Different strokes for different folks
October 28, 2016 3:03 PM   Subscribe

Anecdotally speaking, the number of internationally acclaimed male pianists greatly outnumbers the number of similarly acclaimed female pianists. Could it all be because of differences in hand span? CBC Radio's show The Doc Project found that this indeed may be the case. But not to worry! Piano keyboards made for smaller hands are indeed available, courtesy of a textile manufacturer in, of all places, Titusville, PA.
posted by greatgefilte (26 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Part of me hates everything about this.

But another part of me is excited to hear the kinds of things that normal-handed pianists will be able to play on these things.

So if they become popular, the standard of play will have to increase, and the short-fingered vulgarians will demand yet smaller keyboards, which will up the game yet again.

The wheel of time will turn, and ages will come and pass leaving memories that become legend. And when we are all playing via upsizing proxy devices that allow our hands to manipulate microscopic keys via intricate series of linkages and and haptic feedback, someone will dig up an ancient archeological site and the musicians of the day will herald the return of the direct-access pianoforte.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:16 PM on October 28, 2016 [9 favorites]


The wheel of time will turn, and ages will come and pass leaving memories that become legend.

Before that happens, I imagine there will be a push for bigger and bigger keyboards, until people will use giant robohands to play them.

Also, I would be "sexism" has a non-zero role in all of this. (Well, not the tiny or giant keyboards.)
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:28 PM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


This reminds me of the scene from Gattaca with the 12-fingered pianist.
posted by Sangermaine at 3:35 PM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


I've dreamed of such a piano. Now I can play octave chords. Thanks for posting this, greatgefilte!
posted by halonine at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


If every piece of piano music required one to play octaves, this might be true.

However, most piano music does not require one to play octaves. It requires dexterity, and there are ways around all sorts of hand issues. There are even pieces for left hand alone.

As a woman who earned her way to a piano performance spot (the only one granted in my year) in a renowned program, I can attest that women who quit piano programs do so not because their hands are too small, but because of rank misogyny.
posted by fraula at 3:48 PM on October 28, 2016 [56 favorites]


Paging Bach to the white courtesy phone
posted by Doleful Creature at 3:52 PM on October 28, 2016


I want to see a competition that uses the giant dance keyboard from Big.
posted by Beholder at 4:19 PM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


god, it's like nobody ever heard of a microkorg - or a casio cz101 - or ...

by the way, the two pianists who've had a major influence on how i play are laura nyro and joni mitchell, with keith godchaux a somewhat distant third
posted by pyramid termite at 5:02 PM on October 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


"But only hands small!"
posted by belarius at 7:03 PM on October 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


I married solely on the advice of Gordon Gano and, wedded a girl with big hands. She also plays the piano.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:19 PM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Wasn't there some study years ago showing that when music auditions were held behind a curtain, and the judges were truly blind to the race and ethnicity of the auditioner, orchestras suddenly became way more diverse? Unless we're sure that all those critically acclaimed piano jobs are being filled based on blind auditions, I'm pretty suspect of this "small hand" reason for the disparity.

But, kudos for the piano itself. I have nothing but love that the instrument is now accessible to more people.
posted by greermahoney at 8:45 PM on October 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


Accordions were made in the 40-60's that had as many as 41 keys crammed into 13.5" for children mostly, some of them were for female professional players though most of these were 41 keys in 17.5 inches or so.
posted by boilermonster at 11:21 PM on October 28, 2016


Listening to the segment on CBC it was so much fun hearing the joy that some of the players had when using this instrument. The woman who owns the ?first production? model and had basically given up on the piano previously was so happy.

Over my life I've had a couple tools and one model of car that just fit me perfectly. The car especially is like Pontiac created a bespoke automobile just for me. And while not the most stylish, powerful, or best handling automobile (especially by modern standards) it is an effortless joy to drive and was from day 1.

And this week I've been driving a full size van for the first time in 10-12 years. It is also a very comfortable thing for me to drive though that is probably more to do with familiarity as I have 100s of thousands of kilometres driving experience with one.

greermahoney: "Wasn't there some study years ago showing that when music auditions were held behind a curtain, and the judges were truly blind to the race and ethnicity of the auditioner, orchestras suddenly became way more diverse? Unless we're sure that all those critically acclaimed piano jobs are being filled based on blind auditions, I'm pretty suspect of this "small hand" reason for the disparity.
"

The radio segment made the claim that concert pianists aren't only disproportionately men they are also disproportionately men with large hands. The initial developer of the DS keyboard was a man with small hands frustrated by an inability to easily play some concert music.
posted by Mitheral at 7:16 AM on October 29, 2016


Neat! I've always wanted to span two octaves.
posted by michaelh at 7:34 AM on October 29, 2016


Nora wants a piano that better fits her paws.
posted by Carol Anne at 7:57 AM on October 29, 2016


Outside of the Classical world, small keyboards are a happening trend in synth world.
I have a Korg microPiano, it's groovy.
posted by ovvl at 9:00 AM on October 29, 2016


they are also disproportionately men with large hands

This doesn't mean that misogyny isn't also a barrier--or even a bigger barrier than hand size. Misogyny and a bias toward larger hand sizes can exist at the same time. Given the clear evidence that misogyny both exists in the classical music world and holds women back, and women's stories of misogyny impacting their careers...

But even if we could show that it was just hand size, we'd still be stuck with the question of how it came to be that such a culturally important instrument could have an expected repertoire that is exclusionary toward women.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 10:07 AM on October 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


But even if we could show that it was just hand size, we'd still be stuck with the question of how it came to be that such a culturally important instrument could have an expected repertoire that is exclusionary toward women.

I don't see why this should be "hand size" versus "bias against women" because indeed they aren't exactly separable (if smaller-scale pianos are really still not much of a thing).
posted by atoxyl at 11:29 AM on October 29, 2016


I don't know what the story is in reality, but back when I was a procrastinating/loitering student my instructor (who was damn good as it was) told me that she would give her first child for hands my size, and I was in seventh grade.
posted by mr. digits at 10:35 PM on October 29, 2016


Reading my comment I sounded a little snippy. I didn't mean to direct that at you, Mitheral. I'm irritated at the framing of these kinds of stories: "We've figured it out! This is why there aren't many women!"

When the women you're talking about have been there all along, telling you why. But of course, they're women, and what they're telling you is exactly what you're trying to explain away with your neat little story about how men are just biologically advantaged.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:18 AM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


This strikes me less as a piano for people with smaller hands and more as a distinctly different instrument from the standard acoustic piano, much like digital keyboards and pianos have become. I could see this inspiring composers to write new pieces with technical feats that would be less possible on the standard sized keyboard.

Or at a minimum, maybe more people could play Liszt.
posted by bkpiano at 7:25 AM on October 30, 2016


No problem Kutsuwamushi. Being a guy who is at least somewhat aware of the sea of misogyny and sexism we're all floating in I think I can be minimizing in a "well of course there is sexism however it there is also this mechanical thing and the mechanical thing is something interesting and new rather than soul crushing and old so I'm going to talk about the new interesting thing". I also geek out a bit about technological accommodations to impediments to a level playing field. My comment was pretty much both those things.
posted by Mitheral at 8:27 PM on October 30, 2016


We'd still be stuck with the question of how such a culturally important instrument could have an expected repertoire that is exclusionary toward women.

Uh, because dudes with big hands write music they play with their big hands...? Am I the only who sees this as a no-brainer? You extend the capabilities of your body and your instrument as far as you can take them. Anyone who can't do what you do takes a loss. You then build the tool that suits you best. When [you] is [men] you iterate a machine made in your image.

However, most piano music does not require one to play octaves. It requires dexterity, and there are ways around all sorts of hand issues.

Very true, but if you have to spend long periods of practice focusing on dexterity and workarounds rather than extending your repertoire, and you can't play or have to work harder to play the most prestigious works [written by freakily big-handed men], then I'd say you're at a serious disadvantage. Cumulatively you fall behind! Plus, as you said, classic old frank misogyny.

Wonder how many other instruments fall in this category. *cough... construction tools, office air conditioning temp, cell phone panels, chair and table height...*
posted by fritillary at 9:32 PM on October 30, 2016


Paging Bach to the white courtesy phone

Bach used a stick in his mouth to hit the hard-to-reach notes.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:54 PM on October 30, 2016


Trump Piano?
posted by Kabanos at 9:48 AM on October 31, 2016


When [you] is [men] you iterate a machine made in your image.

Rephrasing the problem isn't the same explaining how it isn't a problem.

The point is that it is much easier for us as a society to exclude women than to exclude men from culturally important pursuits. The point is that average sex differences are usually never enough to explain inequalities: you also have to consider how we have responded, historically and culturally, to those differences.

Imagine a world in which there was a prominent musical instrument--with the same status as the piano--that most men could not get jobs playing because their hands were too big.

How many things would have to change? Such an instrument would have a hard time reaching the same status as the piano in the first place, if it so heavily favored women. We would have to have more women composers, writing pieces for themselves. We would have to be a world in which excluding men was just as easy as excluding women, so those pieces would become part of the canon for that instrument, instead of being "niche". And so on.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:24 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


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