This custom search works much better than the built in one and allows searching older posts.
|
|
69915 Members
40 Forums
143544 Topics
2076873 Posts
Max Online: 15252 @ 03/21/10 11:39 PM
|
|
|
#434499 - 08/29/06 03:01 AM
handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 08/08/06
Posts: 198
Loc: Montreal
|
I just want to have an idea about the biggest interval the forum members can play on the piano
i think the average is 9th??or not?i can play a major 10th pretty easily, although my left hand has a slightly bigger span
it is said about Liszt and Rachmaninoff that they could easily hold down a 13th!
so what about you?
_________________________
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and upon which it is impossible to remain silent"-Victor Hugo
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434500 - 08/29/06 04:47 AM
Re: handspan
|
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/22/01
Posts: 3902
Loc: Chicago, IL USA
|
My recollection (sorry, can't cite sources)
Liszt - tenth
Chopin = "hands open up, rabbit-like, and cover the whole keyboard"
Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Cesar Franck - twelfth
_________________________
There is no end of learning. -Robert Schumann Rules for Young Musicians
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434501 - 08/29/06 04:54 AM
Re: handspan
|
5000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/06/05
Posts: 5663
Loc: SC Mountains
|
Chopin - probably an easy 9, a very difficult ten. He said of Thalberg (not Liszt) that "he can do a ten as easily as I can an eight." Chopin's hands were very small but stretchy.
Me, an easy nine, a very difficult 10.
I remember reading somewhere that the average handspan of adult pianinsts (man and female combined) is a nine and that about 95% of the literature out there needs no more that a nine.
_________________________
Slow down and do it right. 
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434502 - 08/29/06 06:43 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 07/25/06
Posts: 99
|
When I look at what a 13th I can't help but think 'holy sh** those are huge hands', concerning Rachmaninov.
I can do a 9th rather easily, a 10th if i streth a lot, but it hurts and it's rather unnatural.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434503 - 08/29/06 06:55 AM
Re: handspan
|
2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 10/05/02
Posts: 2846
Loc: RHUL
|
"95% of the literature out there needs no more that a nine."
Yeah, any interval larger than that can be rolled. I don't think I have come across a piece where it would be impossible to work around a large interval somehow.
My actual handspan is a major 9th, but I can stretch to major 10th (and 11th with the left hand).
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434504 - 08/29/06 07:36 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 08/09/06
Posts: 95
Loc: Greater Manchester, United Kin...
|
I am glad you brought this up because I have though about this for some time now. I quite small hands and find playing a 9th comfortable, but 10ths hard.
I see so many pieces with a 10th interval in the left hand (and not just a spread chord). Whether its stride jazz piano, classical, pop/film piano etc and its an interval you are required to play together, not spread(and it sounds good if you can do this rather than spread it!)
Its much harder with certain intervals I have found. For example I can just about reach C-E, D-F, E-G, F-A, and G-B. However doing C-Eb, D-F#, or Ab-C for example is very hard.
Do you think this means that certain pieces you will never be able to play?
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434505 - 08/29/06 08:15 AM
Re: handspan
|
1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 05/10/06
Posts: 1047
Loc: United States
|
I've got big paws. I can span a tenth comfortably with either hand.
A thirteenth, though! Wow! That's impressive!
_________________________
Compassion, Love, Strength, Peace, Dignity, Balance, Order
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434506 - 08/29/06 09:33 AM
Re: handspan
|
1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 1268
Loc: Republic of Macedonia
|
I can thirteenth. but for fast playing and from up to down, I can only 12.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434507 - 08/29/06 09:42 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 11/06/05
Posts: 446
Loc: Moorestown, NJ
|
I can easily reach a tenth with both hands. Then with some trouble I can just barely reach an 11th, also with both hands.
_________________________
Once during a concert at Carnegie Hall, the violinist Rachmaninoff was playing with lost his place in the music and whispered to Rachmaninoff, "Where are we?" Rachmaninoff replied, in all seriousness, "Carnegie Hall".
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434508 - 08/29/06 09:49 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 05/11/06
Posts: 253
Loc: Philly burbs
|
Originally posted by nezkeys79:  I am glad you brought this up because I have though about this for some time now. I quite small hands and find playing a 9th comfortable, but 10ths hard. I see so many pieces with a 10th interval in the left hand (and not just a spread chord). Whether its stride jazz piano, classical, pop/film piano etc and its an interval you are required to play together, not spread(and it sounds good if you can do this rather than spread it!) Its much harder with certain intervals I have found. For example I can just about reach C-E, D-F, E-G, F-A, and G-B. However doing C-Eb, D-F#, or Ab-C for example is very hard. Do you think this means that certain pieces you will never be able to play? [/b] I would have to believe that the vast majority of audience members would not throw tomatoes at you and boo you off the stage if you rolled a larger interval instead of playing it exactly as written. 
_________________________
Bösendorfer 225
Yamaha CVP 307
--------------
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434510 - 08/29/06 01:15 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 12/17/05
Posts: 133
Loc: East Riding, Yorkshire, Englan...
|
I can do a tenth with both hands and an eleventh, if pushed, but only with my left. Don't know why that is because I'm right handed!
_________________________
Best regards,
Jonathan
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434512 - 08/29/06 01:42 PM
Re: handspan
|
Junior Member
Registered: 06/21/06
Posts: 8
Loc: Durham, North Carolina
|
I can easily do a ninth, and when pressed, I can manage a tenth. I have extremely small hands, but I started piano at five and my teacher made me to stretching exercises twice daily, so they're pretty good at that sort of thing. Nevertheless, I have the smallest hands of anyone I know.
_________________________
crystallized light
The Project, completed 2006
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434515 - 08/29/06 02:42 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 08/15/06
Posts: 35
|
I can do a tenth fairly easily if I stretch a bit. Haha, I wish I could reach more. By the way, Richter can reach a 12th too.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434516 - 08/29/06 02:53 PM
Re: handspan
|
2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 2050
|
I can easily hit 10ths. I can hit most 11ths, but it's a stretch and not really comfortable. Really stretching I can hit a couple of 12ths.
_________________________
What you are is an accident of birth. What I am, I am through my own efforts. There have been a thousand princes and there will be a thousand more. There is one Beethoven.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434517 - 08/29/06 03:38 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 04/11/06
Posts: 75
Loc: St. Paul , MN
|
While playing a piece, I feel comfortable reaching tenths. I can stretch to an comfortable 11th, but wouldn't care to play those in a piece.
_________________________
Playing piano is 90% mental, the other half is physical.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434519 - 08/29/06 06:52 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 08/05/06
Posts: 24
Loc: Arizona
|
I can barely reach an octave.
_________________________
whatever
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434520 - 08/29/06 07:06 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 04/19/06
Posts: 26
Loc: USA
|
Liszt could just do a tenth. (see "The Great Pianists" by Schonberg, p. 179)
I can do a 9th with ease, a 10th is stretching.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434522 - 08/29/06 09:16 PM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 07/05/06
Posts: 41
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL, US
|
I can comfortablly reach an octave, no more. This may hold me back in the future, but lately, I've adopted the attitude that "If there's a will, there's a fingering and a way."
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434523 - 08/29/06 10:03 PM
Re: handspan
|
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/22/01
Posts: 3902
Loc: Chicago, IL USA
|
Originally posted by appassionata9: ...By the way, Richter can reach a 12th too. [/b] Not any more. 
_________________________
There is no end of learning. -Robert Schumann Rules for Young Musicians
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434525 - 08/30/06 01:24 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 497
Loc: Liszt's backyard.
|
13th uncomfortably but 12th easy.
_________________________
So, you're a cannibal.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434526 - 08/30/06 02:28 AM
Re: handspan
|
Full Member
Registered: 08/08/06
Posts: 198
Loc: Montreal
|
i liked the idea of the poll, so i did the math based on the comfortable span reached, since most provided 2 intervals and i counted all the teachers and pianists as well
i think there's an error with the total but here are the results, 30 results:
8th:6.6%
9th:23.3%
10th:50 %
11th:0%
12th:20%
13th:0%
_________________________
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and upon which it is impossible to remain silent"-Victor Hugo
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#434527 - 08/30/06 04:29 AM
Re: handspan
|
5000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/06/05
Posts: 5663
Loc: SC Mountains
|
Inherent bias in the results due to self selected subjects. Those with ten and above tend to want to brag about it.
_________________________
Slow down and do it right.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
Del.icio.us
|Contact |
Privacy | Legal | About Us | Site Map | Free Newsletter | Press Room |
Previous Topic
Index
