I can reach a 9th, sometimes a tenth from the edges of the keys

I can get 12 with comfort. Possibly 13 with my hand at the edge of the keys.

Wow! That's big! Can't imagine having hands like that!

One of my friends has even bigger hands than mine , though only slightly. His fingers look are like vines!?

Don't scare me! lol

I can stretch to a minor 10th but only just. I don't like to go over an octave in a piece.

NM

Sorry I know this is an old thread but I met this guy from London the other day and when I told him I played piano we measured hand spans and his exceeded mine by about an inch either side, I couldn't believe it! Apparently he can stretch an octave and a half, ideal for Rach I suppose.

I heard that Chopin has really big hands.
That's scary!
I can only do 9 notes... and with difficulty!

i can just reach 10

I can just span a major 10th, but I can do it with my thumb + pinky, thumb + fourth finger, or thumb + third finger! Is this normal?

I can reach 9 but I'm much more comfortable with octaves.

Lisa xx

This is a good thread! I see a lot of people voted for 10.... Wow! That's a lot!
Did you know that Rachmaninov could span TWELVE keys?!?!!
I can just about do 9, but I voted for 8 as I'm far more comfortable with octaves!!!

So apparently can quite a few people on the forums!

I voted for nine, which is possible for me in a piece, but only if I practise and play it quite carefully. Weird though, I remember when octaves seemed impossible for me to ever play... (I was only 5 when I started piano!! )

I can do nine (just). I'm playing a piece at the moment with a fair bit of octave movement which I can almost do... Twelve - wow!

I stretch a 9th, but I'm much more comfortable with octaves and even then, I don't like too many of them!

I can do a major 10th

I can play most octaves, and the occasional nineth when holding down two notes with one finger. My Glove size is only a 6 1/2" My Shoe size a UK size 3 and I'm less than 5 foot.

The reason I can span an 8ve at all is becasue my little fingers bend outwards; the result of forcing the span whilst I was still growing. My RH span is 17.5cm, my LH span is 18cm. This still does not prevent me from passages loaded with 8ves, my pedal technique has just had to develop to compensate.

Scriabin had small hands, and some of his pieces are a testament to a well-developed pedal technique . My hand spans are about the same at 24cm each, but I still find some Scriabin stretches difficult.

I put 9. My max. is 9 with alot of stretching. Octaves are just nice but I go into pieces if I have to play octaves consecutively. =) I'm very comfortable with 7. Hey, I'm Asian too!

I think the results are as expected. It would result in the same "normal distribution" if we polled on height, or such like. Interesting to see it work with this topic though

I can do 10 without too much trouble. No more than this, though!

9, but getting bigger all the time...