I first heard about these sticks in 2006 from a series of video lessons by Mark Wessel. I decided to buy one for my daughter. In my opinion, they are not small - only slightly smaller than their SD1 General counterpart. And they can be played by an adult as well - only 1 cm shorter than the 5B and even thicker! However, maple makes them feel lighter and the red color is very attractive. Bottom line - they are not for young elementary school students, despite the name.