I was on Google the other day, looking up some information when I saw something utterly ridiculous. It was about piano players being skinny. I have never even heard of this before. This is a concept that doesn’t just seem absurd, it is absurd.
This immediately got me thinking about piano players I know personally, other piano teachers I’ve met and the numerous professional piano players that I’ve seen on tv and You Tube over the years. There may only be a handful that I would describe as skinny. Quite a number I would describe as slim. Many I would describe as overweight. Your weight does not determine your ability to reach all the keys, let alone how well you can play the piano.
I would even go so far to say that no body, shape or size, tall or short would even make a difference to how well you can play the piano. Even though I am a tall person, I have been overweight and I have been skinny and everything else in between and it has never, ever been a factor in how well I can play.
Even though I am quite tall, I do not have lovely long fingers that are usually associated with playing the piano well. Actually, my hands and fingers are quite small and the ONLY limitation I have is that I can’t play the interval of a tenth (which is stretching your fingers approximately 22cm). Even though I have this one limitation, its important to point out that there is not a lot of pieces of piano music that use the 10th and there is a technique to get around this situation.
I think its utter nonsense that you need to have certain body dimensions to be able to play the piano well. That statement might seem easy to say when you are tall but I wasn’t always tall to play the piano. As I was six years old when I first started learning to play the piano, I do remember a time when I couldn’t reach the pedals, but it was never considered an issue. I’ve also taught many kids over the years that were too short to reach the pedals and it was not a big deal at all.
If you have a look on You Tube, you will be able to find people of all shapes and sizes playing the piano, from the tall to the short, including people who have dwarfism. There are also clips of thin and overweight piano players. I’ve found videos of people with dwarfism and people in wheelchairs playing the piano successfully.
The point is that no matter what shape or size you are or your hands are, whether you are tall or short or whether you even need the assistance of a wheelchair, you can learn to play the piano if its what you really want to do. Any so called ‘obstacle’ can be overcome or got around, somehow. Don’t let the opinions of others deter you.
If you do have physical limitations that you are finding a hindrance to learning or playing the piano, then I recommend you seek out a piano teacher who can help you in finding creative solutions to your particular situation.