Struggling with small hands

For the RH in bar 1, try 3 (or 2) 1 2 3 4 1 4 3 2 1 2 3 1 3 4 so that you can have 3 on the first note in bar 2.

Have you had any luck trying to “pivot” around the D (in the first car) or the C (subsequent bars)?  I can make you a tiny video of this isn’t clear.

Hi Kuro,

As my teacher, the GREAT Dr. Leann Osterkamp will say, any time you use the word "stretch" that should be a red flag! I have small hands too, about the same as you (I can JUST manage a tenth in my left hand, but only a ninth in my right).  When I look at the passage of arpeggios you posted, I don't see a stretch, instead, like you noted, it's a kind of rotation motion (VERY small motion) along with an in-and-out motion wherein my thumb would move "in" towards the fallboard on the G of the A7 chord, (or F# of the D chord) then my hand will start moving "out" as my next finger strikes the middle note of the arpeggio ( D or C# depending on the chord) and then "in" again for my pinky.  So you are creating a kind of swing from side to side instead of a stretch. If you lift too much via rotation, this becomes really difficult and feels less secure.  Be certain to keep your fingers close to the keys rather than rotating very high on one side of the hand or the other.  Again, the rotation should be SMALL. One way to practice this section of arpeggios would be to regroup them.  So rather than starting on the first sixteenth of each beat (measures 88 and 89), I would start on the C# and play a group that is the next four notes.  This should probably feel easier to play than playing the four-note sixteenth groupings as written.  Sometimes it helps to see what is manageable and easy and think of how to "trick" our brains into thinking of a group or passage as simple. Piano playing is 90% mental after all. Another thing to think about and help out is to look at Chopin's etude no. 1 in C major from the opus 10 set.  At first glance, I think everyone perceives this to be an impossible etude (unless you have huge hands and/or happen to be Sviatoslav Richter reincarnated). The truth is that Chopin created this etude as a way of practicing how to play largely spread arpeggios WITHOUT stretching.  See Garrick Ohlsson's video about this here on Tonebase. It was massively helpful to me in understanding how pianists like Alicia deLarocha, Vladimir Ashkenazy, or Maria Joao Pires can play pieces like this despite having VERY small hands.  Side note, I got to meet Maurizio Pollini a few years before he died.  In his prime, he was easily one of the greatest technicians of the late 20th century and early 21st century pianists. However, he was actually a very small man (about 5'5") with hands smaller than mine- he was gracious enough to let me compare our hands by holding them up to each other. His trick? Flexibility and economy of motion.  I hope some of this sets you on a good path!

Beginner view point - I saw the lines above - have small hands - F to A is possible . I used 1 2 5 in the first bar on the 8th notes but found it much easier to lift 1 and pivot on 2 —- I could play the entire line without discomfort .