It’s been years since I’ve been able to do this. No matter what your wingspan, there’s always an interval that feels just out of reach on the keyboard. For many, that’s a tenth. It’s a particularly useful interval because it allows for you to play deep bass notes without it sounding muddy.
Some of you may be aware I’ve been dealing with a degenerative hand condition. It’s disrupted my relationship with the piano, but now after a procedure I’m retraining my hand, starting with my reach — which brings me to today’s video. Thoughts on playing wide intervals, and a couple things I learned from physical therapy. Now a quick disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and some of you may know that Robert Schumann famously destroyed his hands trying to strengthen them with a contraption that he built himself. Take this as personal insight, not medical advice.
Playing wide intervals isn’t just about stretch — it’s about clearing the adjacent notes. This can be tricky, especially when you’re avoiding raised black notes for white keys. I’ve had better luck by approaching them from underneath. And while that defies traditional wrist positioning, at the extremes of your reach some contortion may be necessary.
I’ve often found that a pinching motion can be particularly helpful, because it reduces accidental contact with the neighboring notes by squeezing in slightly.
Here’s an exercise from physical therapy: you can do it with or without the support of your other hand. Hold the position, do them like push-ups. The idea is to try and keep this part of the finger stiff. Additionally, here’s an exercise that was shared with me by one of our kind followers: increasing interval and a gentle rotation. But for me, this pinching motion has been a targeted exercise that makes intervals more manageable. I’ve got a long road ahead of me, but it occurs to me that everyone has difficulty with the intervals at the extremities of their reach, so stretching, pinching, and changing the angle of attack has been helpful enough that I wanted to share that little victory.
