| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: small hands, fat sound | |
| bubbawny -- 12/10/2004, 09:50:35 -- #9583 | |
| Ok. I have small hands ( i can reach a ninth). But I love the sound of 10ths! If i put my left hand pinky on c below middle c i can reach e with my thumb above middle c....barely! and i usually end up nudging D and B. I love the sound of root, 3rd(8va) in the left hand. But I just can't grab it without bumping adjacent notes. Any advice? | |
| Mike -- 12/10/2004, 09:54:03 -- #9585 | |
| Play inverted tenths. Otherwise known as minor 6ths. | |
| Jazz+ -- 12/10/2004, 10:28:20 -- #9587 | |
| You will have to roll it or stick with bebop open 7ths and 3rds. You can also roll the 1 5 10 arpeggios with or without pedal. | |
| Dr. Whack -- 12/10/2004, 12:31:34 -- #9590 | |
| Don't give up. You may be able to stretch your reach a bit further. (hard to say without seeing your hands) My left hand is the same size as might right but I can reach a 10th with ease using my left and not so easily with my right, mainly because I walk 10ths quite a bit and I've stretched it to the point where I can form a straight line from the end of my pinky to the end of my thumb...I can now reach an 11th in the same way you describe reaching a 10th... You might try placing your pinky and thumb at the edge of a table and do a sort of "splits" stretch several times a day...mainly to stretch the webbing between your thumb and index finger... if not, all of the bove are great suggestions good luck~ | |
| Mike -- 12/11/2004, 18:37:11 -- #9618 | |
| I can reach tenths relatively easily. But when I studied at Berklee my teacher was an asian woman with hands half my size. She flew around the piano had a sound twice as fat as mine using inverted tenths. It has nothing to do with the size of your hands it is how you use what you got. | |
| Jazz+ -- 12/12/2004, 10:58:51 -- #9628 | |
| I had that same teacher at Berklee, what was her name? I can't remember it. | |
| MoJazz -- 12/13/2004, 01:16:52 -- #9637 | |
| You might try using your right hand thumb to play the top note of the tenth interval along with the left hand to play the bottom note (if you don't want to "roll" the tenth with just the left hand.) I have a student who was working on "Stardust" (Dan Fox's arrangement from the Reader's Digest Book, great book!). He couldn't reach the many chordal and intervallic tenths without rolling the notes. However, playing the tune this way changed the arrangement's "style". So, we worked on the fingering for the tenths and he could now play the arrangement as it was intended. This is very effective and easier to play on slower ballad-type tunes. PS - Dave McKennna can use this technique so well on fast tunes that it sounds like he is playing with three hands! | |
| bubbawny -- 12/13/2004, 10:54:59 -- #9647 | |
| thanks for the advice guys! I will give them a try! | |
| bubbawny -- 12/13/2004, 10:56:23 -- #9648 | |
| hey, before i forget: Any musicians you can think of that have small hands for jazz piano? | |
| savage -- 12/13/2004, 12:33:50 -- #9651 | |
| Michel Petrucciani had small hands and short fingers, but that didnīt stop him from being one of the best! savage | |
| Seb -- 12/13/2004, 13:32:29 -- #9653 | |
| As far as I know from video, Michel Petrucciani was very small because of his disease but his head and hands were the size of a normal adult person. (his hands even seems to be quite tall.... but maybe it's because he is so small) Anyway what an amazing musician he was! | |
| Mike -- 12/13/2004, 14:15:30 -- #9657 | |
| If you had that same teacher at Berklee Jazz+ it is PDU (pretty damn unlikely) you would forget her name. | |
| amanmahajan -- 12/14/2004, 00:19:29 -- #9671 | |
| I'm in kinda the same position as the original poster; can reach tenths, but no comfortably yet. Thought I'd just stick with it and see if I can use it at some point. Any exercises I can do (apart from the tabletop stretch?) | |
| 7 -- 12/14/2004, 09:10:08 -- #9678 | |
| RE: Stretching Take your time. Don't over do it. You can stretch your hand anytime you please (at work, at home, while watching TV) and you don't need any special equipment. Just stretch your thumb and pinky out as far as they'll go. Hold it for 10 or 20 seconds. Incidentally, you're not stretching the tendons. The main part of the hand that stretches is the "web" between your thumb and forefinger. Meanwhile, perfect your mastery of broken tenths. In a few years when you've succeeded in stretching your hand as far as it will go, you'll be rewarded by being able to do all styles of tenths fluently. | |
| Copyright Đ 2005 by Scot Ranney. All rights reserved. | |
| Click Here for more information about performances and clinics. Click Here to sign up for Scot's music announcements. | |