Lefty/Righty Companion Poll

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 10:37 am

We know Mary Bergin puts her right hand closest to her mouth. How do you hold the whistle?

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:08 am

I keep both hands equidistant from my mouth--each finger covers half a hole. I have six fingers. I get great accidentals that way.

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:34 pm

Egads! I'm one of the two freaks who places right hand on top of left!

I picked up a tin whistle years ago and always played right hand on top. It feels natural. And no, I'm not left handed.

rebl_rn · Post by **rebl_rn** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:10 pm

I automatically put my left hand on top when I first picked up a whistle, but I'm sure that came from playing saxophone in school where your left hand is on top. I think if I hadn't had that experience and didn't know any better, I would have put my right hand on top as well.

Larry Nugent is another player who plays with his right hand on top.

Beth

OnTheMoor · Post by **OnTheMoor** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:24 pm

Right on top... I always just assumed it was because I'm left-handed.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:31 pm

Left on top, but since I was exposed to "song flutes" (sort a hybrid between a recorder and a whistle, without the virtues of either parent) in school during 1st grade, I probably learned it then.

In the years since I've played recorder, sax, and oboe, which pretty much require the left hand on top position, so it never really occured to me to play whistle right hand on top.

Was it nature or nurture?

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:35 pm

rebl_rn wrote:I automatically put my left hand on top when I first picked up a whistle, but I'm sure that came from playing saxophone in school where your left hand is on top. I think if I hadn't had that experience and didn't know any better, I would have put my right hand on top as well.

Larry Nugent is another player who plays with his right hand on top.

Beth

Flute and Sax here... both held left hand closest to chin... interestingly, the fingering for both of those and the tin whislte are basically the same.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:07 pm

mamakash wrote:Egads! I'm one of the two freaks who places right hand on top of left!

I picked up a tin whistle years ago and always played right hand on top. It feels natural. And no, I'm not left handed.

mamakash, when you fold your hands together, is the right thumb, or left thumb on top?

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:36 pm

mamakash wrote:Egads! I'm one of the two freaks who places right hand on top of left!

I picked up a tin whistle years ago and always played right hand on top. It feels natural. And no, I'm not left handed.

I really don't think it matters one iota, as long as you can play. It's not like most whistles have a definite slant to the hole positions (though, certainly, some do, especially the bigger, lower ones).

Trust me, "normal" is highly over-rated!

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:37 pm

FJohnSharp wrote:I keep both hands equidistant from my mouth--each finger covers half a hole. I have six fingers. I get great accidentals that way.

I wanna see that... heehee...

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:59 pm

Y'mean it's not a poll about left-handed stutterers? I'm right-handed (very much so) and I've been known to stutter on occasion.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 10:44 pm

Since I came to whistle from saxophone I naturally just played it right-handed. I also am right-handed but I think that, had I been left handed, I'd still have tended to follow what I did on saxophone.

Does anybody make left-handed saxophones or pianos?

If the answer to the question I just asked is no, why do people play guitar left-handed? It seems to me that both hands have an equally important job and that intergration of those roles is vital on guitar. So I'm a bit puzzled as to why left-handers would prefer what we think of as left-handed orientation.

Here's a suggestion which I have no theory to back up. Perhaps what matters in choosing which hand to use a plectrum and which to fret with is principally a matter of arm strength and not of dexterity. Plectrum control requires greater forearm strength than fretting. When it come to piano, however, dexterity is about equal in both hands regardless of forearm strength, so orientation matters less. I can play tennis two-handed and would be equally good (or bad) off both wings. But if I played tennis one-handed it would have to be right-handed. That's all down to strength. I can't write left-handed but have no trouble typing or playing the appropriate guitar or piano parts with the left hand. This is normal but I find it a bit puzzling. Also, when jumping why do we take off on our non-preferred foot? This seems to be a matter of the more powerful leg providing the drive.

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:47 am

emmline wrote:
mamakash wrote:Egads! I'm one of the two freaks who places right hand on top of left!

I picked up a tin whistle years ago and always played right hand on top. It feels natural. And no, I'm not left handed.
mamakash, when you fold your hands together, is the right thumb, or left thumb on top?

You mean hands folded in prayer? Umm, right thumb on top.

I'm only joking about the freak comment. I had paper cutting issues in kindergarden and never held knive and fork properly as a child. My dad was a born lefty the school system turned righty, my mom is right handed. No one made me right handed, but I used both hands or used the wrong hand for tasks. I'm a confused righty.

What I can't figure out is how right over left would make playing flute difficult.
I would have started with a left handed guitar, as well. But I can learn with the right handed one, so why complicate things further.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:53 am

I started on silver flute in middle school, so left hand has always been on top for me.

--James

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:52 pm

emmline wrote:
mamakash wrote:Egads! I'm one of the two freaks who places right hand on top of left!

I picked up a tin whistle years ago and always played right hand on top. It feels natural. And no, I'm not left handed.
mamakash, when you fold your hands together, is the right thumb, or left thumb on top?

Oddly enough, when I clasp my hands (fingers interlaced), the first three digits from the top are in this order: Right thumb, left thumb, left forefinger. Then the fingers alternate.