Hi Paradisi,

Your length to your middle finger is longer than mine but your thumb to fifth finger is the same. I also reach a 9th with no problem and cannot go to a 10th. However, I now have a bit of a problem in that I used to be able to put down octaves without even thinking about them. Meaning - my hand naturally 'remembered' how that stretch felt. But I've been playing a lot of music with 9ths the past few months and now my hand has 'forgotten' the feel of an octave. I'm making more mistakes because of that.

use your 4th finger and thumb to play an octave

That's what I try to remember to do when going from white to black key octaves.

Hi Pianolady

I hardly ever do songs with lots of 9ths, once when doing a song with too many big stretches, my hand got a strange lump by the knuckle - doctor said it was nothing, but I've been leery of doing too BIG of a piece since then! (It did go away.)

Also - nice name! I tried to sign in with that as that's what I get called all the time (I play for our school's choirs - so when they see me elsewhere it's "YOU'RE THE PIANOLADY!"

Oooh, that sounds bad! I know a woman piano teacher who developed a 'trigger finger'. I think that's what it is called. Her finger got stuck in a bent shape and she could not move or straighten it. She got a cortisone shot in the finger and then was able to move it, again. But still - things like that are scary.