(Pianists only) Your Span

Hi, the poll kind of explains it all.

Dunno. About 9 or 10 octaves if I stretch my arms? :P

P.S. If you mean just in one hand - there already is a thread about that.

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/how-far-do-your-hands-stretch-15370.html?highlight=far+hands+stretch

Yay for searching.

Am I being ousted from the thread for being a guitarist? :D

Dunno. About 9 or 10 octaves if I stretch my arms? :P

P.S. If you mean just in one hand - there already is a thread about that.

But a "span" is defined as the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the fifth finger. It's a unit of measurement.

But a "span" is defined as the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the fifth finger. It's a unit of measurement.

Well, from the tip of the thumb of my right hand to the fifth finger of the left hand it's still at least 9 octaves if I stretch my arms!

I am sorry but to me this is one of the most amateurish things to ask a pianist. Unless your span is unusually small (less than an octave) the only effect this has on your playing is some repertoire which demands large chords or arpeggios will be off limits.

I never understood what is the big deal - good piano playing involves much more than your fingers.

Plus there has been a thread on this already (which recieved PLENTY of responses from pianists)

good piano playing involves much more than your fingers.

Yes it does.

I feel sorry for that piano!

I wrote a chamber piece this past year, and the pianist playing on it couldn't play the opening chords! They spanned a 9th, and it bugged me out. 'Span' definitely matters when you're handing a piece to new performers.

I'm an easy 10th, however. ;)

Yes it does.

HILARIOUS!

But a "span" is defined as the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the fifth finger. It's a unit of measurement.

Hmm, I measure my "span" from tip of thumb to tip of 4th finger. This gives me more reach than my 5th. I got webby frog like fingers :whistling:

If you can't play a 9th you should seriously reconsider a career as a pianist... that's simply ridiculous.

Well, I assume they were chords with more than two notes per hand, so not just an empty ninth, in which case it depends a lot on the setup of the chord. If you have, say, the chord G, Ab, Bb, Db, A (in ascending order) in the right hand that would be pretty hard to play even for pianists with large hands. Lots of chords that only span a ninth are hard to play, depending on where the notes within the chord are. And a chord that is easy to play with the left hand might be very hard to play with the right hand and vice versa. (The chord I mentioned would be very easy with the left hand for example.)

If you can't play a 9th you should seriously reconsider a career as a pianist... that's simply ridiculous.

:sadtears:

I can comfortably span and octave plus a major 3rd.

ive got a comfortable 11th in my right hand and a not so comfortable one in my left

Laughed at gardener, also i'm not a pianist but i can stretch 13 keys

I can do 10 in one and 9 + a semitone in the other. My left hand must be retarded

But yeah, I don't see the point in having such a large span, as long as you can comfortably reach an 8ve I think you're fine.