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Are There Ways Around the Difficulty of Playing the Piano Due to Short Fingers and Small Hands?
So, are there really ways around the difficulty of playing the piano due to short fingers and small hands? Yes, it can be done. This post will help musicians, music students, and music teachers alike. Read more to learn how it works.
This post uses some music terms. See the Glossary below for definitions.
What Are the Ways Around the Difficulty of Playing the Piano Due to Short Fingers and Small Hands?
Small handed adults can have problems playing advanced styles. Likewise, I’ve taught young students who struggled with playing due to small hands. Your choices will be to pick a different piece of music, or to modify the score.
Sometimes, making good song choices will be the way to go. Namely, if you don’t have meat hooks for hands, playing Liszt won’t be a good fit. However, if you really must play a specific piece, rearranging the music is an option.
If a kid’s hands can’t span more than an interval of a sixth, I’ll simplify the music. This means that it’ll be helpful for you to have a teacher who can recommend what to leave out while still retaining the essential feel of the music.
Do you want to know the ways around the difficulty of playing the piano due to short fingers and small hands? Read on to learn how to modify the score.
Ways Around the Difficulty of Playing the Piano Due to Short Fingers and Small Hands: Making Adjustments
Mobile users: tilt your phones 90o to the right to better read the score.
Maple Leaf Rag Excerpt:
Today’s example comes from Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag. The excerpt above has some finger stretches and fast octaves. The arrangement below shows how to get around the difficulty of playing the piano due to short fingers and small hands. One of my 9-year-old students, who can’t stretch an octave, can still manage this arrangement.
Arranging tips to keep in mind:
- Keep the top note of the chords the same: You change that, and you change the melody.
- Invert wide intervals into smaller ones: For example, I moved the Gb down an octave in the second chord in the LH part.
- Remove one of the notes in each of the harmonic octaves: Here I simplified all the octaves in the LH part. Also, I removed the lower A in the first chord in each bar in the RH part.
- Retain all the chord tones where possible: However, I couldn’t do this for the second chord in the RH part, because my 9-year-old student couldn’t manage the stretch from the Bb to the Ab.
Just for fun, I’ve included a Maple Leaf Rag video for your enjoyment.
Maple Leaf Rag Arrangement:
Maple Leaf Rag Video
Conclusion
Listen to the soundtracks, and you’ll hear that Joplin’s original has a fuller sound. Nevertheless, my arrangement retains the essential character of the original.
You won’t necessarily use all these tips for every song because it really depends on what the performer needs. In addition, my wife (who has very small hands) suggests rolling chords and intervals that contain large stretches as another way around this issue. So, this post gives you several ways around the difficulty of playing the piano due to short fingers and small hands that you can explore.
Related Content:
- How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands?
- How to Overcome the Fear of Performing in Front of an Audience
- Why It’s So Hard for Someone with a Good Ear to Learn Sheet Music
- Why Do Minor Keys Sound Sad to Me?
- Do I Really Have to Learn Music Theory to Learn How to Play Piano?
- What Are the Small “>” Signs Above or Below the Notes?
- After They Can Sight-Read What’s Left for Musicians to Learn?
Have fun playing!
© 2022 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for in-person or online lessons today!
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My son was facing issues in playing piano due his short fingers, this piece of content would really help him. Thanks!