As a LeftHanded person, I've always been a little curious about right-handed players.

[BlueTone]

I mean, in the sense that >>

Did the position of your hands seem Natural when you first learned to play a woodwind instrument?

I remember (when I was 7) and my Father brought home a Clarinet for me to learn. I put my left hand on top ...ah..I guess, rather instinctively and I wonder if that's the same "Feeling" that Right-handed people have had.

I don't think it makes any difference in a persons playing ability...but I'm curious about how others felt when learning their instrument.

[Stretch]

As a teacher I've had to switch the hands of a few young recorder players and clarinetists to make sure the left hand is on top. It is unnatural for some righthanded musicians because the top hand seems to do all the work with those first few notes.

Here's a recorder player Benoit Sauve who is amazing with his right hand on top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pZm7...eature=related

[martysax]

I swing both ways on the golf course so I don't even think about it.

[Henry D]

With an instrument like the sax it would be a lot harder (to well nigh impossible) to work the thing with the hands reversed. Same same on most mechanically intense instruments- pinky keys, trill keys, chal. Ab/A ETC just don't go. It's possible to reach over and play a recorder and a simple flute very well indeed though and some make it over the bell throat and go for it on the trumpet with decent results ( no "name" pros that I know of).

I helped out at a "the very first let's put our instruments together and make our first sound" class for next year's crop of fifth grade band players earlier this week though and can testify that a matter of instinct the "left hand on top" is by no means hardwired into right handed kids.

So Martysax swings both ways....!

[AltoRuth]

I swing both ways on the golf course so I don't even think about it.

I would have thought that would get you thrown off the course in short order!

Another totally irrelevant aside---did anyone else catch the short blurb somewhere in the news this week about there being a disproportionate number of left-handed US presidents? Both current candidates are left-handed.

Ruth (left-handed and happy to be so)

[magical pig]

Another totally irrelevant aside---did anyone else catch the short blurb somewhere in the news this week about there being a disproportionate number of left-handed US presidents? Both current candidates are left-handed.

That explains a lot. Weren't left-handed associated with the devil some time in the past?

Victor.

[retread]

That explains a lot. Weren't left-handed associated with the devil some time in the past?

Victor.

Sinister in some old languages means on the left. So lefties are "sinister".

[martysax]

That explains a lot. Weren't left-handed associated with the devil some time in the past?

Victor.

Sinister in some old languages means on the left. So lefties are "sinister".

A lot of true lefties were forced by Nuns to write right-handed exclusively and used that as a primary reason.

My wife also..........no this will not turn into a political discussion.

[martysax]

So Martysax swings both ways....!

I would have thought that would get you thrown off the course in short order!

Get your minds out of the gutter, this isn't the lounge.

My hands actually have two distinctive styles. Most guys might relate to this.

My left hand is more precise and delicate whereas my right hand is more forceful and demanding.

On the driving range I have a straighter drive while lefty but my right hand swings drive the ball further.

With my sax solos I have a prettier technique with my left hand and a dirtier technique with my right. I sometimes answer one with the other.

[harmonizerNJ]

I am right-handed, and the position of my hands on the sax never seemed strange to me. I had already played the violin for 2 years before starting the sax, so I was already used to the idea that both hands would be used in playing an instrument, and I had already tried some switch-hitting in little league baseball around that time - but I'm not sure if any of this really mattered.

[bandmommy]

I'm extremely right hand dominant but never had any trouble with hand placement on any of my woodwinds.

Piano is where I have the greatest difficulty.

[martysax]

I'm extremely right hand dominant but never had any trouble with hand placement on any of my woodwinds.

Piano is where I have the greatest difficulty.

I promised myself not to raise the Organ as an example, but the two+level keyboards always intrigued me.

[retread]

I promised myself not to raise the Organ as an example, but the two+level keyboards always intrigued me.

... and the foot action.

[martysax]

... and the foot action.

I wasn't going there, but since you did, do you prefer to pound your organ with your left or right foot?

[cosine]

Right hander here. For me, no, it wasn't natural. When I got my first soprano recorder at age 7 or 8 I instinctively put my right hand on top. My dad soon corrected me, and I learned to play a few tunes with my hands in the proper order. By the time I got a clarinet when I was 13 or 14, the hand position of left on top, right on bottom felt perfect natural. It now poses to difficulty at all on recorder, clarinet, or sax.

[ShedShark]

I would have thought that would get you thrown off the course in short order!

Another totally irrelevant aside---did anyone else catch the short blurb somewhere in the news this week about there being a disproportionate number of left-handed US presidents? Both current candidates are left-handed.

Ruth (left-handed and happy to be so)

That may be so but *all* of them are underhanded.

[hakukani]

Being equally bad with both hands, I've never understood this 'handedness' thing. My feet, however....

[Spongebob Saxpants]

Before taking up the clarinet, I had always just assumed that your right hand would go on top (I also assumed that you made a noise on the trumpet just by blowing). I figured out both pretty quickly.

[bandmommy]

We should all play the Kazoo.

They sound the same regardless of which hand you hold it with.

[Stretch]

We should all play the Kazoo.

They sound the same regardless of which hand you hold it with.

Yes, that's true, but the goldplated kazoos have a more complex tone.