Adaptive Strategies for Small-Handed Pianists brings together information from biomechanics, ergonomics, physics, anatomy, medicine, and piano pedagogy to focus on the subject of small-handedness. The first comprehensive study of its kind, the book opens with an overview of historical, anatomical, and pedagogical perspectives and redresses long-held biases concerning those who struggle at the piano because of issues with hand size. A discussion of work efficiency, the human anatomy, and the cons...

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Key to Abbreviations and Graphic Symbols
• Chapter 1: Understanding Small-Handedness
• Defining the Small Hand
• 1 Demographics of Small-Handedness
• 1 The Evolution of the Modern Piano and Its Relationship to Small-Handedness
• 2 Historical Background
• 2 Ergonomically-Scaled (Reduced-Size) Piano Keyboards
• 1 Pedagogical Misconceptions About Small Hands
• 2 Selection Bias and Other Gender-Related Aspects
• 2 Attempts to Stretch the Small Hand
• 1 Smal...