switching from left-handed to right-handed playing

[mutepointe]

i'm looking for some folks experienced at this. the first couple of times that i tried becoming a right-handed player, things didn't work out so well. i tried cold turkey and missed being able to play anything nicely. i'm giving switching another try. i gotten to the point where holding the flute the right way is getting more comfortable but it's still not as comfortable as holding the flute left-handed. doing the same with a whistle is working too. i'm thinking about "fading in" to playing right handed. what other strategies have folks used to switch? has anyone ever switched from right to left? why?

before folks who always played right-handed start adding their two cents, please try playing a tune left-handed, then feel free to comment.

[daiv]

i'm looking for some folks experienced at this. the first couple of times that i tried becoming a right-handed player, things didn't work out so well. i tried cold turkey and missed being able to play anything nicely. i'm giving switching another try. i gotten to the point where holding the flute the right way is getting more comfortable but it's still not as comfortable as holding the flute left-handed. doing the same with a whistle is working too. i'm thinking about "fading in" to playing right handed. what other strategies have folks used to switch? has anyone ever switched from right to left? why?

before folks who always played right-handed start adding their two cents, please try playing a tune left-handed, then feel free to comment.

i have tried playing left handed, it wasnt too bad (though not on flute). i do understand your pain, though. on the concertina, there are oh so many choices for each note. i, of course, made a lot of bad choices, and had to relearn the concertina a few times. then i showed up for a workshop, was handed a scale sheet, put into the advanced class (in which i did NOT belong) and then told to learn my new scale, as well as learning all the advanced tunes with fingerings i'd never used before. it can be done!

i'm hoping that the following will help put your problem into perspective. i am not trying to say that i have a harder time with the concertina than the flute, because there is no embouchure and breathing is insignificant (we have a button). i'm just trying to point out that things that seem big and impossible are doable. so anyways...

here i am, a year and a month later after that workshop, and i can use all of the notes in the table i made. of course, this is for shock value, because i use a specific system and rarely vary from it. however, the point is that i have learned all of these notes. i also comfortably use all of them at some point, in at least one tune or variation of a tune, except for the second pull a on the right hand and the push a on the left hand.

accounting for the notes needed for scales of D and G

1st octave:
1 C push
1 C# push (yay)
1 D pull
1 D push
1 E (yay!)
1 F# (yay... but its on the little finger )
2 G's on the push
1 G on the pull
2 A's on the pull
1 A on the push
1 B on the pull
1 B on the push

second octave
1 c on the pull
1 c on the push
1 c# on the pull? or is it the push...
1 c# on the pull? or is it the push (or is it g, is it a? it depends on the layout)
1 d pull
1 d push
1 e pull
1 e push
1 f# pull (yay!)
2 g push
1 g pull (if you dont have a c# there)
2 a pull
1 a push (if you dont have a c# there)
1 b push
1 b pull

so needless to say, in the time it took me to learn 31 notes on the concertina (not counting 3rd octave or chromatics), you can learn how to switch hands (meaning 7 notes) on the flute. it wont be easy, and you will probably feel like you'll never get there, but you will.

for practicing right vs. left handed, it depends on if you want to go cold turkey. if you dont, i would at least start and end every practice session right handed. this is advice was given to me by shannon heaton for switching between silver and wooden flute: put your priority first and last during your practice time.

i guarantee if you work on it every day, after a year you will be able to do right handed no problem.

addendum: many apologies for the name dropping.

[daiv]

i'm looking for some folks experienced at this. the first couple of times that i tried becoming a right-handed player, things didn't work out so well. i tried cold turkey and missed being able to play anything nicely. i'm giving switching another try. i gotten to the point where holding the flute the right way is getting more comfortable but it's still not as comfortable as holding the flute left-handed. doing the same with a whistle is working too. i'm thinking about "fading in" to playing right handed. what other strategies have folks used to switch? has anyone ever switched from right to left? why?

before folks who always played right-handed start adding their two cents, please try playing a tune left-handed, then feel free to comment.

i'm replying twice because this is a separate issue:

why do you want to switch, and do you use the same flute for both righty and lefty?

[BoneQuint]

before folks who always played right-handed start adding their two cents, please try playing a tune left-handed, then feel free to comment.

What fun playing left handed! A bit frustrating, yes. Some tunes are much easier than others. I'd focus on them and scales at first. I'd go cold turkey. (Okay, I'd cheat every few days probably). Think of it as a game. Hm, mahtghjybwlikwe OI;'jkll tryv ytypia bvng witjgh bnvnmty jhabnds ctytutriossed,. Ahhh!! I tried to type, "maybe I'll try typing with my hands crossed" with my hands crossed. That would be a good trick to learn! Much harder than playing whistle left-handed. Tch-chhh! You've got it easy.

[jim stone]

It isn't like starting all over. The brain can transfer the info
from one hand to another--but it takes time and it's frustrating
as hell. Especially because you can shift back to the old position
and play effortlessly. Something you can do if you have to.

[MikeC]

Ok, I haven't tried playing lefty, but I am a lefty. I understand why you want to switch. All those flutes available and only a few playable lefty. I started playing tin whistle righty purely by accident. I knew nothing of technique when I picked up the whistle and learned 'Oh Suzannah' and such. By the time I found out the way a lefty is "supposed" to play, it was too late. Luckily, it doesn't matter much which way you learn, it's switching that's truly hard. I tried switching from righty to lefty on guitar and I couldn't hack it. Good luck with that.

Power to the southpaws!
MC

[Chiffed]

No help - I have enough trouble playing righty, and I am a righty.
Best of luck.

BTW, the finest saltwater fly-fisherman and casting instructor, Lefty Kreh, is a righty who broke his arm and had to learn lefty. He says it made him find perfect technique and efficiency, 'cause he had to think about it all the time for the first while.

[m31]

i'm looking for some folks experienced at this. the first couple of times that i tried becoming a right-handed player, things didn't work out so well. i tried cold turkey and missed being able to play anything nicely. i'm giving switching another try. i gotten to the point where holding the flute the right way is getting more comfortable but it's still not as comfortable as holding the flute left-handed. doing the same with a whistle is working too. i'm thinking about "fading in" to playing right handed. what other strategies have folks used to switch? has anyone ever switched from right to left? why?

before folks who always played right-handed start adding their two cents, please try playing a tune left-handed, then feel free to comment.

I'm a lefty who has always played righty but I have tried lefty just to see what it was like (my right hand has always been weaker for ornamentation so I thought it'd be fun to switch)...

The problem is perhaps something like trying out a new instrument (e.g., switching from banjo to mandolin). You know all the tunes and the expectation is to sound just as good after a few goes but it's not so. My answer for this is to work slowly and methodically and work up to the desired tempo. Treat it as an entirely new instrument. No shortcuts. Sounds tedious but surprisingly, progress is made much faster than one would expect.

[mutepointe]

thanks for all the input:
1. 31 notes on an ocarnia! wow. i had no idea. maybe i'll get one for christmas.
2. i'm wanting to switch because i have a silver flute waiting for me to learn how to play. it was a gift (from a nun) i so want to learn how to play this instrument. although the celtic flute is totally beautiful and i will always play one, i'm looking at the celtic flute as a way to transition to the silver flute. (hey, no throwing stones, those hurt. ow ow. stop.)
3. thank you for the suggestion of starting and stopping practice playing right-handed. i will use that suggestion.
4. thank you for the suggestion of doing scales and stuff. i was doing that and am just trying to make a right handed flute comfortable in my hands. i may be adding reading sheet music because playing by ear isn't working at this point and i have got to implant in my brain which fingers are which notes.
5. i am also wanting to switch since playing left-handed narrows my option of musical instruments. i'd like to give clarinet and sax a try at some point.
6. what really bites about all this is that i am thoroughly and completely right-handed. walking in left-handed shoes is not fun.
7. i am thinking that switching between right and left would be a pretty nifty parlor trick.
8. no need to apologize about the name dropping. i didn't know that person and even had to have someone explain to me who ian anderson was. i don't know anybody.
9. from the lack of response, i'm guessing that no one has ever swtiched from right to left. wouldn't that assure you an end seat at a session?

[mutepointe]

i missed answering one question. i primarily play a hall crystal flute. i'm using that for both left & right-handed playing. i'm also trying right handed with my small assortment of pennywhistles and my one low d.

[Henke]

Judas....

[Congratulations]

Judas....

[Wormdiet]

I play flute, whistle, and GHB's "lefty." I started that way basically accidentally, and it stuck.

But, I also play recorder "correctly." I learned it that way in college because I had to.

What made it easy is that early music and trad music are very, very different, and I don;t get switched up at all moving from recorder to something else. It's weird - on flute I slur, cut, and tap everything and on a recorder it's all tongue. I can;t actually tongue competently on a flute.

Now, what's the point of this? I guess it's to say that you *could* also stick with lefty fingerings for whistle and simple flute, and then use "correct" fingerings for the Boehm. I suspect Boehm fingerings and simle fingerings are different enough that you might not necessarily gain all that much by relearning your whistle fingerings. It would be nice to automatically get a stylistic transition going from lefty to righty, like I do with recorders. Just a thought.

And also, as Bro Henke said,

JUDAS.

[murrough o'kane]

I wouldn't bother me arse changing to be honest if you've learned like that, and have been playing like that for a good few years. I'm right handed but I play the flute left handed. Had a lot of whiners telling me that I played the wrong way, but when I was 10 yrs old or whatever, Maureen Mc Crystal (now Maureen Quinn) gave me the best advice she could and said "just play whatever way comes natural to you"... so I did.

Most flute makers these days can cater for making left-handed flutes (was talking to Mike Grinter there on sat night/sun morning and he was saying that it was handy enough for him to do it now), so I wouldn't be that bothered about keys etc, plus people won't ask to borrow your flute too often . Mike Grinter's made a lovely new left-handed flute for Mike Goldrick, some machine! Very easy to play and great volume out of it. Great craftmanship in it too. His latest design... lovely!

Best,

Murrough

[mutepointe]

Judas....

genius is always ridiculed. and i'm not quitting playing the celtic flute, i'm looking to expand my horizons.