Question About Total Keyboard Wizardry

[Drumulus]

I am a novice keyboardist who plays for fun. I've been using the TKW book to improve my musicality. There are many questions I have as I go through the book. Regarding the D Lazy Pinky exercise on page 49, There is a left hand chord in bar 2: G-F-B. This chord repeats throughout the exercise. In bar 3 the chord is D-F#(an octave up). I have average size hands, but these chords seem impossible. How are they supposed to be played?
I can manage the right hand lazy pinky stuff, but those LH intervals are out of reach.

[Enigma™]

If you can't quite reach the D-F# just do D-D

I know JR can reach it pretty easily, but it's a hard 10th to reach sometimes.

Anyway, I think he mentions it in a video somewhere to do the same thing, but for the time being just substitute the octave instead :)

[eric13579]

I have had 4 piano teachers in the past and whenever I run into this problem (which is quite a lot because my hands are tiny >.<) they all told me to play those chords arpeggiated.

[Christopher]

The D-F# chord is just impossible for my hands without hitting the E, but the G-F-B is manageable(not while playing that exercise "fast") if I concentrate only on that chord, luckily, those chords aren't needed for playing good-sounding music :D
Do D-D, 10ths black-black should be possible, white-white really hard and white-black/black-white can only be played by very few piano/keyboard players.
It's easier on my local church's organ, though... they miss ~5 mm per octave to my keyboard and my keyboard misses ~2mm per octave to my piano o.O

[Enigma™]

I have had 4 piano teachers in the past and whenever I run into this problem (which is quite a lot because my hands are tiny >.<) they all told me to play those chords arpeggiated.

Normally I would agree with you entirely, but based on 2 factors:

1 - The original poster is a novice keyboardist who plays for fun.
2 - Jordan Rudess himself in the Online Conservatory said:
"The left hand is playing a standard ragtime accompaniment, which is a technique that also requires some practice. For example, at measure 21 you will find a stretch of a tenth in your left hand. Depending on your personal "reach" this may or may not be possible. If you find it too difficult, play octaves instead. Just play the bottom note and add the octave above"

This was regarding a different piece, however the basic idea is that it's about practice - If it's an etude, it's going to be focusing on a particular aspect of the music, in this case the lazy pinky. The original poster should be focusing on the details of the right hand, not over the trivial "Should I play the 10th or not"

Anyway, when it comes to my personal playing, when I play 10ths that are slightly out of reach I will arpeggiate the 10th into 3 quick notes yes... but for a beginner I would recommend just focusing on the octave until they get to the point that they're comfortable enough to do the 10th. :)

[Drumulus]

Thanks for the responses everyone. So I just won't sweat it. I'll play octaves instead. For GFB, should play G octaves or GF? I am surprised that he would put such a tough chord in an "intermediate" exercise.

Thanks again!

[Enigma™]

Thanks for the responses everyone. So I just won't sweat it. I'll play octaves instead. For GFB, should play G octaves or GF? I am surprised that he would put such a tough chord in an "intermediate" exercise.

Thanks again!

I think the GF should be fine - play it and see how it sounds :)