Piano: Can you play an octave or not, easily? or a tenth?

Answer 1

My hands are gifted with long piano fingers. I can reach from a C to a G on the next octave up.

Answer 2

I have large hands for my size and can play a 10th. It comes in handy for ragtime. Unless you have very small hands, an octave reach should not be a problem. You can gain some by stretching exercises, and certainly you should do warm- up stretching before practicing to avoid injury.
My personal feeling is that you should make every attempt
to play the music as written. But if a piece includes stretches you cannot make, adapt. Usually leaving out a note or two will solve the problem, or even (sorry Rachmaninoff) re-harmonizing the offending chord so you can play it. After all, the idea is to make beautiful music, not just to prove you can play it.

For inspiration, remember the gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhart. He was a virtuoso player who, at an early age, burned his hand and was left with only two fingers on his fretting hand. Talk about having no reach! He devised a whole new style using two finger chords and played them in such a way that he gave the illusion of playing much more complex chords.

Answer 3

I'm a small (5' 5") guy with tiny hands. I can reach octaves comfortably and 9ths if I stretch. However because I'm more or less fully stretched when playing octaves, I can play rapid octaves while keeping my hand position easily (usually with an overreliance on pedaling).

I have a friend who can play an octave with his thumb and index finger.

lynndramsop: Argerich restricted her repertoire to works she could comfortably reach? Does that explain why she played Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto so messily? And... a 15th is two octaves. You were thinking of a 12th... or maybe an 11th...

Answer 4

Why are you asking this? A stranger's handspan isn't going to change your own.
My piano teacher had polio when she was a child. The polio stunted her growth, and she cannot span an entire octave with her hand. That does not stop her, though. Listening to her play, you would never know she has such tiny hands. She's a professional pianist, and she can figure out ways to play any piece perfectly. It doesn't matter how big your hands are. It just matters how big your talent is.

Answer 5

can play an octave easily. I can only go one note more from there though. I'm 13, so my hands still aren't as big as they will. So when I need to play a bigger span, I just move my hand in-between. Unfortunately I end up having to slow down the rest of the song, because I can only play this part so fast.

Answer 6

I can play an octave very easily; a 10th plus the fifth easily in most cases; an 11th with no discomfort; and a 12th if I really stretch.

Answer 7

I think it depends on the size of your hand. the composer and pianist Rachmaninoff wrote for unbroken or unrolled chords of a 15th ( octave and a half) because his hands were that size. The German composer Robert Schumann, is said to have ruined his hands by trying to overstretch them, using some very questionable apparatus. His wife, the famous pianist Clara Wieck, however, had no trouble playing any of his works....
In this ( sorry, 20th) century, the Argentinian pianist Marta Argerich restricted her repertory to those works that she could reach comfortably.
I think an octave should be easily encompassed by all those who have reached their full adult growth.

Answer 8

I can get an octave and one more note. I'm not able anything bigger than that, so I often ripple the notes together if I need to. I'm playing lots of Chopin polonaises to make my hands a bit stronger and able to stretch out more. It's working!

Answer 9

I can play an octave plus two. If you have to just double a note. And for unreachable expanses in Romantic music, play the bottom note first then the top ones (not arpeggiated, though.)

Answer 10

What? Do you even know what your saying? That makes no sense. Do you mean can I reach an entire octave with one hand? What?

I can reach more than one octave with one hand, if tahts what you mean. One and a bit.