Hey everyone,
Would anyone be able to recommend some Rachmaninoff that would be suitable as an introduction to the composer but not overly straining on smaller hands.

I can easily work with octaves, can handle 9ths in most places, but anything larger would be too big a stretch for my hand.

And yes, I've spent a lot of time doing safe stretching exercizes to increase the span and strength of my hand. I've made a lot of progress, it wasn't too long ago an octave was a trying stretch.

Anyways, my current in-working repertoire includes: Beethoven's Sonata Op.110, Chopin Etude in C#-, Louie's "I Leap Through the Sky with Stars". I'll be taking on more repertoire shortly as soon as this week is over, as I'm entering those pieces in a competition tomorrow and Monday, and recording them for audition purposes later next week. I've always wanted to learn something by Rachmaninoff, but I haven't done more than toy around with some of the preludes. I've always been lured away by my teacher with music that better suits my hands, but I'm craving the passion that Rachmaninoff brings to the keyboard.

Thanks in advanced! I look forward to all your suggestions!

Chelsey

You should try his op.32 #1 and #8 preludes. I think they would suit smaller hands.

Hey...
The are plenty of rachmaninoff pieces that doesn't require big hands.
I have small hands, about same size as you but i've played lots of rachmaninoff. If you can span an octave chord with 4 or 5 fingers you can play the major repertoiere of rachmaninoff, just rest when the hand hurts.... risk no injury.
/David

If you can handle 9ths in most places, there isn't any Rachmaninoff that I would say is off limits for you. Choose anything you want - and enjoy it!

The big hands thing about Rachmaninoff is a myth.

Flexibility > size.

Chopin was a perfect example of how size doesn't matter...lol, he had very small hands, but they were extremely flexible which alowed him to stretch just as far and play just as easily anything that was meant for larger hands. Just look at his Etudes namely Op.10 No.1,9,11 etc...

Work on your flexibility and you'll see that there's nothing out of reach (literaly).

Oh, I don't know about that. Some things will always be a stretch too far for some hands, I can get thumb and 5th finger at 180 degrees and still only manage a minor 10th on E-flat.

E6om5 & Brendan, I have to disagree with:

"If you can handle 9ths in most places, there isn't any Rachmaninoff that I would say is off limits for you. Choose anything you want - and enjoy it!"

My hands are much like Chopin's. Small for a man's, but very flexible. In fact the orthopedic doctors say my joints are "lax" and I have "hyper-mobility." which simply means I can stretch much more than average.

That's great for suppleness but terrible for carrying weight. I know that because I have been nursing a tear to a ligament in my left wrist for nine, long years, after an accident from carrying something just a little heavy, at the wrong angle.

That's one of the reasons you see gymnasts all taped up--they have the suppleness but not the strength.

I can handle a ninth alright. I can touch a tenth if it's on white keys. That stretch is approximately 8 inches.

I'm trying a new Rachmaninoff piece. One of it's tenths stretches from f# to a#1.

That stretch is 8 3/4 inches!

Even though I can play ninths and some tenths, where do I get the extra 3/4 of an inch for this Rachmaninoff chord?

It's not going to happen.

So, don't worry about making the stretches. If you can great, if you aren't flexible to the fullest, then keep working at getting there; but even if you are and still can't do it, make the adjustments in how you play the chord (arppegiation) or change the intervals to an inversion you can do.

and do the part that I agree with, "enjoy it."

That's the most important.

Bob T.

Well, you don't necessarily have to play every note... When I studied his arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner, I knew that I couldn't hit the last chord (which, at the time, seemed quite impossible), so I just left out one of the notes. It sounds just as good.

Playing rachmaninoff requires rolling a lot of chords and cutting out unecessary tones repeated in the other hand that you probably won't hear anyway.

Small hands won't limit you most places, but I would *love* to see a person with small hands try this .

I think they would know better than to try.

The idea that you need big hands for Rachmaninoff is a myth. Like Chopin, flexibility is more important than hand size.

I sure hope so...

I have the same reach as you Chelsey and what Rachmaninoff I've learned (a handful of the preludes, etudes, and Moment Musicals) gave me no problems whatsoever.

Having smaller hands I'm sure you've become quite familiar with rolling/breaking, but honestly I don't even find myself doing a whole lot of that in his stuff.

Just pick whatever grabs you and go for it! Good Luck .