The Tale of a Narrow-Key Piano with a Grand Ambition
- Linda Gould
- May 24, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 30, 2025
In a corner, she waits, looking slender and neat,
With just forty-one inches from end cap to seat.
She’s narrow, she’s trim, not a wide-keyed canoe—
But oh… what Athena the piano can do!
With keys that are narrow and closer in span, She makes magic doable for an everyday hand.
No need for a stretch like a spider with shoes,
Now you can play pieces you thought you would lose!
Those octaves? A breeze. Those tenths? A delight!
No cramping, no reaching, no pinky in flight.
No more of that grunt when your fingers fall through—
Oh… what Athena will magically do!
She laughs at Rachmaninoff’s thunderous chords,
And dances through Chopin’s cascading rewards.
Etudes that once made your wrist bones cry “Mercy!”
Now flow like a river, precise and so perky.
Gershwin? Oh Gershwin! Those jazzy old sweeps—
Athena just winks and she purrs as she leaps.
With stride and with swagger, with rhythm and zip,
She nails every run with a wink and a flip!
That left hand once useless, now bold and alive!
That Liszt piece you shelved? Can finally thrive!
Those big-boy bravados once meant for the few—
Are suddenly ready and waiting for you!
She's sleek, not a tank, but her powers are vast,
She shrinks every span but not tempo or blast.
So don’t let her size make you feel she’s too small—
Athena, my friend, can outplay them all!
Come ye with fingers too short, hands not wide,
Come dancers of digits with talent and pride!
The grand works you dreamed of are no longer through—
Oh,.. what Athena — yes, Athena! — can do!
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