No Need to Give Up! Special Tips for Small-Handed Pianists [Part I] (2024)

Voicing - Less Thumb!

Now let’s work on “voicing.” Voicing is an important concept in piano playing. There are so many notes in piano music, but some notes are more important than the others. When you bring out those important notes in a chord or octave, you are “voicing” them well. How does this concept help the pianists with small hands? Here is how: traditionally, unless notated otherwise, the outer voices - the bass and the top note - are more important. This means, you do not need to play everything at the same dynamic. Our thumb, which is a major tension holder, can actually relax quite a bit when playing chords or octaves.

Instead of focusing on making the pinky louder, here is the secret to make the voicing easier AND automatically reduce the tension: change the ANGLE of the hand! Simply twist the hand as if you are twisting a doorknob, slightly to the right (when it’s right hand of course), then you can easily focus your weight on the pinky side of your hand, which helps to relax your thumb.

These two techniques are very useful when you are learning repertoire that contains a lot of chords and octaves.

If you are not sure that you are doing it right, watch the video below to get a better understanding and practice tips for voicing. Also, this video will show you how to “follow-through” with your arm after playing a chord in order to release the muscle tension. This will help you to have nice round sound with less tension.

Use of correct hand mechanism - Open & Close

As I mentioned above, small-handed pianists tend to over stretch their hands for a long period of time. Many beginner and intermediate students seem to have tense hands. It probably comes from the fear of losing track of the fingerings or notes. But the more you are afraid, the more tense you will become.

Shown in the photos below, our hands have the ability to open and close. It’s the same mechanism as the traditional Asian fan. If we could close the hand when we don’t use it, that would save us so much energy and we can avoid unnecessary tension. However, in order to do so, we all need to know when and how.

This technique is also very useful to be used with the concept of shifting the angle of the hand. The video below introduces when and how to use this open-close mechanism with the idea of shifting the hand angle is also explained. Most likely you can use this mechanism whenever you see: (1) repetitive patterns (i.e. Alberti bass, waltz bass, arpeggio), (2) large leaps, and (3) fast rolls.

Use of correct hand mechanism - Hand “Door Knob” Rotation

Another mechanism that pianists tend to forget is rotation. We “twist” the doorknob to open the door. We can use this mechanism very effectively in the piano playing. For any passages that use the thumb or pinky as the pivot, such as octave tremolos and repetitive broken chords, this technique will be useful to play difficult phrases with less tension in the wrist.

The video below explains and demonstrates the rotation technique. Once you master this technique, you will notice that playing the piano feels much easier. In fact, you can use the subtle version of this technique to pretty much everything that you are working on.

Pain-Free Practice Tips

Tip 1: Play, then Close Hands (Make a fist)

When tackling challenging phrases that have a lot of big chords or octaves in succession, play, then close your hands is a useful practice method. This is very simple. Play as slow as you like, or as fast as you like, but always close your hands, after once or twice of repeating the same phrase. This action loosens the tensed muscles and it resets the unnecessary muscle tension. When you are practicing, you are engraving in your muscle a kinesthetic memory. When the muscle remembers the tension, it becomes dangerous, because your muscle will tense up automatically whenever you play the same phrase. This method is useful, especially if you would like to work on the same section for a long time.

Tip 2: Video Record Yourself or Practice in Front of a Mirror

When you are learning music, you are so focused on the music that you might not pay much attention to your posture and gestures. However, the more you pay attention to your physical needs, you will be more likely to be productive in practice sessions. For the best results, video record yourself. The camera should capture your whole upper body from a side angle. Watch out for:

(1) High Wrist Position: small-handed pianists tend to play octaves with high wrist. This is a common habit and you will need to consciously fix this habit, otherwise, your arm will start to have pain.

(2) Shoulder Tension: If you notice that your shoulders are tensed up, think of a long neck. Think to yourself, Head Up, Neck Long, Shoulders Down. Just thinking about the arrows going up and down onto your head and shoulders helps to reduce the shoulder tension.

(3) Stiff or No Movement of the Wrist or Arm: When all the joints are moving effectively, shoulders, elbows and wrists should look completely free. Nothing is locked into one position. The arm should always follow behind the finger that you are currently playing with. Are you following through the gesture? Are you releasing the muscle after you play the chords?

Tip 4: Mindful Repetition

Small-handed pianists have to be smart when it comes to practicing. We cannot afford to just play octaves all the time! Before working on the challenging sections, ask these question: Do I know the notes? Do I know the harmony? Do I know the dynamics? Do I have the musical ideas? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, then, try these methods: play the top line (melody line) only to figure out what works the best musically. Play the melody and the bass line to hear the counterpoint. Or play the chords with two hands to have the sound in your head. Once you really have the right idea and appropriate sound in your head, then you can start working on it slowly. The more you spend time studying the music away from the piano, the quicker you will get to the final result and you can minimize the time you have to stretch the hands!

Bonus Tip: Invest in a piano with ⅞ inch or 15/16 inch keys

Have you ever imagined what it would be like if pianos existed in different sizes like the violin does? Well, they actually exist! Unfortunately this would be the ultimate and most expensive choice for small-handed pianists. Additionally, they are also sold as an installable keyboard that you can order and install on your home piano. Companies, such as Steinbuhler & Company (USA), the Walter (USA), Cunningham Piano of Philadelphia (USA), Laukhuff (Germany), Kluge (Germany), and Pinkham Pianos (UK), make these narrower size keyboards. I have attended a conference in the past where the speaker introduced one of those narrower keyed pianos, and a few students performed on it and the regular piano back to back. The result was obvious - much less tension, secure octave and chord execution, and a much rounder tone production. Of course this choice is not for everyone, but it is nice to know there is a piano that perfectly matches your hand size and you do not have to give up playing certain repertoire just because you cannot reach!

To Be Continued

All of these techniques seem such a subtle change, but these small changes make a big difference! The better understanding you have about your own body and hand mechanisms, the more you will be able to enjoy your endeavours with the piano. Are your hands too small to play the piano? NOT AT ALL! Once you find what works for YOU, you can play anything you like! So, keep up the good work!

Stay tuned for the next article where I will share more tips for you to enjoy the piano regardless of your hand size!