I can reach a 10th, although I usually don't stretch my hands that much.

Just out of curiosity, how far can you stretch? There's probably someone here who can reach a 15th.

I can reach about a 9th. It's a stretch for me though. My hands are unusually small.

I can manage a 10th easily enough
Though funnily, i think my left hand spans more than my right hand (11th), being right handed that makes me think.........

Sorry, I know hardly any music theory (I'm too stubborn and lazy to rectify that), so I don't know how many intervals I can stretch . All I know is that with my thumb on C I can *just* about reach F in the next octave. That's decent, right? Well, the fingering in a piece like Prelude in C# Min (Rach) doesn't pose much trouble. But I would like to know to how many intervals this stretch corresponds.

Augmented 11th for me.

I can do C-F#-F# with the LH.

Aha! I was using my 5th finger. If I use my 4th finger I can get C-G-G with my LH, with difficulty, and there's no ways I can get more than that. That's a 12th is it?

That's C, with a 5th and a 12th above it.

WOW!

Wikipedia says Rach could do a 13th

I can also manage a 10th.

I can reach a 10th with much pains and strain....... ............but: Nil Volentibus arduum = nothing is impossible for those who strongly wish.......

JB

I can make it out to an 11th, 10th without trouble.

I can barely, barely do an all white 5th + 12th, but totally impractically.

I can make use of tenths or 5th + 1oth. I could do a scale that way.

What's the record?

With trouble, 11th.

Hmm. Not got access to a full size piano at the moment, but I can get from the start of the 'a' key to the start of the 'enter' key on my keyboard. That's 12 keyboard keys plus the gaps. Slightly longer with my left.

I can get a 10th.

I can get a 9th comfortably.

I can only reach a 9th if my pinky is on the very edge of the key. Comfortably I can only play an octave

Well I'm envious of those pianists that can stretch a 10th. And when I say stretch,I mean able to play chords well, not simply straining your hand to barely reach the full 10 keys. Some jazz pianists like Earl Hines could and Fats surely could.Many more too.
Probably if I had had lessons instead of being a Ear player only, I would have been taught some hand stretching exercises. Too late now at my age, I have to be careful not to get arthritus .

Swingal

i can play a 9th comfortably. a 10th is something my hands dream of

by this standard:

http://www.dskeyboards.com/html/handsizepage.html

i'm 8.25 inches.

I can barely do a 10th

I can do a 10th, but not totally comfortably.
For robjones, that's from 'a' almost to the return key.

Fairly easy 10th with RH, not very easy 10th with LH. Which is weird, because I play guitar too.

i can reach a tenth with both, but always easier to span with my left hand. I think it is the arpeggios and wide chords that give the left this natural advantage.

I can stretch to a tenth, but wouldn't be able to play it in a piece of music very cleanly.
What can I do to build my stretch range? I want at least a clean tenth....

I can only stretch a 9th. How depressing...

Same here, a 9th is about it for me. Small hands...

I can barely reach a 9th. Barely. I don't trust my hands with more than an octave. I'm just starting back up again, but even at my prime I could never reach more than a 9th. I think once or twice I stretched my pinky up to reach a 10th. But it wasn't pretty.

I can hit white-to-white or black-to-black major 10ths, but not white-to-black (D - F#) or black-to-white.

I have to say how stupid I feel right now...
I'm a ballet dancer and I stretch regularly , legs, back etc..
When I saw this post I thought "wow, I never thought pianists have to stretch too..."
haha! I'm not a native speaker and that's not the term we use for it..
Btw I'm a comfortable 10, and sometimes an 11 if there's time to adjust the hand properly..