Hi lefties
i am a true left handed ( ie i write with my left hand, kick with left foot and so on) but i have always played guitar and then bouzouki like a right handed.
It was because when i started ( a long time ago...) it was difficult to find a reverse instrument.
After so many years i think there is little difference between me and a right handed player because i think i ve reached a satisfatory skill with my right hand concerning speed and precision( both flat or finger picking).
I play a little bodhran with my left hand and if i imagine to play anything i do it like a lefty .
Could i be a better player if i played like mother nature wished?? Who knows...
How many of you are true left handed ?? How did you manage the problem playing guitar, fiddle, pipes, flute, box and so on ??
Did the fact of being " different" change your choices ??
Greetings from the world in the mirror
Marco
I'm a true lefty also and play all of my instruments (pipes, fiddle, flute, guitar, etc.) right handed. I don't believe I've ever given a moment's thought to ever playing right handed. It's never occurred to me that I could play anything better if I played left handed. Any problems I had were sorted out by more practice until I got it right. I don't play bodhran, but I think I would hold the tipper in my left hand if I did.
I'm a true leftie, playing right-handed guitar. It all started when I began to play piano and could not reverse it.
Now seriously, after a compulsory right-hand indoctrination in my childhood, at the moment I'm partly left handed (writing, drawing, some activities demanding precision, archery, shooting), partly right handed (throwing, playing instruments, fighting, general dexterity) and partly ambidextrous (I never know how to place utensils on the dinner table and have to look at my watch when seeing a 'keep left' sign). I'm absolutely left-legged, if you excuse the expression. Sometimes it is confusing, but it's not affecting my ability to play. When I started to play guitar, I asked my first teacher which way would be better for me, since I'm a leftie. He said: Better learn it like a right-handed, you will be able to play other peoples' guitars on campsites. His were the words of wisdom.
Well i'm right handed but play whistle & flute like a lefty ie. right hand on top. Probably because at primary school I was allowed to play the Recorder with right hand on top ( recorders all you ever got in Scottish schools) and nobody ever set me right. It's never bothered me one way or the other and Hammy made my embouchure for a lefty when he made my keyless, but it certainly restricts my ability to buy keyed flutes unless specially made.
HMMM- I am right handed, play my uilleann pipes with my right hand on the bottom of the chanter. I just picked up my whistle and realized that my right hand is on the top set of holes. Uh... is that incorrect? Should it be the other way around??? I just started whistle so I think I can break this habit if its incorrect. I probably want to mimic my pipe chanter position to take advantage of muscle memory.
Left hand on top for my Uilleann pipes, flute and whistle. I often memorize tunes using the whistle and then apply them to the pipes and flute. I can't imagine the amount of confusion that would result otherwise.
I'm a true lefty...play whistle with left hand on top (which seems to feel more "lefty" to me than the other way). I'm contemplating taking fiddle someday and will play the standard way...seems like it would be easier anyway, with the left hand doing all the fingerings. Though when I was younger, I didn't play strings because I picked up the violin with the "wrong" hands it it felt unnatural for me to use the right hand to hold the bow.
I'm one more true leftie, who plays my instruments like a right handed person, and it have always felt like the natural way to hold the instruments for me. Especially when I was a beginner on the guitar, when taking the chords was the hard thing.
But I must admit that I play the Bodhran with the beater in my left hand, and I would never dream of reversing it.
Janek--if you are reading this--what's with the using your right hand for fighting?(!) You've given me such good advice about the guitar, I hope you'll excuse this:
Take care of your hands. (speaking as a nurse--and a mom.) There are surgeons whose only specialty is hand surgery. And they get a lot of business. Some physical therapists specialize only in working with musicians, and they're busy too.
All right, end of nag.
No bother, Gina, I appreciate your concern. *grin*
I used to practice some martial arts, for a very short time though, and gave it up exactly because of the concern for the hands. When I was thinking of the examples of this weird forced split in activities between my hands, I remembered my sensei, who always regarded me as a weirdo because of this. In critical situations (yes, reality stinks sometimes) I rely on fast legs and stamina.
Janek, when I was at school our judo teacher told us that the best defence was 100 yards in 10 seconds down the road (100m in 11 secs in today's metric).
Trevor
Speaking as a confirmed right-hander (donning my bulletin-proof vest in anticipation of a barrage of abuse from die-hard lefties), I can see no logical reason why a left handed person should find the whistle any easier to play left-handed than right-handed - the actionn of the right and left hand are fundamentally similar. It would seem to be purely a matter of convention. I do, however, question whether this is the case for stringed instruments - in particular, those of the fretted and the bowed variety. For these instruments the left and right hands play entirely different roles. It is probably true to say that the proportion of musicians who are left handed is far greater than the proportion who play their instruments the opposite way round from the norm, so it is clearly possible for a left-handed person to become accomplished at playing right-handed. In fact, I have never seen a fiddler play left handed (although I believe Finbar Dwyer does - with his fiddle strung as normal). Indeed, I have never heard of a fiddle made for left-handed stringing (Simply reversing the order of the strings would result in a very unresponsive instrument).
Regarding plucked instruments, the action involved in using a plectrum seems to me to be similar to that involved in writing. So, perhaps somebody who has learned to write with their left hand would feel most comfortable using a plectrum with that hand. Of course, this does not necessarily apply to playing fingerstyle, since the actions of the left and right hands are much more similar.
On a more fanciful note, I have often wondered about the effects on playing of the different functions of the left and right sides of the brain. If a left-handed person learns to play right-handed, do they play differently to how they would play, had they learned to play left-handed? Obviously, this cannot be proven. I have toyed with the idea, myself, of learning to play left-handed, to see whether I would instinctively develop a different style of using a plectrum with my left hand, and a different style of fingering with my right. But when I pick up a mandolin the wrong way round, I realise what a huge mountain there is to climb, in order achieve any sort of competence (When I first took up the mandolin, I was already fairly competent at using a pen with my right hand, as well as playing a bit of guitar, so the challenge was not nearly so great). It would take someone with greater stamina than me.
I'm a leftie. I began to play fiddle left handed, then was told to play it "properly" so I had to retrain myself to play it the standard "right handed" way. Fair enough, I'm a decent player now, but it took a wee bit of getting used to. I play my flute lefthanded though, (right hand on top) and it doesnt make a difference. its a lefthanded flute.
David, in Bristol we have a fine l-h mandolin player (also a member here), with his mandolin set up for l-h playing. He has recently started learning the fiddle and initially has one with the strings reversed, although I have no doubt in due course he'll have one specially set up.
Setting up a fiddle for l-h playing is a fairly major job, but when done properly there is no reason why the fiddle shouldn't be as good as any r-h instrument.
What is involved is:
1. Repositioning the internal bass bar, which means taking the instrument apart. The bass bar is a bar of wood fixed very accurately to the underside of the belly and extending most of the length of the interior of the fiddle, almost parallel to the longitudinal axis. In a r-h fiddle it is more or less under the G string. I believe its main function is to distribute the vibrations over the belly plate. Old instruments (early 18c for example) had relatively short bass bars and a smaller tone as a consequence. Bass bars should be replaced periodically (we're talking a fair number of years here, so don't worry!)
2. Fitting and positioning a new sound post, which will now be on the other side of the longitudinal axis.
3. Fitting and profiling a new bridge (you can't just reverse the old one).
4. Fitting and shaping a new fingerboard - its shape is related to the profile of the bridge.
5. Repegging the peg box so that the pegs are now a mirror image of the pegs in a r-h peg box. The reasons for this are two-fold: the lengths of the strings, and the fact that if the pegs remain in the r-h configuration the peg that now takes the E-string on a l-h fiddle (the former G-string on a r-h fiddle) will interfere with the postioning of the player's hand, which could knock the peg loose.
6. Getting hold of a l-h chinrest (and sholder-rest if required).
Trevor
I'm right-handed but when I started playing the whistle I picked it up left-handed and was never corrected (Peter!) and found it impossible to change over. Now I play the flute left-handed as well. its not really a problem and can be handy as I play with a right-handed flute player and we can position outselves more comfortably to play with me on the left and her on the right, we don't clash flutes and can hear each other really well.
On Saturday night I took in a duo at a pub and the flute player was playing left handed. I had never seen a left handed player before (obviously this is not unique, but it threw me for a loop) He was really quite amazing at it. I asked him at the first break if he was left handed and he said no he was right handed. He had learned that way as a kid and nobody corrected him. So I have a theory that it doesn't matter which way you learn. There is potential for greatness either way whether you are right or left handed or learn right handed or left handed and any combination thereof.
David.I am a righty..Due to problems with fine motor system on my left side I had to switch hands. I still play the right handed fiddle but I now bow with my left hand. I can testify that there is a huge difference in my music due to the switch over between the dominant arm and subordinate arm relative to the the respective controlling side of the brain.
Not easy, but worth it!. I can play any fiddle still, and have better insight now into playing. Sort of "seeing both sides of the problem".
My Great Grandpa was left handed - but in those days it was frowned upon, and he was forced to live as a righty.
One day, in a working accident he broke his right hand quite severely - so he reverted to being a lefty.
Then - another day in a working accident he broke his left hand quite severely - so he reverted to being a righty.
When he was all healed up he could write equally well with either hand (but not both at once). As a trick, he also practised until he could sign his name, producing an identical signature, with either left or right hand, and either right way up or upside down.
What's the musical connection? I hear you all cry. He played fiddle on the back step until the shadow of his elbow wore the paint off the door.
If I played whistle, I would play it cross-handed. It's my instinctive move - as with any other instrument that's strange to me - trumpet, bodhran, flute, etc - I attempt to play with the opposite hands from everyone else.
I started guitar and fiddle from a fairly early age, so it wasn't really a problem to play the normal way.
I'm left-handed and left-footed for everything else non-musical.
I am left-handed and play both right and left-handed instruments. I've found that I progressed much more rapidly and with better motor-memory when I played left-handed instruments. Hence, if given the choice, I play left-handed instruments. Where I live, it is very common to see left-handed players playing on left-handed instruments. Left-handed guitars are quite common and even left-handed violins are available, if one looks for them.
I read once that of the general global population, only about 10-15% consider themselves as "left handed." Still, a smaller number, around 2-3% consider themselves strictly left-handed. And a smaller number still, about 1%, are almost completely ambidextrous. I think that when we talk about left-handed musicians, we are talking about a rather obtuse subject, from the stand point that there is great variation in what a "left-handed" person can be. On one side of the scale we can be "left-handed," where we do most fine motor skills with left hand side of the body, but for convenience have learned to be a bit ambidextrous (such as using right-handed scissors, notebooks, pens, musical instruments & etc.); to being strongly left-handed, where we go out of our way to find and/or make tools and instruments that conform to the left-hand.
In certain Northern European countries, and the Americas, there is a long tradition of left-handed fiddlers and violinists, as well as instruments made for the left-hand--but, keeping in mind that this is something that only about 2-3% of the population would be interested in (actually a minutia of possible interest, when one considers that a very small number of that 2-3% would have been/will be musicians), was left to the fog of time. In North America, I come accross left-handed instruments built from the middle of the 19th century to present at out of the way shops, very frequently. Most sit on the shelves collecting dust, waiting for that member of the 2-3% or 1-3% to come along. I've been told by some dealers, that a "lefty string instrument" is the bane of their inventory. They hate having them, as stock that collects dust, generates no income.
Usually, this works in favour of the would-be buyer. I've purchase left-handed violins at quite a lower cost than the same instrument (maker and era) in right-hand model--and far less than commisioning a new model.
Dear Folks: Thanks for the comments, I have a question too. I'm a right-handed person who taught myself to play the pennywhistle over the internet. There should be great big giant signs on pennywhistle instructions that say, "LEFT HAND GOES ON TOP!" The tiny itty-bitty picture of the person holding a pennywhistle just didn't make this clear enough for me. I accidently taught myself how to play like a left-handed person with my right hand on top. I only found this out when a friend gave me her band flute to learn to play. I now have such empathy for real left-handed people. Since I don't want to learn new fingering, I've pretty much limited my chances to learn to play any other wind instrument. I have seen a comment in this discussion thread that said that someone played a flute left-handed. What type of inexpensive and moderately priced flutes could I play? Does the embrouchure hole work right and left-handed? Will the holes be in a straight line? Someone mentioned that they learned how to play the recorder left-handed. The holes are set up for right-handed people so they sure must have some contortions going on with their fingers. I play with other folk & church musicians so a tuneable model would be my preferred option.
As an additional comment, you folks sure can get wound up over some issues, you're discussions can really be a hoot sometimes.
investigation on left handed players
investigation on left handed players
Hi lefties
i am a true left handed ( ie i write with my left hand, kick with left foot and so on) but i have always played guitar and then bouzouki like a right handed.
It was because when i started ( a long time ago...) it was difficult to find a reverse instrument.
After so many years i think there is little difference between me and a right handed player because i think i ve reached a satisfatory skill with my right hand concerning speed and precision( both flat or finger picking).
I play a little bodhran with my left hand and if i imagine to play anything i do it like a lefty .
Could i be a better player if i played like mother nature wished?? Who knows...
How many of you are true left handed ?? How did you manage the problem playing guitar, fiddle, pipes, flute, box and so on ??
Did the fact of being " different" change your choices ??
Greetings from the world in the mirror
Marco
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by pizouki
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm a true lefty also and play all of my instruments (pipes, fiddle, flute, guitar, etc.) right handed. I don't believe I've ever given a moment's thought to ever playing right handed. It's never occurred to me that I could play anything better if I played left handed. Any problems I had were sorted out by more practice until I got it right. I don't play bodhran, but I think I would hold the tipper in my left hand if I did.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by Bill Reeder
Re: investigation on left handed players
Are there any "true lefties" that play the whistle cross handed?
Not cross fingered - cross handed. Right hand on top.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by tocotodo
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm a true leftie, playing right-handed guitar. It all started when I began to play piano and could not reverse it.
Now seriously, after a compulsory right-hand indoctrination in my childhood, at the moment I'm partly left handed (writing, drawing, some activities demanding precision, archery, shooting), partly right handed (throwing, playing instruments, fighting, general dexterity) and partly ambidextrous (I never know how to place utensils on the dinner table and have to look at my watch when seeing a 'keep left' sign). I'm absolutely left-legged, if you excuse the expression. Sometimes it is confusing, but it's not affecting my ability to play. When I started to play guitar, I asked my first teacher which way would be better for me, since I'm a leftie. He said: Better learn it like a right-handed, you will be able to play other peoples' guitars on campsites. His were the words of wisdom.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by EastPole
Re: investigation on left handed players
Well i'm right handed but play whistle & flute like a lefty ie. right hand on top. Probably because at primary school I was allowed to play the Recorder with right hand on top ( recorders all you ever got in Scottish schools) and nobody ever set me right. It's never bothered me one way or the other and Hammy made my embouchure for a lefty when he made my keyless, but it certainly restricts my ability to buy keyed flutes unless specially made.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by domino
Re: investigation on left handed players
HMMM- I am right handed, play my uilleann pipes with my right hand on the bottom of the chanter. I just picked up my whistle and realized that my right hand is on the top set of holes. Uh... is that incorrect? Should it be the other way around??? I just started whistle so I think I can break this habit if its incorrect. I probably want to mimic my pipe chanter position to take advantage of muscle memory.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by I_Fel
Re: investigation on left handed players
Left hand on top for my Uilleann pipes, flute and whistle. I often memorize tunes using the whistle and then apply them to the pipes and flute. I can't imagine the amount of confusion that would result otherwise.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by Bill Reeder
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm a true lefty...play whistle with left hand on top (which seems to feel more "lefty" to me than the other way). I'm contemplating taking fiddle someday and will play the standard way...seems like it would be easier anyway, with the left hand doing all the fingerings. Though when I was younger, I didn't play strings because I picked up the violin with the "wrong" hands it it felt unnatural for me to use the right hand to hold the bow.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by Crysania
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm one more true leftie, who plays my instruments like a right handed person, and it have always felt like the natural way to hold the instruments for me. Especially when I was a beginner on the guitar, when taking the chords was the hard thing.
But I must admit that I play the Bodhran with the beater in my left hand, and I would never dream of reversing it.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by lars
Re: investigation on left handed players
Janek--if you are reading this--what's with the using your right hand for fighting?(!) You've given me such good advice about the guitar, I hope you'll excuse this:
Take care of your hands. (speaking as a nurse--and a mom.) There are surgeons whose only specialty is hand surgery. And they get a lot of business. Some physical therapists specialize only in working with musicians, and they're busy too.
All right, end of nag.
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by gena
Re: investigation on left handed players
Jeez--my sons hate when I do this "be careful" routine, and here I am, doing it again, and on line!
Sorry, Janek.
Best wishes
Gena
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by gena
Re: investigation on left handed players
No bother, Gina, I appreciate your concern. *grin*
I used to practice some martial arts, for a very short time though, and gave it up exactly because of the concern for the hands. When I was thinking of the examples of this weird forced split in activities between my hands, I remembered my sensei, who always regarded me as a weirdo because of this. In critical situations (yes, reality stinks sometimes) I rely on fast legs and stamina.
Best wishes to you too
Janek
# Posted on April 17th 2004 by EastPole
Re: investigation on left handed players
Janek, when I was at school our judo teacher told us that the best defence was 100 yards in 10 seconds down the road (100m in 11 secs in today's metric).
Trevor
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: investigation on left handed players
Speaking as a confirmed right-hander (donning my bulletin-proof vest in anticipation of a barrage of abuse from die-hard lefties), I can see no logical reason why a left handed person should find the whistle any easier to play left-handed than right-handed - the actionn of the right and left hand are fundamentally similar. It would seem to be purely a matter of convention. I do, however, question whether this is the case for stringed instruments - in particular, those of the fretted and the bowed variety. For these instruments the left and right hands play entirely different roles. It is probably true to say that the proportion of musicians who are left handed is far greater than the proportion who play their instruments the opposite way round from the norm, so it is clearly possible for a left-handed person to become accomplished at playing right-handed. In fact, I have never seen a fiddler play left handed (although I believe Finbar Dwyer does - with his fiddle strung as normal). Indeed, I have never heard of a fiddle made for left-handed stringing (Simply reversing the order of the strings would result in a very unresponsive instrument).
Regarding plucked instruments, the action involved in using a plectrum seems to me to be similar to that involved in writing. So, perhaps somebody who has learned to write with their left hand would feel most comfortable using a plectrum with that hand. Of course, this does not necessarily apply to playing fingerstyle, since the actions of the left and right hands are much more similar.
On a more fanciful note, I have often wondered about the effects on playing of the different functions of the left and right sides of the brain. If a left-handed person learns to play right-handed, do they play differently to how they would play, had they learned to play left-handed? Obviously, this cannot be proven. I have toyed with the idea, myself, of learning to play left-handed, to see whether I would instinctively develop a different style of using a plectrum with my left hand, and a different style of fingering with my right. But when I pick up a mandolin the wrong way round, I realise what a huge mountain there is to climb, in order achieve any sort of competence (When I first took up the mandolin, I was already fairly competent at using a pen with my right hand, as well as playing a bit of guitar, so the challenge was not nearly so great). It would take someone with greater stamina than me.
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by granama
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm a leftie. I began to play fiddle left handed, then was told to play it "properly" so I had to retrain myself to play it the standard "right handed" way. Fair enough, I'm a decent player now, but it took a wee bit of getting used to. I play my flute lefthanded though, (right hand on top) and it doesnt make a difference. its a lefthanded flute.
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by LaraKerr
Re: investigation on left handed players
David, in Bristol we have a fine l-h mandolin player (also a member here), with his mandolin set up for l-h playing. He has recently started learning the fiddle and initially has one with the strings reversed, although I have no doubt in due course he'll have one specially set up.
Setting up a fiddle for l-h playing is a fairly major job, but when done properly there is no reason why the fiddle shouldn't be as good as any r-h instrument.
What is involved is:
1. Repositioning the internal bass bar, which means taking the instrument apart. The bass bar is a bar of wood fixed very accurately to the underside of the belly and extending most of the length of the interior of the fiddle, almost parallel to the longitudinal axis. In a r-h fiddle it is more or less under the G string. I believe its main function is to distribute the vibrations over the belly plate. Old instruments (early 18c for example) had relatively short bass bars and a smaller tone as a consequence. Bass bars should be replaced periodically (we're talking a fair number of years here, so don't worry!)
2. Fitting and positioning a new sound post, which will now be on the other side of the longitudinal axis.
3. Fitting and profiling a new bridge (you can't just reverse the old one).
4. Fitting and shaping a new fingerboard - its shape is related to the profile of the bridge.
5. Repegging the peg box so that the pegs are now a mirror image of the pegs in a r-h peg box. The reasons for this are two-fold: the lengths of the strings, and the fact that if the pegs remain in the r-h configuration the peg that now takes the E-string on a l-h fiddle (the former G-string on a r-h fiddle) will interfere with the postioning of the player's hand, which could knock the peg loose.
6. Getting hold of a l-h chinrest (and sholder-rest if required).
Trevor
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: investigation on left handed players
Trevor, that's exactly what I meant by fast legs and stamina. No better defence than avoidance.
Janek
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by EastPole
Re: investigation on left handed players
I'm right-handed but when I started playing the whistle I picked it up left-handed and was never corrected (Peter!) and found it impossible to change over. Now I play the flute left-handed as well. its not really a problem and can be handy as I play with a right-handed flute player and we can position outselves more comfortably to play with me on the left and her on the right, we don't clash flutes and can hear each other really well.
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by MollyB
Re: investigation on left handed players
On Saturday night I took in a duo at a pub and the flute player was playing left handed. I had never seen a left handed player before (obviously this is not unique, but it threw me for a loop) He was really quite amazing at it. I asked him at the first break if he was left handed and he said no he was right handed. He had learned that way as a kid and nobody corrected him. So I have a theory that it doesn't matter which way you learn. There is potential for greatness either way whether you are right or left handed or learn right handed or left handed and any combination thereof.
~Autumn
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by autumn
Re: investigation on left handed players
David.I am a righty..Due to problems with fine motor system on my left side I had to switch hands. I still play the right handed fiddle but I now bow with my left hand. I can testify that there is a huge difference in my music due to the switch over between the dominant arm and subordinate arm relative to the the respective controlling side of the brain.
Not easy, but worth it!. I can play any fiddle still, and have better insight now into playing. Sort of "seeing both sides of the problem".
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by leftynow
Re: investigation on left handed players
Left handedness! 'Tis the work of the Devil.
In the middle ages you would all have been put to death. Happy days!
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: investigation on left handed players
My Great Grandpa was left handed - but in those days it was frowned upon, and he was forced to live as a righty.
One day, in a working accident he broke his right hand quite severely - so he reverted to being a lefty.
Then - another day in a working accident he broke his left hand quite severely - so he reverted to being a righty.
When he was all healed up he could write equally well with either hand (but not both at once). As a trick, he also practised until he could sign his name, producing an identical signature, with either left or right hand, and either right way up or upside down.
What's the musical connection? I hear you all cry. He played fiddle on the back step until the shadow of his elbow wore the paint off the door.
Dave
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: investigation on left handed players
PS - I don't know if he played fiddle the way god intended or left handed.
# Posted on April 19th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: investigation on left handed players
If I played whistle, I would play it cross-handed. It's my instinctive move - as with any other instrument that's strange to me - trumpet, bodhran, flute, etc - I attempt to play with the opposite hands from everyone else.
I started guitar and fiddle from a fairly early age, so it wasn't really a problem to play the normal way.
I'm left-handed and left-footed for everything else non-musical.
Jim
# Posted on April 20th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: investigation on left handed players
I am left-handed and play both right and left-handed instruments. I've found that I progressed much more rapidly and with better motor-memory when I played left-handed instruments. Hence, if given the choice, I play left-handed instruments. Where I live, it is very common to see left-handed players playing on left-handed instruments. Left-handed guitars are quite common and even left-handed violins are available, if one looks for them.
I read once that of the general global population, only about 10-15% consider themselves as "left handed." Still, a smaller number, around 2-3% consider themselves strictly left-handed. And a smaller number still, about 1%, are almost completely ambidextrous. I think that when we talk about left-handed musicians, we are talking about a rather obtuse subject, from the stand point that there is great variation in what a "left-handed" person can be. On one side of the scale we can be "left-handed," where we do most fine motor skills with left hand side of the body, but for convenience have learned to be a bit ambidextrous (such as using right-handed scissors, notebooks, pens, musical instruments & etc.); to being strongly left-handed, where we go out of our way to find and/or make tools and instruments that conform to the left-hand.
In certain Northern European countries, and the Americas, there is a long tradition of left-handed fiddlers and violinists, as well as instruments made for the left-hand--but, keeping in mind that this is something that only about 2-3% of the population would be interested in (actually a minutia of possible interest, when one considers that a very small number of that 2-3% would have been/will be musicians), was left to the fog of time. In North America, I come accross left-handed instruments built from the middle of the 19th century to present at out of the way shops, very frequently. Most sit on the shelves collecting dust, waiting for that member of the 2-3% or 1-3% to come along. I've been told by some dealers, that a "lefty string instrument" is the bane of their inventory. They hate having them, as stock that collects dust, generates no income.
Usually, this works in favour of the would-be buyer. I've purchase left-handed violins at quite a lower cost than the same instrument (maker and era) in right-hand model--and far less than commisioning a new model.
# Posted on June 29th 2004 by AMcCleary
Re: investigation on left handed players
Dear Folks: Thanks for the comments, I have a question too. I'm a right-handed person who taught myself to play the pennywhistle over the internet. There should be great big giant signs on pennywhistle instructions that say, "LEFT HAND GOES ON TOP!" The tiny itty-bitty picture of the person holding a pennywhistle just didn't make this clear enough for me. I accidently taught myself how to play like a left-handed person with my right hand on top. I only found this out when a friend gave me her band flute to learn to play. I now have such empathy for real left-handed people. Since I don't want to learn new fingering, I've pretty much limited my chances to learn to play any other wind instrument. I have seen a comment in this discussion thread that said that someone played a flute left-handed. What type of inexpensive and moderately priced flutes could I play? Does the embrouchure hole work right and left-handed? Will the holes be in a straight line? Someone mentioned that they learned how to play the recorder left-handed. The holes are set up for right-handed people so they sure must have some contortions going on with their fingers. I play with other folk & church musicians so a tuneable model would be my preferred option.
As an additional comment, you folks sure can get wound up over some issues, you're discussions can really be a hoot sometimes.
mutepointe
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by mutepointe
Re: investigation on left handed players
Next time you see Maurice Bradley playing, check out his left & right handedness!
He plays Fiddle left-handed OK, but when he plays Pipes & Flute, he plays one left-handed & the other right-handed?
He's a very talented musician, by the way, as anyone who goes to Glenties or Glencolumcille, will know.
Some of you may know him as 'Gnasher'.
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by Ptarmigan