Smaller Hands? Smaller Keyboards!

As a continuation of last week’s post, I will relay some very interesting information from professor Carol Leone’s presentation a few weeks ago. She has helped to redesign the piano keyboard to fit smaller hands! Today’s conventional keyboard has an octave (8 notes) of 6.5 inches. There is now a keyboard that has a 6 inch octave (and if you ask for this specifically, Steinway will give it to you with the piano of your choice). There is also a keyboard with an octave that is 5.5 inches. What a dream! Although the black keys are smaller, of course, this would make playing larger intervals and chords possible (and comfortable!) for people with smaller or less flexible hands. Although Steinway doesn’t offer this yet, there are people who custom design them. And apparently, for many pianos, it is quite easy to just swap out one keyboard for another. Who knew?! Professor Leone chooses her repertoire based on the availability of keyboard sizes. If the piano where she’s performing can change keyboards, she has a wider range of repertoire to choose from. 

Here she is playing the Chopin Polonaise-Fantasy on the DS5.5 keyboard. Wow! 

Chopin’s keyboard was much smaller than that of today’s conventional keyboard. Eight of his keys could fit into seven of ours. In a way it makes it that much more impressive for people to still be able to execute his music so flawlessly, even with this huge difference. But it also makes it unfair for people with smaller or less flexible hands. I don’t see them allowing these keyboards into the competitions anytime soon, but who knows- maybe one day! 😊

Barenboim (one of my favourite Beethoven players) uses a smaller keyboard as well. I knew he had smaller hands, but didn’t realize he used a smaller keyboard. Fascinating! If even the most idolized performers can use them, then why not everyone else?! I would love to try one out. Being that I am learning more demanding repertoire as an adult, my hands are not as flexible as I would like them to be. This smaller keyboard would eliminate many of the challenges I’ve been facing in my practice and performance. Apparently it only takes 5 minutes to adjust from the 6.5 to a 6 inch, and if you’re going all the way down to 5.5 it might take up to an hour. That’s no time at all! Especially when I think about how many hours I’ve spent trying to wrap my hands around some of these chords! 😅

Since this is still a fairly new concept, piano manufacturers haven’t warmed up to the idea of putting the DS 5.5 on the market just yet. They feel there isn’t enough demand. Which is why there is a petition to advocate for them to make this available! We need to show them that there IS a market for it! So please sign if you find this even the least bit interesting, as you could be helping a lot of people to play more beautifully and without fear of injury. I’ve already signed 😀 Here’s the link: Sign petition: Need piano keyboards that fit our hands · GoPetition.com Just scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign!