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My left hand can reach a very painful ninth and my right hand reaches a rather uncomfortable octave

Tenths on either hand, but I don't see why it's so important.

I just reached a 10th! Again in "Soaring" - LH F-C-A. Not a difficult 10th, I know, but still a 10th! I do have to stretch and I think I have to work on this now. In fast playing it would be a problem but maybe I can get used to it... I have to start with C and A and then stretch the pinkie to reach the low F. This is the only way I can do it at the moment. Maybe there is hope.
If I try a random 10th with the RH it is the same. I have to stretch the pinkie last if I want to succeed.

Some passages in "Soaring" by Schumann really annoy me... Because that stretch Bb-Bb-Db is too big for me. I can just touch the Db with the tip of my pinkie, then the pinkie slips down. I would prefer not to reach the Db at all! I feel like Tantalus instead...
I did found a trick - playing it with the LH of course - very easy in the first measure of course, and when the LH is supposed to play something else, like just a couple of measures later, use the pedal (luckily the evil stretch is not at the beginning of the measure, and it is easy to use the pedal to sustain the octaves in the LH and then use the LH to help the RH.)

I can only just get an octave on the edge of the white keys. I've been doing research on hand size and piano playing, have had some stuff published and given conference papers down here (Australia).

I also have a 7/8 keyboard in my grand, custom made by David Steinbuhler of Pennsylvania (www.steinbuhler.com). Until you have experienced a smaller keyboard, smaller-handed players simply do not realise how much EASIER everything is, how much faster it is to learn, and how much more enjoyable the whole experience is. It's far more profound than simply being able to get certain chords.

I've summarised hand span data that's readily available on my website: www.smallpianokeyboards.com (see page called 'Hand size and the piano keyboard'). For males, the mean is around 9 inches for total thumb to 5th finger stretch, for females it's about 8 inches, which translates into being able to play a 10th and a 9th (though not comfortably) respectively.

This difference is approx the same as the difference between the 7/8 and conventional keyboard.

I'm currently compiling my own database and will later report on an analysis of this, including left hand versus right hand differences and ethnic differences.

That's exciting! You sound like me yesterday because I just figured out I could reach a 10th too!

Wonderful!!! Was it in a particular piece you want to remember as a milestone? I could also reach a 10th in "Fable" yesterday by the way.
Now that I am getting there (and this is a question to everybody), are there any particular exercises you would recommend?

Regarding Josef Hoffmann, his scaled down keyboard was destroyed by Steinway after his death. I have read conflicting information about its size - as to whether it was 7/8 or 15/16.

My hand span has not increased since my youth - I don't believe that stretching does much, apart from warming up before playing which is probably a good idea. Whether my hand span would be even smaller than it is if I had not played the piano as a child, I do not know. Though I wasn't really trying to play octaves etc until I had more or less stopped growing. As I mentioned, I can only just get an octave as an adult.

After experiencing the 7/8 for a couple of years, I have no doubt that up to half the population is severely disadvantaged by the 'one size fits all' approach - apart from smaller-handed players who are happy to specialise in Baroque/early Classical repertoire.

There is much commentary from pianists playing reduced size keyboards on my website. Based on this, and reactions I've seen from others, those whose hand spans are less than around 8.5 inches (i.e. cannot get a 10th on the edge of the keys) find so much that is a whole lot easier and thus, more enjoyable.

Your hand size is set. No amount of "stretching" is going to make it larger and when you do stretch the danger of injury is considerable.

Alicia de Larrocha said she increased her span by a couple of notes through regular stretching.