Tiny handed piano player - can you offer me any tips or recommend me repertoire !

Tiny handed piano player - can you offer me any tips or recommend me repertoire that won't kill me?

I've been playing the piano for almost 10 years now... my hand span hits just an octave and my hands tire really easily, especially with octave tremolos (Beethoven sonata) or really technical songs. I need something new to play (just finnished Clair de Lune by Debussy) that will suit my hand size / span.

Relaxation is key. Never never allow your hands and wrists to tense up or you'll put yourself at risk for injury. The more loose you are, the more flexible your hand will be and you may be able to extend your reach, just never do anything that is painful. In terms of your hands tiring easily, I feel like pressing down might be the culprit, so try to concentrate on using the weight from your arms and focusing that through your fingertips as opposed to using the muscles within your hand for pressure on the keys. If you get used to playing like that your hands will have less reason to get tired and it will also help your technique!

I recommend staying away from Rachmaninoff. His hands were famously huge and his compositions show it. Someone mentioned the c# minor prelude; by doing the exact opposite of what I recommended above I developed tendinitis badly enough in my wrists that I had to go on prescription anti-inflammatories and braces just to get through the semester...and then had to take 2 months away from playing (and typing on the computer!) in order to heal. Not good. Might want to stay away from most Liszt, too. Brahms is also very heavy, but for those composers, never automatically rule their pieces out. Look through scores and listen to recordings and make your decision from there as to whether you think it'd be a good choice for you or not.

I would stay closer to Classical and Baroque repertoire; it's lighter than Romantic and later works so weight will be less of an issue and there are rarely large chords, so range will be less of an issue as well. Bach is excellent for technique, and there are many good Mozart and Scarlatti Sonatas. Good luck!