Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum What do tall people do to play comfortably?

As soon as I read this, I rushed downstairs, slipped off my shoes and...problem solved! Only been at this for a bit over 2 yrs but don't know why I never thought of this myself. Rather than play in socks alone, I think I'll try using my dance shoes. Their soles are paper thin.

Thanks for the idea.

Im 6'1" and I have my B on caster cups and ordered 1" extended legs for my Jansen bench.

I am 6'3" and have no trouble whatsoever playing at any piano. If I have one complaint: the pedal is a bit on the high side, has not much to do with my length though..

Wimpiano,

I'm .75" taller than you. Just like Big V, I have difficulty playing at the piano - leaning forward and suffering back pain.

How do you do it?

I don't actually know.. I sit down and play.. I must say though that the bench is at its lowest. I always have my chairs low, at work as well..

I knew a guy who had such long shin bones that he had to sit with his knees pressed against of that strip of wood under the keys at the front of the piano.

Do some very high-end companies (Fazioli comes to mind) provide custom piano leg lengths for tall people? Not that most of us can afford such instruments.

I'm not especially tall, but I sit rather low using an old artist bench that will accomodate that. Newer benches have a scissors mechanism that won't roll down as low, but I think one can special order shorter legs from Jansen. Some artist-type benches for harps are lower than their piano bench cousins.

Sometimes, it does boil down to shoes:

http://youtu.be/TKGvxyN2VPA

It's actually not uncommon to get replacement legs made for older grand piano's so I can't think of a reason why one wouldn't do it with a new one. (Except for reasons of money of course).

I'm 6'1" also, and I don't have any real problems sitting at my piano, but my wife has taken a few pictures of me at it, and I'm surprised how huge I look compared to it.

I think a lot of the discussion above relates to the fact that height is only one measure. The ratio between torso and legs is different on everybody, not to mention arm length. I drove a Miata for years, and there was extensive discussion on miata.net about who could fit, plus instructions on how to remove the seat and reassemble the underpinnings so that taller people could fit. People were surprised that at 6'1" I could fit into it. It was close--I could sometimes feel my hair brush the roof--but worked; however, I had to slide the seat back as far as it would go, and that dimension was a little snug too. I think my height is a bit more in my legs than in my torso.

Anyway, my legs fit under my piano, but I do push the bench back a bit. Fortunately my long arms can reach back to the keys!

Btw, I love these older posts. It's odd, sometimes, to see the names of people who've posted hundreds or thousands of times, but post no longer. This 8 year old thread also features a comment from Apple* and PW's reigning champion poster. Oddly, the OP only posted a handful of times, but not to be outdone (underdone?), someone else posted in his only ever PW post, that this thread had solved a problem for him!

I was thinking the same thing when I saw apple*! RIP.

Sorry to bump an old thread . . . .

I had the same problem with the pedals. A block of wood under my heels solves it. That gets the travel of the pedal into a comfortable range of motion for my foot.

As to the OP's issue, try to find some pictures of Rachmaninoff playing. IIRC, he was quite tall.

I've read this thread, and other similar threads, and though I'm a small person, I do see your problem.

After coming across this today on the Tube....



I think most of you aren't really that tall after all

Geeez, this guy must be 7' at least, he dwarfs the piano!

I'm 6' 6" - taller than average. It's true that some pianos are uncomfortable for me to play on. I often have to splay my legs to either side in order to operate the pedals. It's not the best look, I have to say! Some pianos are better than others. Yamaha are quite comfortable for tall people.

I'm 6'3" and also have issues. I looked at that video and two thoughts come to mind that frustrate me. His knees were under the keys just a bit, allowing the traditional posture (good). But, we never got to see the piano's foundation, so how was it raised to allow that sitting position. The bench was certainly maxed out!

Second thought... In so many videos we always se the hands, but never the feet and therefore never the pedal technique (except if we see the dampers). I feel the pedals is where the 'magic' happens, and when I cannot see that, I miss out.

But I'm looking at raising my instrument 3/4 to 1" so I can sit a wee bit closer with good posture. I think having the knees splayed out compromises the playing mechanism (i.e. The whole body).

Forrest