Just measured my paw, and the left one has a span of 9 1/4 inches, the right paw 9 1/2 inches, I can reach a 10th with both of them quite easy.
Some folks think having very short fingers causes problems, but there are also problems with very long fingers too.
How big is your span?

I have octave paws. Octaves fit comfortably for me fortunately.

But, to get a 9th, I have to hang my fingers off the edge of the keys and relax them immediately to not cause problems (i.e. relax them and let them rest against the non-depressed keys).

10ths are outta the equation! (unless I roll them sort of)

And sorry, no pics. I reserve those for my US congressional staffers and attractive women on Tweeter.

I come it at 8 3/4 inches. I can manage 10ths on the white keys C to E but can't quiet manage White to Black
i.e D to F#.

I can only manage an octave, i have tiny fingers, they're thin, but not very tall and i started playing piano at 13yrs old. so i can't imagine that i can stretch any further, but recently i can play one of Mozart's variations (that includes octaves using 3,4,5 fingers more easily), so i think i may be stretching a little or getting used to the octaves again!! Oh by the way, i'm preparing for the 1st diploma.... scary.... but thrilled!! I'll let you know in due course when it will be as i've just started my first piece, so the date is not fixed yet.

Just to get a ninth.

At the moment I can do an octave and almost a ninth- though I expect in time to be able to a ninth comfortably and perhaps even a tenth. My hands are certainly big enough that it should be possible.

However, at the moment I'm avoiding stretches because of the tendonitis issues.

A wrist tattoo? Ouch! I have a permanent mark on my wrist too, but it's the white pasty skin beneath my ever-present Timex plastic watch band.

Sam

Quite small. 8.5 inches span. Just an 8th.




Me too, it seems to be the biggest problem, causing most of my pain. If I read unfamiliar music and try to play it fast without having figured out proper fingering, I get very tired in an hour or so and my hands hurt for the rest of the day.

Sorry off-topic and kind of preachy BUT (LOL)

have you two with the hand pain stopped in to the teacher's forum. There really shouldn't be any pain. Soreness, perhaps, or fatigue, but not pain. Perhaps that is something that can be alleviated?

ETA: Short, fat, stubby fingers. Really AWFUL for a piano-player. But I can reach a ninth. And trust me when I say, I make due.

I'm a tiny 7" and can just manage an octave! (lucky Mrs Rostosky, although looks to me to be an exageration of 1/4" lol)

no Wayne, on this occasion there is no exageration, my hand is on an angle so mrs Rossy could focus on the marks on the ruler with her camera, if you look closely you will see my pinky is nearer the floor or lower than my thumb.. Thats my left hand as well the smallest one...

Thats also why there is a tattoo on it, let me explain.
When learning to tattoo, there are a few things you can practice on, pig skin etc, but nothing behaves like living skin, sooo, First I practiced on my right foot, a very painfull place I might add, then I did the celtic knotwork bracelet on my wrist when I had improved enough to be able to do it. Thats why its on my left wrist as I am right handed, and was holding the gun in my right hand.
I did that about fifteen years ago.

I had a friend who was a tatooist, who inspired me with his artworks, he was lucky , his old man was 60 when My mate got into tattooing, his old man said "You can practice on me, because it doesnt matter anymore"

So he did, he started off low down on his old mans legs, by the time he was tattooing his old mans arms, he had got really really good! I cannot imagine my old man doing that for me or anyone, not even for cash!

Octave, barely ninths

nice ink! LH:9&1/8 -- RH 9& 1/16 about the same

oooops, this post didn't work!

Is who him? what? dont follow..
No thats my hand, I did the tattoo on the wrist (that why its on my left wrist) My mates dad is long since passed away.
Just saying how lucky my mate was.

I posted a pic of worlds most tattood man, but it didn't work!

Only 8.5" here. Octaves are comfortable, ninths are OK, but tenths, no can do. In some ways it is fun coming up with solutions for difficults chords. But really there is not much literature out there that gives me trouble.

Ah, I understand now!
Tattooing is an ancient artform, there are even mummies with tatoos, and certainly other ancient peoples, some from ancient Siberia frozen in the permafrost... (Pazyryk Ice mummies)do a google, these are heavily tattooed from over two thousand years ago, women as well as men.

eeewwww, did google it! and eeeeewww again, just noticed your avatar!

Not even 7" here!!!

I can only just make an octave and only then on the bare edges of the keys. I'm hoping my span will improve with practice...

I'm female, just under 5'4" in height so I think, proportionally, my hands are about right - but gawd, what I wouldn't give for even one more bloody inch!

Comparing sizes...oh my. And I thought that was the sole province of you manthings!

"what would you give for one more inch?" ( no comment mam, no comment)

Hmmm, I was thinking maybe I could invent a special hand-stretching device for those with small hands, like say how Charles Hawtrey was in carry on henry, but just for the hands.

8.5 left, 8.625 right. I can manage a tenth in some situations, but it's not easy.

They seem to sell stretching devices all over the internet for a certian body part. I haven't seen any adverts for hand stretchers, though. You might make a fortune off gullible pianists.

Don't have a ruler handy, but an octave is easy. A ninth is possible off the edge of the keys. I can touch a tenth, but there'd be no way to play one.

Uhhhmmm, would a packet of Jammy Dodgers suffice? Oh, alright, I can "stretch" to two.

(See, my stretchy pun means I'm still on topic.)

8 1/4.

Octaves are easy and I can manage a ninth without trouble. As for a 10th, barely if I touch just the edge of the white keys, but I doubt I could play a 10th as part of a piece

With years of practice I have managed to stretch a full octave chord with little difficulty, but I doubt I will get much further than that. Although, who knows, might be that my technique is still lacking.

9 1/2" here (probably my best stat.....well, except for my feet )

Jim

You are quite right Scotpgot, and actually I've been to the dr (so has Teodor).

My problem comes from a pre-piano condition that I didn't realize was the start of trigger finger - I thought there was something wrong with the bone/joint, and it never really bothered me, just "clicked" sometimes. When I started playing piano it got worse- and then I started to have pain in my forearms too.

The problem (on the piano side) was that while I understood the concept of what my teacher was telling me, I wasn't able to actually relax properly.
When I realized that I was making things worse instead of improving we backed off dramatically - I basically stopped playing anything new (which made me tense!) and I have focused on technique /playing less, playing slowly and really getting a handle on what my teacher has been talking about since the start!

I'm doing MUCH MUCH better - have been doing massages and physio exercises, and parafin treatments for while now. Improvlements are significant, but I still have to be very careful not to over do things.

I didn't take your comment as "preachy" - just concerned kindness.
Thanks.