How far can your hand stretch on the piano?

35 replies
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A tenth on the white keys. A minor tenth I can do ex. C-E flat, but major tenth like E-G# I can do. And all this is easier for my left hand and takes slightly more effort in the right. I have flexible hands from practicing special exercises and never locking the wrists, but short 5th fingers. I wouldn't mind having an extra one or two centimeters of reach, but I can't fight the limitation mother nature bestowed on me.
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An octave playing mostly on the edge of the keys, and occasional 9th using the side of the keys to assist the stretch.
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I can "just" manage a 9th in each hand, but only an octave comfortably! It's a good job I tend to prefer the more "intricate" pieces in the repertoire! :)
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I can reach a 10th in both hands at a stretch (slightly uncomfortable and thumbs on front edge of key). A 9th is more comfortable to play in both hands
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I can reach a 10th on the white keys with a full stretch, but don’t like too many of them in piece. I might roll them just not to tense up and possibly cause any injury to the hand!
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Between two black notes, a tenth (but I cannot do much with the fingers in between).
Between two white notes, safely, a ninth; if the thumb is taking two adjacent notes (a la Beethoven), a tenth, but again the fingers in between cannot reach very much.
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I can reach an octave relatively comfortably with both hands. I'm happy with that! Thurmond can reach an 11th in both hands, and his "goal" is to reach a 12th (he still has a few years of growing, so it is possible!).
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Playing final chord of Chopin' Harp Etude and Liszt' Liebestaum III, I use RH for top three notes (Eb3-C4-Ab4) and LH for Ab2-Ab3 (Harp) and Ab3(Lieb). Same voicing with one less note from Liszt...who'd have guessed!
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Nine notes comfortably and ten most times. I’m comfortable with playing octaves using 3rd, 4th or 5th finger. Feels like a survey. 🤔
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I can comfortably play any kind of 10th all day, but I can just barely stretch to an 11th on the white keys.