Pianos: one size doesn't have to fit all. Photo: Picasa
There are half-sized violins, and three-quarter-sized double basses, but when it comes to the keyboard - unless you can afford a custom made instrument - you're stuck with one option.
Melbourne-based Rhonda Boyle is one of the founders of PASK (Pianists for Alternatively Sized Keyboards), and its Global Coordinator.
Its aim is to campaign piano makers to manufacture narrower keyboards, enabling musicians with smaller handspans to more comfortably play all the notes demanded of big-handed composers like Rachmaninov.
Rhonda Boyle, co-founder of PASK (Pianists for Alternatively Sized Keyboards). Photo: Supplied
Speaking with RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump, Boyle explained the standard sized keyboard, which demands a six-and-a-half inch reach between octaves, is too much for many - especially women - pianists.
She says making both the white and black keys narrower can cut that octave gap down to six or even five-and-a-half inches.
Boyle says narrower keyboards don't affect the sound of the piano, and it can be possible to interchange between one keyboard and another "in only five minutes".
The ideal scenario for a concert hall would be a grand piano with three keyboards which could be swapped to suit the preference of the pianists themselves.
Boyle says the standard keyboard size used today only established itself at the end of the 19th century. Before then, the likes of Beethoven and Mozart played on pianos with narrower keys.
She says making narrower keys available has been a game changer for many young female musicians.
Persuading piano makers, however, is still a work in progress.
More information on alternatively sized piano keyboards:
