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Is it terrible / unacceptable to omit a note in a big chord if it's a painful stretch for a person with small hands?

I'm playing Chopin's E Minor prelude and there are a couple of places where I'm really hurting my wrist to make the stretch. One spot, for example, is A, C, F#, A. I was thinking maybe I could omit the top A. I see my teacher in a week so I'll see what he thinks, of course. I've heard you can use the pedal and roll them? I think he said his teacher is also a lady with small hands and she does this very well. Maybe it's something I can learn.

I feel badly I can't comfortably play what's written but I also don't want to injure myself. It looks like I'm clawing the piano; you can see the tension. I'm going to leave it alone until I see what he recommends.

I was just curious to hear about what other small handed pianists do.

In classical you roll it. Popular you could roll or re-arrange, try the various inversions and omissions.

As a rule of thumb you can roll it, and you should avoid pain at all cost... but you need to communicate it to your teacher to figure out where is the problem (small hands you would have issues also in other places in this prelude, flexibility, this is the spot that does hurt)

What are the others, outside of the last two bars?

The measure I mentioned in my original post and the last two bars....exactly.

When a stretch is really uncomfortable for your hand, you have to leave out notes or roll the chord. There's no point in calling it terrible or unacceptable when it is just the reality of your physical structure. You have to put the health of your hands first. In most cases such adjustments do not affect the musical experience of the listener.

On the other hand, sometimes a different technical approach can enable you to play chords comfortably even if they seem like a stretch at first. This is a matter for a knowledgeable teacher. It's good that you're listening to your body's signals. A good teacher can help, but only you can tell how it feels.

Sometimes you omit, but mostly you roll. In some cases the other hand can help. It depends on the music. In this prelude I omit one note in the last bars because it fits the music better than rolling. But generally I almost never omit even though my RH span is pathetic. Then again, I don't play certain composers...

It is perfectly acceptable to do these things when something is physically impossible.

But I think it's good to consult your teacher, because the fact that you find other chords in this piece painful suggests that you may not have the technique yet to play them rather than simply having a small hand. The A C F# A chord shouldn't be impossible unless you really have an exceptionally small hand. It could be an issue with wrist or arm position, because of having to go up the keyboard.

I suffer from small pianist syndrome. I am only 5'7" tall so on the small side but even for one so small I have quite small hands. I do find stretching for such chords to be very difficult.

To make matters worse my right little finger is almost dead as I suffered some nerve damage in it many, many years ago. Strangely, though, as nerves never grow back, as I play more I do seem to be getting some sensation back in it.

My hands arent small but I can only do somuch witj them. I have become ab expert at simplifying music, an achievement of which I am immensely proud.
But my spe

Ings still crap. . .

Some nerve growth can occur or new nerves move in and compensate. Many years ago I severed a nerve in the side of my finger #3. The whole side of my finger was numb and I had general "buzziness" in that finger. But it slowly got better. Slow as in after 10-15 years it was back to normal, no numbness or buzzing.


Zerlina, your teacher is your best bet for deciding what to do with the chords. Often the culprit is not small hands, but poor span and flexibility. I have long, thin fingers but can barely make a 90-degree angle between my thumb and pinkie. My teacher, who has been playing since age five, comes close to 180-degrees. Her hands are much smaller than mine.

As others have mentioned, rolling is one possibility, but doesn't always fit with the piece. Leaving out a note is another possibility. I recently had an E-F#-E chord in the right hand, followed by E-F#-D# and E-F#-C#. I could play the last two but not the first. My teacher suggested leaving out the bottom E of the first chord, the one I couldn't reach. There is an E in the left hand chord that partially compensates.

A third possibility is to carefully, very carefully, work your way into the chord. I've had a lot of "impossible" chords that I've been able to play after some practice. But you must be very careful not to injure yourself. An injury is far worse than, well, just about anything.

Good luck!

One point as well is to think- is it worth it? Don't risk permanent damage. I am sure that those of us in ABF are bever going to be professional pianists! So if you are getting on in years and the fingers won't do it, leave it at that! I don't want some painful problem to develop due to stretching beyond what my body wants to do.

Thanks for all of the responses.

I tried again today (with flatter fingers) and I can manage the chord but I have to watch that I don't also hit the B. I think the chord is possible for me -- given time working on it slowly and without tension. But my piano teacher has the final say and I won't risk injury. Not sure about those two final measures either but I'll see what he recommends. He's very good.

Thanks again, everyone.

Another thing to look into is smaller keyboards. There are 7/8 and 15/16 size boards that can be custom made for your piano. (An octave on the 7/8 board is the same distance as a seventh on a regular one. The 15/16 splits the difference.)