Our Mission:
To give pianists a choice of piano key size for public concerts. To establish widespread home use, education, and professional practice using “stretto” narrow keys and newly made stretto pianos, and to establish new standard sizes of piano keys for concerts and piano lessons.
To establish performance opportunities at universities and other learning institutions.
To create commercial venues in the world’s major cities with stretto pianos or convertible pianos used for concerts.
To market narrow keys for the global piano industry, assisting manufacturers with their production and use.
As shown in dozens of videos on our website and YouTube pages, the success of narrow keys in concerts since 2021 is indisputable.
Stretto Piano Events has spearheaded the global movement of piano concerts with “stretto” narrow-key pianos since its founding in 2020, working with artists from five continents, piano manufacturers, and venues who support our mission.
With more than 150 concerts, lectures, and educational programs, we are proud to support the growing demographic of pianists clamoring for size equity, relief from strain and injury, and the joy of full expression while playing pianos that fit their hands.
This mission is not new. Piano key size has never been 100% consistent, including during the 150 years that pianos have been sold in the roughly 6.5-inch octave standard size from the early 1990s to the 21st century by all piano makers.
Before standardization, there were many variables in piano and keyboard instrument key size; pianists played pianos of varying key size routinely — this was part of being a keyboard player.
There were always clients ordering custom-built narrow key pianos in Europe, the USA, and Asia throughout the 20th century., They have been offered in Japan during the 20th century and unceasingly in Europe.
As the largest demographic of pianists shifted from large men to Asian females over ther past 100 years, narrow keys have become desired and discussed by more and more piano buyers.
We are here to serve and help educate them with the global narrow-key movement, primarily by exemplifying narrow keys in action, played by professionals, amateurs, kids, and all adults including seniors. When you witness narrow keys in concerts, there is no doubt of their usefulness.
Vision:
To produce and promote widely publicized year-round concerts that use stretto pianos, instruments with narrower-than-conventional keys
To elevate media visibility in major cities like New York to have centers for year-round concerts
To include professionals and amateurs of all ages and music genres to participate in the use of stretto pianos for concerts, practice, rehearsals, composition, and education
To selectively attract stretto instruments to be used in the New York venue and other venues
To showcase the new manufacturers that are creating stretto pianos and keyboards worldwide
Values:
To promote equity and inclusion in these endeavors and to report on our progress and success
Anti-bigotry, pro- inclusion, freedom of expression for all sizes, ages, genres, and genders
Our goal is to produce and promote as many concerts that use stretto pianos which have narrower-than-conventional keys, in major cities and those that are already have these instruments. We would like to expand the number of concerts that use stretto pianos as quickly as possible to concert halls everywhere.
This way, stretto artists could tour and perform in those venues, spreading awareness of the usefulness they provide and the joy that is created by playing them, engaging the media, and inviting untapped audiences and followers.
In New York City, we are willing to spread global awareness of stretto pianos by producing concerts using Ms. Reimann’s own stretto grand piano in a dedicated performance space and inviting artists from around the world to perform there. We will also produce a documentary feature film. We have already received requests and agreements from busy, touring artists, up-and-coming artists and educators.
We would prefer to include one piano with the conventional 6.5-inch octave at our concerts, so that pianists could have a choice of key size.
The momentum, energy, and inspiration from our events has inspired and continues to inspire manufacturers to participate by building and offering stretto pianos.
Our ultimate goal of establishing two alternative standard sizes of key (5.5 and 6.0 inch) for both grand, upright, and electronic pianos throughout the world could gradually unfold this way, addressing a worldwide community’s needs in our lifetime.
What is a Stretto Piano?
Stretto means narrow in Italian.
Stretto pianos comprise a category of keyboard instruments that include the following:
Pianos that were rebuilt to have keys narrower than those in the original instrument (like the 88-key, 48-inch keyboards found in Yamaha, Steinway, Kawai etc. pianos) to have 44-inch keyboards or other smaller sizes. Over the years, several pioneers are determining through studies that 6.0-inch octave keyboards and 5.5-inch octave keyboards are comfortable for most pianists.
Pianos that were built originally with keys that are narrower than the conventional wood-and-metal pianos from the 20th and 21st centuries such as historic ones (harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos) and new ones that have 88 or fewer keys (like Moog synthesizers).
Any other piano keyboard that has 88 keys and is narrower than 48 inches or that has fewer than 88 keys and has an octave span less than 6.5 inches.
Pianos with various key widths have existed since keyboard instruments were first invented centuries ago. In the mid-to-late 19th century, however, cast iron piano frames were invented in order to keep up with the demands of larger performance halls. This innovation caused a significant increase of the octave span. Famous male, large-handed virtuosos, like Franz Liszt, started touring at this time and played the bigger instruments with ease. Prominent manufacturers standardized these powerful pianos of the late nineteenth century, mass-producing the conventional size we have today.
Since then, pianists with smaller hands have found this conventional size challenging to play, and have even experienced playing-related injuries in many cases. Many artists realized that one size does not fit all, especially for repertoire written by composers who had or have large hands.
Composer, inventor, and pianist Josef Hofmann, for example, had several Steinway grand pianos made in the early and mid-20th century with narrower keys, with an octave about 6.3 inches!
In the 1990s, pianist Christopher Donison and engineer David Steinbuhler came together to create an official smaller keyboard size. Steinbuhler established the DS Foundation in 2018 which now offers DS6.0® (approximately 15/16 width of conventional) with a 6.0-inch octave and the DS5.5® (approximately 7/8 width) with a 5.54-inch octave.
Please see the paskpiano.org website for articles, information, and multiple studies.
Today, more people want a choice of piano key size, and the late 20th century and early 21st century have presented more freedom for musicians seeking out solutions in terms of key size. Facilitated by globalization, fewer boundaries in language, and the use of the internet to exchange information, for communication and innovation, the demand for Stretto Pianos is growing with increasing speed, interest, and passion.