5 Pro Tips For Small Hands at the Piano

[@JD-72191]

Thank you for covering this topic. I am also a petite woman with smaller hands than larger people have. As an intermediate pianist, I do fine with most pieces I attempt to play. But recently I tried a piece that had many many octaves consecutively throughout the piece and I started to notice tension in my hands. The problem is that my hands had to stay in the stretched out position much of the time instead of being able to contract back into a rounded position. I decided to scrap that piece even though I was just a few measures from having learning it all. I decided there were other versions that also sounded pretty but easier on my smaller hands. Thank you. It’s nice to know I wasn’t just being lazy.

[@crisoliveira2644]

I can reach a ninth at the edge of the keys. 😊 Hands size small plus!

[@yarenot9878]

Same. I get nervous when I have to play eighth chords because it's easier to mess up 😥 sometimes my fingers slip and miss the keys or hit other keys. My left hand has a greater reach than my right hand too

[@jamrolypolypud]

A big 'thank you' for covering this topic. As a 60+ male with small hands, I was very annoyed with myself for not being able to reach all the notes, except octaves, and this meant I couldn't play all the pieces I wanted. I've only been playing a few months so I'm struggling anyway, but your video gives me hope for the future. I already have 'trigger thumb' on left hand because I was playing too much too soon....and not warming my hands first. Lesson learned 😮

[@PianoRoadmap]

You're welcome! I have to ask, what is trigger thumb?

[@jamrolypolypud]

@PianoRoadmap Hi. It's called Tenosynovitis and is common for things like repetitive actions or overstretching. It's in my left thumb, which explains reaching for impossible chords, rachmaninov, or shovel hands as I call him had no problems and wrote lots of complex chords into his pieces. And as I'm a fan of Rachmaninov, I decided to push myself....Big mistake. Trigger thumb can be painful and without surgery, it's permanent. You have taught me to measure my expectations and search for pieces I can achieve. 👍

[@lindimashinini7237]

Just started learning keyboard... started with what I thought was a simple song, but I soon realized my little T-rex claws are gonna make it challenging, i'm trying not to let this discourage me, so thank you for the tips

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci. I can cover an octave. I tried stretchy exercises but that aggravated my FURS Syndrome so I stopped right away. I have a problem with both shoulders, and don't do crossover techniques. I sleep well at night. If any of you are playing with pains, I have a video on exercises and treatments for pianists, Oh My Aching Bach. There are also smaller keyboards. There is a video of someone that sought out people that benefit from playing this keyboard, and it was inspiring. There is one scene of a young lady sitting at the keyboard, trying out a tenth, and then she's overcome by emotion. I can understand the years of humiliation she must have felt. Hailun, Narrow Keys, Steingraeber.

[@andrewag8474]

Excellent tips. Thank you for posting these lessons. By the way, can you provide a list of small-handed pianists? I'm sure many are longing to see some of them playing .

[@PianoRoadmap]

Josef Hofmann, Daniel Barenboim, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alicia De Larrocha

[@loripage5477]

Really good and useful video. Thank you very much.

[@Voxiremise]

Thank you for the tips!

[@PianoRoadmap]

You're welcome!

[@stirpiano]

Unrelated but I love your voice it's very pleasant

[@PianoRoadmap]

Thank you 😃

[@dagmarintreble]

Thank you for clearly admitting that some repertory is not playable or you leave out notes. I am practicing Chopin Prélude A major 28.7 and the big chord is so impossible. To hear a professionsl pianist say that she maybe won't play all notes helps me feel a lot better in my need to find a solution and play slightly different from what's written in the music.

[@thriftTDvelvette]

100% agree! working with your limitations instead of trying to stretch them to breaking point is one of my favorite things to have learned as i learn the piano!

[@georgezhu4390]

"I can't play everything I want" enlightens me, thank you!

[@thriftTDvelvette]

thank you for sharing these tips! they're helping me really solidify everything i've picked up here and there about playing this instrument with tiny hands!

[@paulwilliams5013]

Wonderful.. thank you!!!

[@heidivanooijen-blezer142]

Thank you for these tips. I am going to work with them. :-)

[@PianoRoadmap]

I hope they help!

[@kob79jd]

Thank you for these insights. It so happens that for me these tips are not required (as I can reach an octave and a fifth [e.g., C past C to H] Nevertheless, I greatly appreciate your tips, and I am sure I can use them, even though I am not your target audience for this video. After playing for +-10 years I stopped playing piano, but after about 50 years, and soon after retirement I bought a digital piano, and am trying to return to the pieces I enjoyed most. Your practical approach is extremely helpful. Besides your great skills at the keyboard, you are also an excellent teacher! Bravo for both!

[@kob79jd]

Oops. Typo I can only reach G😮

[@PianoRoadmap]

@@kob79jd 😆 I figured that's what you meant! Although there's technically an "H" in the German musical alphabet. And thank you so much for your kind words. I'm just a *little* jealous of your hand span.

[@kob79jd]

@@PianoRoadmap as someone once said, "Size isn't everything." 🙃 I can catch a basketball at the top of a dribble bounce with one hand, but (after a 50 year hiatus) I am challenged to get back some Chopin Preludes I played for recital when I was 16. 🙄. That's okay, I will enjoy making the most of what I do have. (And I am now taking to heart some music theory that seemed unimportant "when I wore a younger man's clothes.") I do deeply appreciate your expert & pedagigicallly sound insights!

[@melianthasoenaryo5345]

Thank youuu for this content..this also be my problem as a pianist with small hand.. im agree with u..i cant play all the repertoire i want but its ok cuz a lot another that also beautifull..and im also not a huge fan of stretching exercise hehe..

[@larryluke4875]

Thanks!

[@PianoRoadmap]

Thank you!!

[@Wootwootwooton]

I can just reach an octave, but if there are other notes in the chord, I'm out of luck. I learned Satie's Gymnopedie #1 this year, most of which is playable, but I found leaving off the lowest note of the final octave chords works fine.

[@PianoRoadmap]

Yep, I'm the same way. We just need to find the best workaround.

[@melchoraslez1689]

May I ask if you're able to reach a 10th? Your hands are similar to mine and I can reach an octave with ease and a 9th with effort and a warm up. But a 10th seems impossible. I've been playing for only 2 years though

[@PianoRoadmap]

My hand size sounds exactly like yours. I can't reach a 10th. I can reach a 9th, but playing consecutive 9ths would cause me issues, I think.

[@bunnyvanyplaylist2007]

Thanks. I have short handy too. After playing, I feel bit tired of those chords and octaves.

[@MathieuPrevot]

You will be jaleous. I can play the chord c3-e3-b[flat]3,c4,e4 with my left hand, or octava with right hand 1-2, c3-a3 with 2-3 or 3-4. But, still I can't play everything as written, I have sometimes to arpeggiate chords (eg., many 10th from Godowsky étude 4, like d2-a2-f#3). But that's fine. Horowitz does that too (gracefully) because the chord is too big. The thing I wanted to share is that I was not born like this, I worked on that, regularly, gently, for years, and progressively, new chords became accessible. One other thing that sometimes pianists have, is an extremely extensible thumb (highly separable from the rest); and Ravel is one of them, and one can see that in his music (yes I can't play all the chords from his left hand concerto today, I was able a while ago but I did not practice the concerto and the stretching for a while). So: stretch gently after warmup, every day, and expect the best, over months and years. Likewise anyone can expect to do splits in yoga, but eventually it could take few years. And eat well and healthy.

[@musical_lolu4811]

In the YT video 'Piano's Darkest Secret', the answer is clear. Smaller size keyboards have to be the way forward.

[@yarenot9878]

I promise 😭😭

[@kenji2787]

I’ve been practicing to release immediately after playing an octave, letting the sustain pedal retaining the sound but my brain just refuse to do it because it could mess up the pedaling and also I thumb couldn’t go back to the first key correctly. I know even big jumps will become easier with more practice and familiarity but it’s just difficult to override my brain when first learning a piece as there’re so many difficult things happening already.

[@PianoRoadmap]

It can take a long time to "rewire" our brains! My left pinky is double-jointed and it took me probably at least a year to learn how to not let the joint collapse. The most difficult thing can be just "remembering to remember" 😆

[@mohsenmaddah8399]

I believe in some kind of "balance theory" in life. In a nutshell, natural things just exist with no good and bad, the human mind comes into play, categorizing them, thus labeling them as good and bad. With this in mind, well i accept bigger hands mean more capability in reaching various keys. But there must be (if the theory holds) some weakness in the very nature of big hands, which are optimized by their opposite, small hands. As a raw example, less inertia of the small hands, thus higher agility. I wanted to ask you, based on your experience, does anything like this come to ur mind? And thanks for the tips ❤

[@PianoRoadmap]

I like your balance theory! I suppose there are certain cases where small hands would be considered an advantage, like agile passages with notes very close together. Since I can't switch back and forth between big and small hands, it's difficult for me to say past that what other subtle advantages they might have.

[@lisasexammusicoriginalcomp5861]

Currently trying to play chopins raindrop prelude Db now i cant reach some of the notes so im going to either leave a note or play a different one. Luckily its for pleasure not for exams.

[@mattrogers1149]

lots of good tips here, thanks! Well presented in concise format. As a mid beginner halfway through Faber adult book 2, really enjoying your content.

[@yatleungchui4313]

Thanks for your advice and encouragement. I have small hands can’t even play an Octave properly of course impossible to play consecutive octaves. Would you please recommend some composers whose pieces are fewer octaves? For grade 8 or above levels lots of thanks

[@PianoRoadmap]

Are you looking for classical composers? Some that come to mind are any classical era composers (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven), Chopin (Nocturnes & Waltzes, not Etudes), some Schumann and Liszt (but selective pieces), Bach...the list really goes on. If you have more specific ideas on what you'd like to play, I'm happy to offer some recs.

[@yatleungchui4313]

@@PianoRoadmap oh I prefer those classical composers ‘s works fewer octaves or the melodic lines not mainly based on Otaves

[@yatleungchui4313]

Beethoven n Chopin nocturne are too hard for small hands players ( not even playing octaves comfortably

[@peanutsauce2000]

I'm trying to play Mephisto with small hands and can't comfortably reach further than an octave. I can't get 7 seconds in once the chords are spread out an entire three octaves. I need a third hand! The song is hard enough on its own!! Something came over me where now I feel I have to learn it, even with being an extremely below average "pianist"... Not giving up yet!!!! But tip No. 5 does help a lot to hear out loud. It won't be the end of the world and there are thousands of other masterpieces out there that are just as beautiful, minus the extra strain :) thank you! Currently feel doomed rn lol

[@PianoRoadmap]

Oh my, good luck!

[@notacrow6286]

Can you put it in layman's terms, do you just need to move your fingers up so you can play them?

[@PianoRoadmap]

Not sure exactly what tip you would like in layman's terms, but I would say that it's never a "just" solution! If you can be more specific with your question I'll try to answer.

[@madonobel]

what about pressing the keys while 1 and 5 black keys and either of 2, 3, 4 are on white I hear the note of 2, 3, 4 as a loud bell since i push by force because white key is lower in comparison to 1 and 5 are just gravity pressing on the same height, 1 and 5 are charm, 2,3,4 are bells

[@PianoRoadmap]

Great question! I'll make a quick short sometime this week to answer it.

[@ethneclark7281]

I can't even reach a full octave! 😅 thanks for the tips

[@skintslots]

Why don't piano teachers advise the Piano's version of power chords,root plus fifth, or abridged notes( double stops?) such as root plus major third or root plus minor third and so on? It seems this is a good way to start and build confidence as this is what you want as a teacher,I'm sure?

[@Flightsimmovies]

maybe try to find a narrow piano?

[@djsampha]

I have D.S 5.5 custom keys

[@PianoRoadmap]

Do you mind sharing a link? I've been interested in this for a bit and am curious. How do you like it so far?

[@peter5.056]

I found it amusing that the KZbin algorithm put this video right next to an Alicia De Larrocha video, in my recommended. HA;)

[@PianoRoadmap]

I was just listening to her "Spanish Encores" album 😃

[@peter5.056]

@@PianoRoadmap Isn't she amazing!? That first Granados Goyesca, Requiebros, she sounds like she has four hands!

[@PianoRoadmap]

@@peter5.056 I get goosebumps when I listen to it. All the cascading notes...so elegant and effortless.

[@tiamson9366]

Can't we just eliminate some of the notes?like for example the octave of each chord.

[@PianoRoadmap]

Sometimes. But it often changes the sound of the chord and might interfere with voice leading. However, I'd *always* choose to leave a note out over having to deal with an injury.

[@aaliiissssaaaaaa_21]

i use leg

[@PianoRoadmap]

genius!

[@foowishamewican]

My fingers don't fit within the black keys so I have to play lower down

[@PianoRoadmap]

Anytime I can, I try to play lower down as well. I have more control over the key, and even for small hands like mine, the black keys can be clunky.

[@ValkyRiver]

Please just try narrow keys, even once…

[@PianoRoadmap]

I'm actually really curious about this and hope to try it someday. I wonder how quickly the mind/body can move back and forth between narrow & standard keys.

[@pmxZerb_]

@@PianoRoadmap Seems most people report it doesn't affect them, this guy made a pretty interesting video on the topic kzbin.info/www/bejne/kInPnKF_Yq-Wapo

[@ValkyRiver]

@@PianoRoadmap Adaptionation isn’t really a problem; it’s just like switching between violin and viola. And you won’t forget how to play the conventional keys (just like switching from violin to viola won’t cause you to forget how to play the violin) Here is a footage of me (1 hour on the 7/8 size): kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3vImHuhqrKAgbs

[@PianoRoadmap]

@@pmxZerb_ Cool, thanks! I'll check it out.

[@PianoRoadmap]

@@ValkyRiver Oooo, now I REALLY want to try! Thanks for sharing.

[@zelilee8650]

👍

[@bh5606]

If Shaquille O’Neal played piano, he would need one specially built.

[@PianoRoadmap]

😆

[@Xfrtrex]

no matter what i tried i could NOT play that minor chord lol

[@GHOSTLOVINGTOAST]

My pinky hurts.

[@eswarilekhyajarajapu1808]

My hands are smaller than yours

[@PianoRoadmap]

Can you reach an octave?

[@larryluke4875]

Thanks!