Span Large Intervals on a Piano
Are you getting stuck in a piece because your hands just can't span that tenth? "Training" your hands to span larger distances is a long process, but it is very easy.
Contents
Steps
- Realize that your hands may actually be too small for large distances. Some people's hands will never span more than an octave.
- Stretch your hands often. Put your pinky (or thumb, depending on which hand) on C and stretch it as far as you can. Hold this position, but don't hurt yourself. The most important thing is to feel the stretch; you don't have to go far past that. Using lotion and having regular hand massages can help your hands become more flexible.
- Play pieces in which octaves, ninths, and tenths occur. You will usually have to span using your left hand, but occasionally, your right hand will have a large distance to cover. Play pieces that have both. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is a good piece to use for this purpose. It includes ninths for the right hand and many octaves for the left hand. Chopin's Prelude No. 20 in C minor has octaves for both hands all the way through.
- Practice Octaves. Play a C octave harmonic scale going up and back down. Try to increase speed and try to keep your fingers spread.
Template:HorizontalImages - Practice Ninths. Play a C with a ninth (D) harmonic scale going up and back down, again keeping the span.
Template:HorizontalImages - Do the same with tenths or higher depending on what you need and the size of your hands.
Template:HorizontalImages3 - Continue using these steps for as long as it takes to span the distance you need or want.
Tips
- If you can't reach a twelfth (a C to a 2nd G) or other large figure, don't worry about it too much. Remember as your hands get bigger, the fingers also tend to get wider, making it more difficult to play just (or only) the right notes, i.e. to fit your fingers into the keys. So even if you don't have the biggest hands, you can have an advantage in accuracy. Large hands help with playing octave-plus figures, but wide fingers can also make accuracy more difficult. The ideal pianist would have large hands, long slender fingers, and good pads on the end of their fingers, for a good touch or tone.
- Don't overstretch your hands. If you feel persistent pain, stop! and return to it once the pain has subsided You want to stretch, not break your hands! That said damage to the hand through overstretching is quite rare. Schumann was a victim of that though. Practice little and often to begin with and you will avoid any undue strain being critical
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, a very famous pianist, had hands that could span a thirteenth, which is roughly a foot in distance! Some of his pieces include such large distances that most people won't ever be able to play them.
- Not everyone has hands big enough to span a tenth, so if this doesn't work for you, your hands may be too small for the distance.
Warnings
- If it's uncomfortable, don't do it. Try to relax your hands and arms more, instead of trying to force it. If it's uncomfortable somewhat, and you keep it up for a long time, it's going to do damage to your hands eventually.
- A lot of the reach or distance comes from the thumb, and the space between it and the forefinger, so work on stretching that. Use common sense and don't overdo it. But you can have regular-sized hands and still have a good reach (i.e. C to 2nd E or F,) if your thumb has a good stretch. Don't ever push it too far, but at the same time, see how far it can naturally stretch.
- A trick you can use to reach farther is to set your pinkie and thumb on the appropriate white keys on the outside edge or corner of the key, then use the insides of the two fingers to lift up the white keys immediately in between them (i.e. a D and an E, for a C to an F reach,) and then push down the original keys. This will let you play those far keys without pushing down the ones immediately next to them.
