Being Lefty (using left hand as main)

[murathan]

It is said the worst thing is to be lefty in music. Almost everything (notation and education methods) is designed by pre-thinking you use your right hand as main. Lefties have to invent their own methods translating from right oriented. I ve had 2 lefty students, thought they will use both hand anyways and I go on with right main hand style. They got used to that. What are your thoughts?

 

[ColoRodney]

There are quite a few instruments that require tricky left hand work, notably strings and guitar. On stradella bass (and especially free bass) accordions the left hand has work that is as complicated (if not as fast, typically) as the right hand. There’s a lot to be said for playing the accordion the usual way—and on a two-row melodeon with a thumb loop you’d even need to modify the instrument to work upside down. And it seems like it would be a pain to have the bellows strap adjustment on the bottom…

 

[isorry123]

Doesnt weird Al hold his accordion upside down ? It can be done lol

 

[Alan Sharkis]

I’ve been a lefty all my life, and, at 84, I’m not about to change. It hasn’t put me at a disadvantage in anything except handwriting. There was nothing special I had to do as far as learning accordion because of it.

 

[murathan]

Don’t weird Al hold his accordion upside down ? It can be done lol

I ve seen one person in a video playing accordion upside down. It was weird as same as AL. Mirrored camera is common you may think they play from the other side. Here is my lefty student plays normal and well. He started with me from the beginning as normal, after 2 years of weekly lessons. I generally take 2 hours as one lesson 1 for note reading and music theory (that is very much needed in Turkey because people doesnt get good music education in schools) and 1 hour accordion with optional general chat to take their anxiety and/or being friends a little bit. People generally scares from me because of my Conservatory education and other various genuine degrees :

 

[murathan]

Doesnt weird Al hold his accordion upside down ? It can be done lol

Actually Al doesnt hold accordion upside down:

 

[debra]

My wife is a lefty and so is my son. They never had any issues learning to play the accordion in the normal orientation (treble on the player's righthand side).
Trying to play the accordion upside down or having a special instrument built for the left hand only makes sense if you are severely handicapped on your right hand, like Rudolf Würthner was.

 

[Dingo40]

What are your thoughts?

Here's a previous thread on the topic :

Left-hand accordion

I saw, for the first time a left-hand accordion in this video. Sorry, it's on FB. https://fb.watch/i6gwGffM52/ I am confused. I can't understand if it's a left-hand accordion or a "normal" accordion played "upsidedown".

www.accordionists.info

 

[murathan]

Here's a previous thread on the topic :

Left-hand accordion

I saw, for the first time a left-hand accordion in this video. Sorry, it's on FB. https://fb.watch/i6gwGffM52/ I am confused. I can't understand if it's a left-hand accordion or a "normal" accordion played "upsidedown".

www.accordionists.info

I do searches in the site before posting but it doesnt shows these to me...

 

[Aaron]

Who gave you the idea of instruments being left handed or right handed? That is a personal or social bias, not a mechanical bias. Many instruments require busy hands of both the left and right variety. Guitar, in particular, often has a more demanding left hand than a right hand, yet for some reason a bias exists as to which hand needs to fret, and which hand needs to pluck.

IMO, forget the biases and just play.

 

[Zevy]

Being left handed or right handed doesn’t mean that you can’t use your “weaker” hand. We accordion players have plenty of work cut out for us with those buttons, and it happens!

 

[Tom]

Hmmmmm. I do delicate actions like drawing or eating left handed, but larger sports like baseball or tennis right handed. For watercolor painting I do delicate stuff left, washes with right. I play drums with snare hand left. I can tell you that different sorts of ideas occur when drawing or painting with my right hand. I can see where free bass would open a different level of expression and wonder about the “handedness” of our Mr. Bach.

 

[JKJ]

Many instruments require busy hands of both the left and right variety. Guitar, in particular, often has a more demanding left hand than a right hand, yet for some reason a bias exists as to which hand needs to fret, and which hand needs to pluck.

How true. My right hand is dominant. It's difficult to play the piano without active involvement with both hands, although when I broke my left wrist in high school I refused to give up and managed one handed. Guitar, not so much. Trumpet and other brass, no problem. If strong in the left but not the right there is always the french horn, keyed with left hand only. I had zero problems going from trumpet to french horn. I can write with both hands but only backwards with the left!

How about some other things? I do paint, draw, carve, and such with the right. But the skills involved for high-end woodturning require sensitivity and dexterity with both hands. Same with horse-back riding and operating heavy equipment.

My lefty middle son, an architect, draws with his left but is a pro on the cello and plays the piano well. With anything, unless there is some physical disability I think it all depends on the effort and time in the practice.

 

[murathan]

I m right handed but can do many things with left, like my main hand. It may supported me on accordion.

 

[Pipemajor]

I have two good friends within the piping fraternity.
one is left handed, the other right handed.
The right handed one was brought up in an orphenage in Scotland, where he was taught to play the pipes.
He learned by watching the instructor and copied his hand positions in mirror image, which was never picked up by the instructor. Consequently he now plays "lefthanded" although right handed.
The other is left handed, but was taught in a very posh public school, again in Scotland, the normal right handed way which he does exceedingly well.
Just shows there is no reason not to play an instrument designed to be played right handed, the "correct " way whether you are right or left handed.
As a bye, I haven't seen any left handed pianos or organs.

 

[Dingo40]

As a bye, I haven't seen any left handed pianos or organs.

Novices were sometimes sent to the tool store to fetch a left-handed screwdriver/hammer/spanner etc, much to the store man's annoyance

 

[dak]

Novices were sometimes sent to the tool store to fetch a left-handed screwdriver/hammer/spanner etc, much to the store man's annoyance

A left-handed 13mm spanner is a 14mm spanner (the convention is to use 14mm nuts for left-handed threadings; 13mm/14mm are close enough that there isn't a mechanical point in choosing one over the other for other reasons).

 

[ColoRodney]

The Canadian folk-rock band "Great Big Sea" came through Boulder many years ago, and I remember one musician playing a diatonic accordion left-handed. It took me a while to find a photo... since the guitarist in the same photo is playing the guitar normally, it's probably not just a reversed image

 

[John Doe]

13mm/14mm are close enough that there isn't a mechanical point in choosing one over the other

Unless you attach some importance to not rounding off the 13mm nuts/bolts you use the 14mm wrench on...

 

[dak]

Unless you attach some importance to not rounding off the 13mm nuts/bolts you use the 14mm wrench on...

Sigh. I was talking about choosing 13mm nuts vs 14mm nuts. Of course you then use the appropriate spanner. And by convention 14mm nuts are used with left-handed threads. Only someone clueless or mischievous will employ righthand-threaded 14mm nuts.