Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Reverie Debussy; Measure 19 Chord span is too wide for me

Hello. I am playing Debussy's Reverie and I am stuck on the first chord on measure 19.
I can span the octave but I can't reach the e flat.
It is only a 3 note chord. Should I omit one of c's?

It is kind of discouraging when I am literally damned from playing a song properly due to physical limitations. It's not even that hard of a song.

This section is for discussion of pianos. You would do better to repost on the pianists' forum.

I'm surprised that you can play octave Cs but not an Eb between them. For most people the 2nd finger would naturally sit very close to the Eb. Is the octave a difficult stretch for you? Do you have very small hands?

Anyway, you could try quickly arpeggiating these notes. If done well, it can be a pleasing result. Otherwise, yes, you'll have to delete the lower C. You might have to do the same in a few other spots in the Reverie, depending on your hands.

You wouldn't be the only pianist who had to judiciously edit a piece to fit their hands. Don't worry about it too much - the main thing is to express the intent of the music as well as you can. The odd missing note won't threaten that.

Good luck.

The farther I move my thumb and pinky apart, the farther my thumb and index finger move apart. I can hit the e key but not any more to the left. Can barely touch the e flat but not enough to depress it without being at an angle that my pinky is crossing over the b key and depressing it as well. Can I upload images here? I didn't see a way. I took a picture of my fingers.

I see. It seems the stretch is just a bit too much for your hands. I think you will need to practice the fast arpeggiation technique a mentioned above. If the pedal is down when you do it, you shouldn't notice it.

Basically, start with your thumb over the low C, and 2nd finger over the Eb. I'm guessing your pinky will be sitting over the B with a bit of stretch. So you play the C and Eb in close succession then do a quick whip to the right and catch the high C with the pinky. You might change your wrist angle a bit as you go to help it out and smooth the motion. This is something every pianist has to do sometimes - just depends on the size of the chord when you have to use it. I agree that losing the low C is not desirable in this situation because the octave melody is everywhere.

Just curious, if you play a 1st inversion Ab chord. C, Eb, Ab, C. Does it bring your 2nd finger closer to the Eb? There may be a technique issue here. Do you have a teacher?

If you are at the measure that is 19 in my score, you're probably not going to want to arpeggiate that chord. The e flat in the middle of the c octave half notes is a whole note intended to be held the entire measure while you pivot your outside fingers down to the g octave half notes making up the last half of the measure. It's actually held through part of measure 20.

Would have to see a picture to know, but check your alignment. If you are playing with fingers 3 and 2 twisted toward the pinky, like this

your reach will be less than it otherwise would be, and your fingers 1 and 2 will be spread out too far to reach chords like this one. Instead you want finger 3 pointing straight ahead, and finger 2 angled slightly toward the thumb, like this

(These hands brought to you by someone at the Golandsky Institute website...)

Sideways twisting is common in students when they start playing octaves. If it is allowed to continue it causes tension, discomfort, and in some people injury. Although it feels to them like sideways twisting is increasing their reach, it actually limits reach. We have our maximum reach when the hand is aligned properly, relaxed in the wrist, and the heel of the hand is in line with the keys.

Hope this helps -- or if this is not your problem, congratulations on not having this problem and maybe a picture will help.

Thank you. Good point!

Thank you for your reply.
Yes it is quite a stretch for me. I think I have small hands. I am an adult though so they are not getting any bigger.
I tried the chord you mentioned (was I supposed to play it with the octave C as well?). I played it without the octave. It wasn't as much of a stretch so I could play it no problem.
I'm thinking you meant with the octave, now that I think of it (since you listed it). I tried it with the octave, well, yes my 2nd finger moves closer to the Eb and I can depress it, as well as the Ab, however I can no longer reach the octave C.
I also tried it with just: C, Ab, C and that is easy as well. When I do that, my 2nd finger is hovering over F. I am not twisting or curving my wrists in any way. Just comfortable and level and relaxed.

I was able to pull of the C, Eb, C today after watching a couple people play it on Youtube, but it is still a very uncomfortable stretch. One person did it with the tip of her thumb and pinky at the edge of the keys. The other person did it with their thumb at the edge but their pinky right next to C# about 2 inches up. I also observed both their 3rd finger over G and 4th finger over A. That helped.
Currently I don't have a teacher though I did for a short time between school years.