keys in the middle of the piano would basically be right above their corresponding key so it would only be a challenge for the last 20 or so keys on each end.
Of course that would be a bandaid solution but it could make it more accessible to the masses
I remember reading a magazine article back around 1995 or so about this same issue. The author said that some performers had even developed carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of trying to force their hands to conform to the standard keyboard size. I think the modern-day piano keyboard should be considered a defective product for many many people.
Oh my gosh. This may be the best, most moving, influential video I have ever seen. No, I am not exaggerating. I am an amateur pianist (male) and my hand size makes it very challenging to play many of the pieces I love, and even to improvise in a way that I want to. It never even occurred to me to ask "why are the keys not narrower?" I just blamed my hands and never considered that physical attributes (should) have nothing to do with talent -- musical or otherwise. I hope your video starts a revolution that piano manufactures cannot ignore. And god bless David Steinbuhler. I hope his good works and influence spread around the world.
All strength to you and your quest. I completely agree with you. I am currently playing a small upright, it has a light action and the keys are ever so slightly smaller than other pianos and it is a real joy to play for all its lack of dynamics. Years ago used to play a Ronisch in a restaurant , that also seemed smaller and much, much easier to play than any another piano. After a few years absence I returned to the restaurant to find the piano gone I walked over to where it used to sit and wept. Good luck great video.
Absolutely amazing, just think how much encouragement it would be for children with smaller hand span to learn to be come pianists with narrower keys.
It’s so weird that you can’t learn or play on smaller sized pianos especially considering this isn’t the case with many other instruments. With the violin, you can play on smaller sized violins like 1/4, 1/2 sized etc and this is so important when you’re learning as a kid
Thank you so much for making this video! For being brave enough to be vulnerable, and raising awareness
The lack of awareness issue is spot on. I had no idea there was even an option for other sizes. I'm an adult amateur male (not amateur at being male, amateur at playing piano), and I can barely reach a 9th, and a 10th is impossible. This just makes sooooo much sense. Think about all the sizes of violin' that kids can learn on until they reach a full size model. Yet these same kids would have to learn on an adult sized piano, because that's the only option. And if you go to buy a pare of gloves, you generally at least have the choice of small, medium, and large.
Thanks for all of your effort to make this video and I hope it helps to improve awareness, and to someday change the industry!
I've been playing for 10 years with hands of 7 inches barely comfortable with octaves and it's always been so sad to think about. I had no idea smaller pianos could even be a thing but now that I know I can't even imagine how happy I'd be if I could play on those. This would benefit so many more people than people think and I really really wish one day these would be more accessible and more people would consider making these.
I had no idea there were pianos built with thinner key widths, that is so interesting!
And wow, David Steinbuhler is absolutely blowing my mind right now!
I actually have pretty small hands for a male (7 Inches) but i also happen to be a Guitar luthier, a lot of my guitars are made with smaller scale lengths and smaller fret spaces to accommodate for the lack of size, and i find playing them to be much easier although with guitars the physics of how strings work does sadly change things slightly from a standard guitar, but that's to be expected. Maybe i should consider custom making guitars for other people with small hands like me
I imagine the guitar would sound better anyway, just because the player can control the sound better. If you have to stretch for a note, there's not much muscle energy left for subtleties.
If you are a guitar luthier I assume you probbably know, but anyway. You build classical guitars?
I say it because electric guitars come in a wide variety of scales, from 25'5" (standar), to 24" or 27/28" if meant for lower tuning
@@kasbeeltherapriest3443 I don't usually build standard guitars, my main thing is that I design new types of guitars (usually electric) with a custom number of strings and a custom scale length completely from the ground up. I forgot to mention that in my comment but my main type of guitar I build is the 3 string guitar which is really good for people with small hands or limited hand movement since they barely have to stretch to play them
Amazing video. You are the first to address this problem I have. I am not a pianist but love to play, and suffer because of small hands. Thank you for your research there is solutions.
Thanks for posting this as I was completely unaware that smaller sized keyboards were available. I have played piano for years. Never professionally and not really for anyone other than myself. Nevertheless, playing was always there to emotionally help me through difficult times almost like mediation. I took it for granted that I would always be able to enjoy or tap into that sacred space. Imagine my devastation when realizing that arthritis was developing in my fingers almost overnight it seemed. Now when playing the style of gospel music that I was taught as a young man the arthritis in my right little finger causes the reach of an octave to fall slightly less than normal and land on the 7th note. This makes everything I play dissonant and frustrating. Friends tell me to learn a different style that doesn't need this full octave stretch using the thumb and pinkie when carrying the melody with my right hand. It just isn't the same and doesn't sound like my playing. This video has given me hope that there may be an alternative for my situation short of Devine intervention or a cortisone shot. I am so grateful for your taking the time to research this and sharing it on TH-cam. Best of luck in your career you play beautifully!
How enlightening! I had never even considered the possibility! I used to have to stretch my hands for hours as a preparatory exercise so they wouldn't cramp up. Wow. That's really why I stopped my classical training. It just got too painful. Thank you!
This is perhaps one of the greatest videos ever played on TH-cam. I would have never know they made pianos with smaller keyboards.
OMG that girl crying made my day. She clearly loves this instrument very much and was so happy to have an option that worked better for her.
What a wholesome video. Well done. This is the best way to use your influence. That man will be in my notes
As a pianist who can barely even play an octave, I am so glad you made this video!
THANK YOU! I was just talking about this with family the other day and whilst I get the “objections” like “pianists can’t travel with their instruments very easily so they have to get used to the regular size” etc, I REFUSE to believe that A) it isn’t a good thing have available, and B) There wouldn’t be a market for it (if awareness was improved), for all the reasons you put forward so well in this video. It seems almost ridiculous to me that in an age where businesses go absolutely stark-raving bonkers looking for a USP in their products that they can use for marketing and drawing customers from their competitors that something that makes this big of a difference to the quality of life of playing a piano for so many pianists isn’t something that is commercially viable for the big piano manufacturers.
We love you David. Thank you so much for your love light and work! 🙏🏾🥲