Week 1: A New Hope

cdales I did what you are saying in that Prelude as well. Maybe bring it up in Dominic’s tricky passage livestream next week. You can post your question in advance. Dominic always has great advice.

Book 2, no. 7 ( La Terrasse des audiences…). These ones don’t work rolled-kind of shatters the atmosphere. Some of the intervals are 10th or more, and lots of black keys complicate things. This is why I never finished the piece 10 years ago😢

Maria 

Ken Radford Hi Ken - Yes option 3 was more what I would consider as a possibility in general for these kinds of situation but it isn't really practical here. I agree with @cdales that pain is a big warning sign from your body. Sometimes we can technically reach something but we perhaps should not.  It is not worth risking longer term issues or injury, particularly for tones that are just a doubled voicing. Thats why my choice, given my own reach, would be to just omit the extended 3rds of the LH chords OR to gently displace them (a slight displacement can be nice sometimes so we can more easily hear the secondary melodies within the texture!).

cdales Ah yes, I played that something like 20 years ago during my undergraduate studies. It's been a long time but I do remember I used displacement somehow. I definitely envied people with a bigger reach for that piece! I might have to check back on that piece and see if I can remember what I did.

cdales I never played the piece, but I believe (as I have previously stated, I am not great at reading music) that my sheet music has intervals larger than a ninth split between both hands. I may be missing the other ones, though.

Which measures have the unplayable chords?

Also, I agree with Vidhya Bashyam that you should ask Dominic in the livestream. 

cdales Hi and thanks for your wise words. I should have used the term “ache” rather than “painful”. After practicing the passage and associated stretching exercises my hand aches, and when I stop practicing the aching stops. Can you post some of the big LH Debussy chords - I may want to use them as part of my stretching routine,

Dustin Anderson Hi Dustin. Thanks for your comments. I have downgraded from “painful” to “aching”, and this goes away when I stop stretching so I feel that I am not in danger of longer term issues. One of my main motivators is that my teacher told me that my hands are big enough, I just need to stick with stretching and playing the difficult passage.

Ken Radford I circled the LH chords I have to break by playing the bottom note just before the rest of the chord (but not creating an arpeggiated sound). I can reach the surrounding chords, but these passages are challenging for me in that both hands (here and throughout most of the piece) are fully extended most of the time so I have to avoid accumulating tension😳

cdales I definitely missed those when I looked through the sheet music. They are completely impossible for me to reach without arpeggiating/breaking them; I can't usually reach a 5-note-filled octave, let alone a ninth or a tenth (which is annoying, as many pieces I want to learn end up having quite a few tenths/5-note chords).

You are definitely correct that it doesn't work to arpeggiate those chords. I think I would do the same thing as you and play the lowest note first. 

How many notes can you reach, out of curiosity?

Maria  I’m usually ok with a 9th, but those 5 note inverted dominant 7th chords with black notes are out of reach. As I’m, shall we say, a mature pianist, stretching exercises aren’t too helpful!

Ken Radford I agree with your teacher, however I would also advise to proceed gradually and not to rush the stretching part. I can easily reach a 10th and play five finger chords, but depending on repertoire and hand position, I still have various stretching issues all the time anyway. Our hands are pliable, but they need to adapt every day. Warm-ups are essential before going those long distances 😆💪

Astrida Thanks for your comments Astrida. I agree that rushing can be counterproductive and that warm-ups are essential. Onwards and upwards...