Performance & Virtuosity

The Benefits Of Practicing on Narrower Keys

Stop practicing the stretch.
Start playing the music.

The Cognitive Load of Small Hands.

The greater the degree of technical difficulty for a pianist, the greater the amount of practice required. This means the pianist must spend more time on technical issues, with less time and mental capacity to focus on musical issues.

When small-handed pianists play a piece on a smaller keyboard that they previously learnt on the conventional keyboard, it is often a revelation. They immediately become aware of how much physical and mental effort they previously had to invest just to "get the notes" in passages that were not "under the hand".

Suddenly, a pianist no longer has to focus on just reaching the octaves, but has the ability to relax the hand and think about shaping the musical line being played by both hands.

"I realize now, looking back, that most of the time I spent practicing was used trying to overcome difficulties because of my hand-size... If you spend 90% of the time trying to overcome limitations imposed by hand size, then you are truly disadvantaged."

Christopher Donison

Executive Artistic Director, Music by the Sea (Co-inventor of DS keyboards)

“Everything is easier on the 6.0 for me… I feel very comfortable playing scales, fast passages, or big chords”

Claudia Wang

Master's Student at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas

Pianist With 7.2" Handspan

The Proof

See the difference instantly.

Watch Concert Pianist Lionel Yu demonstrate how the DS6.0 transforms technically demanding repertoire into effortless performances.

Play Like Rachmaninoff.

Rachmaninoff had notoriously large hands. For the rest of us, his repertoire means constant jumping and rolling. On the DS6.0, those impossible chords finally fall right under your fingers.

Effortless Octave Tremolos.

Rapid octave passages—like the left hand of Beethoven's Pathétique—require a fraction of the muscular effort, allowing you to play faster, longer, and without fatigue.

Flawless Leaps.

By reducing the physical distance of the leap across the keyboard, notoriously difficult pieces like La Campanella become incredibly manageable, practically eliminating the need to practice purely for the sake of accuracy.

"When jumping from one note to a distantly placed note, small-handed players should use their arms to find the notes and refrain from reaching with the fingers. This necessitates much practice purely for the sake of accuracy."

Brenda Wristen & Lora Deahl (2003)

The #1 Question

"Will this ruin my technique on a standard piano?"

"Another surprising effect for me was that playing this [DS6.0] also has a positive effect when you go back to the normal keyboard."

Hubert Ness

Professor of Jazz Piano, HMDK University of Stuttgart

The reality is the exact opposite of what most people fear. Because the narrower keys teach your hands to play without tension, your brain maps a healthier, more relaxed technique. When you return to a standard piano, that relaxed muscle memory translates with you.

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

While we at DreamPlay — and every small-handed pianist we know — love the narrower keyboard, we can't guarantee every single person will. For this reason, we offer a 90-day full refund, no questions asked policy, including return shipping paid for. We also offer free exchanges in case you try one size and decide you'd like the other.

See full policy details

From the Academy

"I cannot begin to describe the career-changing, and even life-changing, benefits our students have reaped from having these instruments to practice on daily. Their first response though was, 'Why did it take so long? Why did we have to suffer so unnecessarily?'"

Barbara Lister-Sink, Ed.D.

Salem College School of Music, Director, Graduate Music Program

Experience the Revelation.

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