Left handed cellists?

[Guest]

or double-bass players for that matter. In fact probably violins and violas. But I can't remember ever seeing a lefthanded cellist. Do they exist? How are they oriented on the platform? Probably a simple explanation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The same as left handed flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone. bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano & organ players. They play as right handed players.

However, I was at school with a horn player who did not have a left hand, so she had a French horn constructed the wrong way round, and became a "reserve" for the NYO.

There is a left-handed concert pianist who has constructed a left-handed piano, as an experiment.

Left handed conductors. It's most off-putting to play for one. There's no earthly reason why they can't beat in the same direction as a right-handed one.

[arundodo]

It was never off putting to play for Paavo Berglund. He was just very very good.

[french frank]

or double-bass players for that matter. In fact probably violins and violas. But I can't remember ever seeing a lefthanded cellist. Do they exist? How are they oriented on the platform? Probably a simple explanation.

Looking at a couple of forums, there seems to be a view that it's already a left-handed instrument . It's right-handed players who have always adjusted to playing it left-handed

[umslopogaas]

BetweenTheStaves (post 1). See Hoffnung's 'The Double Bass (a left-handed player)' in 'The Penguin Hoffnung' which was a Penguin collection extracted from various Hoffnung cartoon books: this one originally appeared in 'The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra'. A periscope might just be one way round the problem (but dont rely on me, I am left handed, indeed, but dont play an instrument, I've had enough trouble in my life with fountain pens. Thank god for the biro).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Trumpeters use their right hands for the valves, but horn players use their lefts hands. Any right-handed recorder player wants to play with right hand at the top; ditto clarinettists, oboists.

It was never off putting to play for Paavo Berglund. He was just very very good.

But did he beat (4/4) down-left-right-up, or the other way round? Even those of us who thought we didn't watch the conductor found it disconcerting. Or maybe the conductor I'm thinking of is simply not very good.

[arundodo]

But did he beat (4/4) down-left-right-up, or the other way round? Even those of us who thought we didn't watch the conductor found it disconcerting. Or maybe the conductor I'm thinking of is simply not very good.

I think it was the other way round, but it's such a long time ago that I can't say with certainty. He rehearsed so thoroughly that it didn't seem to matter.

Bryden ("Jack") Thomson sometimes switched hands in mid piece with perfect clarity and fluency. That was fun!

Best Wishes

Arundodo

[amateur51]

I think it was the other way round, but it's such a long time ago that I can't say with certainty. He rehearsed so thoroughly that it didn't seem to matter.

Bryden ("Jack") Thomson sometimes switched hands in mid piece with perfect clarity and fluency. That was fun!

Best Wishes

Arundodo

Donald Runnicles conducts using his left hand (bless him!)

[Mr Pee]

Any right-handed recorder player wants to play with right hand at the top; ditto clarinettists, oboists.

I can't speak for Oboists or Recorderists, but there's only one way round to have your hands on a clarinet, unless your wrists and fingers are double- jointed, and that's with the left hand at the top, because of the layout of the keys. I'm left- handed, but I never heard a right-handed Clarinettist complaining that the instrument was built the wrong way around. So I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from with the above.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I can't speak for Oboists or Recorderists, but there's only one way round to have your hands on a clarinet, unless your wrists and fingers are double- jointed, and that's with the left hand at the top, because of the layout of the keys. I'm left- handed, but I never heard a right-handed Clarinettist complaining that the instrument was built the wrong way around. So I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from with the above.

You are, of course, absolutely correct. There is only one way to play all of these instruments - the correct way, even when an alternative may initially seem desirable. This is the point I was making. I recall an advertisement for Aulos recorders, in which they claimed they were "suitable for both right-handed and left-handed players". I wrote to them to explain that all recorders were suitable for right-handed and left-handed players. To their credit, they replied in full agreement and withdrew the statement in future advertising.
This is why I could not understand the meaning of this thread in the first place. Clearly it is possible to restring a cello, violin, guitar, etc., but there is little point as you have to use both hands to play, so what's the purpose in being difficult?

[BetweenTheStaves]

.....
This is why I could not understand the meaning of this thread in the first place. .....

That's easy to explain! I'm not a musician but had noticed that all the double-bass players were using the bow in the same hand. Having been 'indoctrinated' into the concept of a dominant hand, this begged the question. Of course, I can now see that any instrument that requires both hands to play implies no concept of a dominant hand. So presumably a triangle player uses their dominant hand?

[LeMartinPecheur]

OK, we seem to be moving towards a different question. Why on stringed instruments does the right hand (normally the one most people use for tricky, agile tasks, take the apparently simpler job of moving the bow, strumming the guitar, while the clumsy left does all the complex fiddly bits of picking out the notes and chords? Might it have anything to do with the fact that among those who work with their hands, the RH usually gets noticeably bigger, and therefore perhaps a little more bulky/clumsy for picking out small movements in small spaces like the fingerboard of a violin?

I'm thinking of course about amateur players, or perhaps even more, folk players, who were presumably numerically dominant among intrumentalists back when the manner of performing on these instruments was being worked out centuries ago.

Or is it that the RH is the one that is directly making the sound, and that process demands the dominant hand, in right-handed players at least?

[vinteuil]

This is why I could not understand the meaning of this thread in the first place. Clearly it is possible to restring a cello, violin, guitar, etc., but there is little point as you have to use both hands to play, so what's the purpose in being difficult?

Perhaps because we are aware of left-handed clubs for left-handed golfers - and - nearer to the subject - there are left-handed guitarists who are accommodated with left-handed guitars - wasn't one of The Beatles such? - and so for some here it may be a matter of surprise that left-handed classical musicians just fit in with the instrument of the right-handed majority.

[BetweenTheStaves]

Perhaps because we are aware of left-handed clubs for left-handed golfers - and - nearer to the subject - there are left-handed guitarists who are accommodated with left-handed guitars - wasn't one of The Beatles such? - and so for some here it may be a matter of surprise that left-handed classical musicians just fit in with the instrument of the right-handed majority.

Yes, McCartney was. There's a list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ay_left_handed

[Richard Tarleton]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2265951

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lh_tests.html

http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/jl/g/lefthanders.htm

There are of course degrees of left handedness, which accounts for why so many left handers find it natural to play musical instruments, or hold a cricket bat or golf club, right handed. There's a large literature about it.

I'm left handed for writing and my left is my dominant hand, but I play the classical guitar or lute the normal way round (and there's lots of fiddly stuff for the right hand on plucked instruments, not just strumming). It feels completely unnatural to hold the guitar the other way round.

Playing cricket at school I batted right handed, and could not do it left handed. I use a knife and fork the normal way round but instinctively picked up a spoon left handed until it was beaten out of me at school. I think people like Paul Macartney and Jimi Hendrix are examples of more extreme left handers. I think I heard that Rafael Nadal was encouraged to hold his racket in his left hand by his coach/uncle as a child, which suggests he was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum - obviously being a left hander in a world of right handed tennis players is a potentially winning strategy. Not so in the violin section.