I'm a girl so I can't stretch an octave, most girls can't but I've seen a few who can..girls, how many keys can you stretch? - Sally

I can almost stretch to about nine and a half. Not very impressive, but oh well.

11

can stretch 8 comfortably...and 9 with some strainining.

does it have to do with height as well though? I am nearly 5'9" so pretty tall for a chick, stands to reason that I would have larger hands than a chick who is only 5 feet tall
(unless she is one of those four foot people with giant hands I was talking about in the "how tall are you?" thread)

I can make an octave (I'm 5'5" tall for what it's worth), but only on the edges of the keys and probably not the best form. As time passes, however, I am finding that the stretch progressively, albeit very slowly, becomes more comfortable. There has been some discussion on hand size here. If you run a search in the forums, you will find some help for dealing with or improving your stretch.

Tina

PerformingYak,
You are 5'9'' and can stretch 11 notes? I am 5'7'' but can only manage 8 :s. My hands are small then. :p

5'1". I can do 9 pretty easily. My hands aren't particularly large but I've made an effort to increase my stretch, and I play several pieces with octave sections. That's helped a lot too.

maybe I'm just stretchy:)

A 12th if I stretch, but I'm 15 and my hands are still growing. You just need to stretch your hands often and your span will increase.

But just don't do a Scriabin and wreak your hands!

I get complaints from students that if they don't do the stretching exercises or practice for a few days, they have to do so to achieve their usual stretch.

Well, I'm 5'3".
Just as LSW said, I also can stretch 8 comfortably and 9 with some strainining.

Muzzz, you must be one big girl!

1 octave...if you can't stretch an octave then do finger exercises and learn pieces that are not in your comfort space, that's what i do

I can almost do a 10 comfortably, but it usually takes some strain.

I'm a guy, at 5 foot 9 (doesn't really count I know) and I can stretch from a C to the next E, but at that, I'm basically hitting other notes around it because my hands so low to the keyboard. Comfortably I can stretch from a C to the next D

I have small hands so i can do an octave with a little bit of straining...

I'm a 5' woman, can stretch an octave (oh how I'd love to stretch a 10th). I confess I hadn't realised it was a problem for anyone who wasn't smaller than myself. I think it would drive me crazy not being able to...
~Hazel
www.hazelquinn.com

I can stretch up to a minor tenth.

I can reach an octave, it's there but it's a STRETCH.

I can stretch up to 1 note more than an octave, that's currently the max I can reach.

And I forgot to remind I'm a boy.

Cheat! See how:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKKlhYF53w

Kinda defeats the point though

Your stretch can increase. Consider that most pianist have a left hand that can stretch 1 or 2 inches more than the right hand. The reason is that the left hand has played more chords requiring stretch.

Stretching your hand can be dangerous[/b] if you attempt to pull your close fingers apart in a V with your other hands.

But there are also non dangerous ways to stretch your hand.

For example your can push your wide open thumb and pinky against the edge board of the piano so that the second, third and fourth fingers are on the keys resting.

Another thing you can do pushing the web between fingers against the web of the respective finger of the other hand. So basically your interwine the V-shaped web of skin between your righ hand thumb and index, with the V-shaped web of skin between your left hand thumb and index.
The same thing with the web between index and middle, middle and fourth and fourth and fifth.

What you also can do is playing arpeggio holding all the key down.

For example: C - G - A (holding the pinky, second (or third) and thumb. Then you move to C - G - Bb. Then to C - G - B. Then you move to C - G - C. And you can even try C - G - C# and C - G - D.

It doesn't matter if you don't strike the keys, what is important is that you're giving your hands a stretching stimulus.

On a more serious note...

A very good "stretching" exercise I've been doing (note that this is really an exercise for FLEXIBILITY, but a larger hand is a physiological bonus) is similar to what Danny has suggested:

Play two notes at the same time (from bottom to top), as legato as possible:
1. Start at E C (with fingers 3 and 5)
2. Then go DOWN to C G (with 2 and 4)
3. Then DOWN to G E (with 1 and 3)
4. And finally reaching E C (with 1 and 2)

Do 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 then when start again in C minor (so Eb instead of E natural), another round of 1-2-3-4-3-2-1, then start again in C diminished (C Eb Gb), another round, then C# major, C# minor, C# diminished, D major, D minor...

Make sure that you can do each of the double stops seperately. Step 2. is usually the hardest one. If you can't play these stops individually with the provided fingerings, don't attempt this exercise as you will hurt yourself.

If you *can* do each one individually then try them legato. If you actually think about the movement before you transit from one to another you'll learn the most comfortable way for yourself. Keep doing it and you will also build up the muscles and reflexes required for large flexible leaps which are arguably more important than how far you can stretch!

Are you sure you meant 1 or 2 inches? It's true my LH stretches a tiny bit farther than my RH, but the difference is a fraction of in inch!

The hand cannot stretch further than the webs between fingers allow spaciousness at the finger tips. The best any hand can do is to do 'the splits' like legs do LH 5__\|/__1and RH 1__\|/__5.

Any other explanation is non-relevant.

The 1 and 5 split can be used at the edge of a table top to exercise with gentle pressure like a push-off. Do not over do it and don't try for a quick motion.

When I open my hands in the air, my fingers are first in a lightly placed in a closed 5 finger position and 1 and 5 shoot straight to the sides to create the "split", then 2-3-4 open to extend to their length.

There are further extension possibilites in the sideways movement of the 2-3-4's.

Where all fingers are spread from this position, that is the extent, absolute extent of your piano hand reach, there being nothing else to stretch.

All else is bells, whistles and mirrors. Sorry.

Betty

Gotta disagree. When I started a few years ago, I could hardly take a 9th. Now I can take a 10th with my RH, and take an easy 9th with my LH. Octaves are as easy as pie.

It might mean that you stretched your right hand a lot or you didn't stretch your left much. I know a person who couldn't play major ninths but devoted much time to stretching and increasing his span. Now he can reach 11th on the edge of the key in his left hand but can only reach a ninth on the right hand. The greatest difference is the thumb. In the left hand it can move to such an angle that it's almost gross to see, the skin of web between the thumb and the index is very loose and large. In the right hand the thumb is tightly connected to the hand and the web of skin between thumb and index is very shorter and much less deep. In fact I would say the thumb is the limiting factor in the stretch. The thumb could move to such an angle that it forms a straight line with the pinky. If your thumb doesn't form a straight line with the pinky there's still stretching and span widening possibilities.

Alicia De LaRocha has very diminute hands and is 4'10" tall. She wouldn't span a seventh normally but she, as said in an interview, spent five years practicing daily stretches. The way she can open wide her hand is almost alien (watch her videos and you'll see what I mean) and indeed she can reach tenths now when needed.

BTW: if you have your pinky and thumb in a straight line but at the expense of closing and reducing the width of the palm then you don't really have those two fingers in a straight line. The fleshy part of the thumb must be flat and the palm wide open. Only in this position you can check the opening of your thumb and pinky span.

Here is a pic to show what I mean.
This is actually a small hand[/b] but the distance between the thumb and index finger is stretched at its max. This is not a normal hand stretch. Only a person using her hand a lot in stretched positions (like a pianist) could develop such stretch.