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..

I can do 10, but not very reliably.

Lollum - I just came home from the gym, so I was also thinking about that kind of stretching. Alas, the rest of my body is nowhere near as flexible as my hands are...

I can do a 9th with ease/comfortably; a 10th if I use the lips of each key.

All I get is an octave, clean.

9. My boyfriend can do a 12th.... I hate him.

I can reach a 10th.

Well maybe an 9th.

I can do 10th on most keys except for Eb and Bb. I began to do 10th when studying jazz voicing in the past 4 years, and I swear, that my LH reach grew in the past 4 years. I couldn't do 10th before. I don't know if it grew or just became more flexible, but I wish that it keeps growing till I can do Eb and Bb too... =)

Laura can do a 10th with both hands. Dan can do a 10th with right hand and an 11th with left.

Wow, I think i possibly have the tiniest hands, I can barely( and sometimes not at all) do a ninth.

IDK i took a fitness test to calculate my body fat percentage and we had to stretch n see how far we could go but i dont remember

I can reach an easy 10th with my left hand, and an augmented 9th with my right.

With some strain, I can get an 11th with my left, and a 10th with my right. Yup, big hands for a 15 year old. <.<

Oh, and those people with small hands, you can do some passages a lot more fluently than we big handed dudes can. ;]
So don't be fed up about it.

I can reach an octave fine and if I stretch a bit I can reach an augmented 9th at most.
But scales in octaves still are quite a challenge -.-

I can reach exactly an octave. If I try for a ninth I end up hitting the sides of other keys.

I can hit a ninth... but I know people with smaller hands than mine who can also hit a ninth. Is there a way to practice stretching your hands further?

I can stretch a 10th.

I figured a picture would be best. lol

I can do 9 easily

A 9th

I can get a tenth in most circumstances; however, it's impossible if one note is a black key.

everybody have small hands in here i can do 12 my father stretch about 14

A ninth, with possible notes between if they happen to fit my hand.
A tenth is very uncomfortable for me and pretty much a lost cause.

I can barely stretch a seventh,
But I am gradually getting towards an eighth.
Some songs I do have to be accommodated.

No, most people here have average sized hands. Not surprising, when you think about it. You, sir, have dramatically above average hands.

Oops I meant minor... I guess for some reason I liked the word augmented and it was in my head the whole time.

So is a ninth the average? I didn't even realize I had an average span....

I can reach major 10ths if it's white to white or black to black keys. I can reach any minor 10th.

12ths both hands but only 11ths reliably at any speed. I always cheat on the right hand though.