Can most pianists play E–F# ninth by left hand?
The whole question is in the title actually. I'm arranging some songs, and I wonder whether most pianists can play the ninth E–F# by their left hand. In my arrangement it's in the comfortable bass position (E2–F#3 in the scientific notation) and it's in a series of sustained half-notes so no hurry down there.
Will most pianists be able to play it? Is there any standard on what to assume people manage?
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It's tough to say whether "most" can, since we don't really have full statistics on the piano-playing population.
With that said, composers throughout history have used the interval of a 9th relatively frequently. If you are arranging these songs for piano players that have at least a fair amount of experience, they will have encountered 9ths before and will know how best to deal with them. (The difficulty really comes with adding in a third pitch in the middle of the 9th; E2--B2--F#3 is much more difficult to play than E2--F#3.)
There's no real standard, but as aleph says in his comment, the 9th is right about the limit. 10ths and larger exist, but they are more rare and typically only occur as rolled chords.
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