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Katalin Krisch
started it. She asked a question on the blog: Why
are
all musical instruments made for right handed people,
nothing for left handed.? This prompted me
to look at Left Handed Instruments and Playing
Instruments Left Handed. I was fortunate enough to
find Ryan Thomson and he has agreed to share his
expertise with us! Webmaster Sally
by Ryan Thomson
Most people are right handed, so
most violins are made right handed. Most violin
teachers are right handed and so they teach their left
handed students to play right handed as well. To pacify
left handed people who complain there are myths that
have been propagated such as: "It doesn't matter which
hand bows and which hand fingers," or, "lefties have an
advantage playing right handed," or " it looks funny to
play left handed." But for people who persist, they will
discover that yes, it is possible to buy not only left
handed violins, but left handed guitars, banjos,
mandolins, and even pianos as well! The history of left
handed violin playing includes a major symphony player,
several leaders of professional string quartets, and
many country fiddlers and jazz violinists. The subject
is documented in the book:
"Playing Violin and Fiddle Left
Handed," by
Ryan Thomson, ISBN 0-931877-42-3.
click the
link below to view Ryan Thomson's site
~~>
CaptainFiddle.com
<~~
chat about
this on our blog by clicking the link below:
Left Handed Blog Chat
Left Handed Music Making, by Ryan
Thomson
When I
perform in public listeners often ask me why I hold my
violin “differently” from other players. Many comment
that they've never before seen someone play a violin
left handed, that is, holding the bow in my left hand.
In comparison, If you look at any orchestra around the
world, you'll notice that every violinist is playing
right handed! Its been this way for hundreds of years.
Right and left handed people alike customarily play the
violin right handed. Violin teachers instruct all of
their students to play right handed whether or not they
are naturally right handed.
I had a telling experience early on in my career
as a lefty violinist. I walked off stage after a
performance and a man approached me, smiled, patted me
on the back, and said, "Good job, we lefties have to
stick together." I was so surprised at the notion of a
“lefty club,” that I didn't know what to say and just
nodded at him. After that incident I began paying more
attention to whether people around me were left or right
handed in their activities. I eventually met several
other left handed musicians, who, noting how I played,
and thinking that I was left handed by nature, confided
in me that they'd always suspected that they would have
been better players if they had played left handed
instead of right handed. I became fascinated by this
concept and decided to explore the roots of beliefs
about handedness.
I found it curious that people who didn't know
whether I was naturally right or left handed would say
things like, "It must be really difficult to play a
violin backwards," as if there
was some inherent reason why it should be easier to play
it right handed. All right handed persons know that
skilled tasks are performed better with the right hand
than the left, yet many of them seem to overlook the
fact that lefties have an equal and opposite reaction.
I also listened to such statements from a very
unusual perspective. Unlike almost every other violinist
in the world, I had first spent many years mastering
right handed violin playing, and then spent a similar
amount of time learning how to play left handed. Before
beginning this immense task I had previously developed a
measure of ambidexterity by teaching myself to write
with my left hand in grade school to pass the time
during boring classes. I learned to do it fairly well,
but the final results were always less satisfying than
writing with my far more coordinated right hand.
As an adult professional violinist, I was forced to
switch to playing lefty due to a physical disability in
my right shoulder and soon recognized the close
similarity between hand writing and playing a violin.
Like any righty who finds it harder to do things with
their left hand, I found it harder to control the violin
bow with my left hand than with my right. But my love of
violin playing made me persevere and I struggled
mightily so that I could once again perform
professionally. When I returned to public performance I
soon encountered many right handed "experts" who opined
with an air of authority on the topic of playing a
violin left handed.
My left handed playing was a bit rough at first and
other violinists would often tell me that I was playing
the violin "wrong," and that it would be “easier for me”
if I would simply just play in “the correct way." Few of
them were interested to hear my explanation as to why I
was playing left handed. They were eager to point out
the "pitfalls" of playing lefty, such as, “it looks
funny,” or, “it makes me dizzy watching you play,” and,
“no orchestra will hire you.” Their comments didn't
slow me down since I had no interest in playing in
orchestras, and I was more concerned with how my playing
sounded than what it
looked like to watch me play.
These critics also listed the supposed advantages
for lefties who play right handed, such as, “fingering
is easier for lefties,” or, “you use both hands to play,
so it doesn't make any difference which hand bows and
which fingers the instrument.” I discovered that these
notions were clearly erroneous when compared to my own
experiences and those of many people whom I interviewed
for my book. In addition, I found many published quotes
from famous violinists and conservatory violin teachers
about the much greater importance of bowing a violin as
compared to merely fingering it. I found the common
criticisms of left handed violin playing to be based
primarily on speculation which was unsupported by any
systematic study or collection of evidence. And there
were financial aspects as well. Many left handed
individuals have been talked into buying a right handed
instrument by violin teachers or music store salesmen
who might proclaim, for example that, “there is no such
thing as a left handed violin,” rather then let a
commission escape their grasp.
I began my book project with a graduate school
background in the scientific methodology of experimental
design. Back in college I had nearly earned my Ph.D.
when the passion within me for actually performing music
rather than just studying about it finally won out, and
I escaped to Nashville to join a full time touring band
as a country fiddler. I had learned something important
from my scientific studies however. I learned that one
can’t legitimately draw conclusions of “fact” unless
there is a good body of evidence to support the facts. I
searched the scientific literature and discovered that
scientific evidence relating to the supposed
disadvantages of left handed violin playing doesn't
exist. There were no scientific studies on record where
lefties playing violin right handed were compared to
lefties playing violin left handed.
As far as I could determine no one except myself
had bothered to learn to play violin both left and right
handed at a professional performing level and had
studied the experience in a systematic way. Yet
evidence abounds which demonstrates that both right and
left handed individuals choose their dominant hands for
many other skilled activities. Except for a few disabled
individuals I could find no record of any healthy right
handed person who voluntarily chose to play fiddle left
handed on purpose. The reason is simple. Righties prefer
to hold a pencil in their dominant hand in the same way
that lefties do. Most left and right handed children
alike tend to pick up and manipulate objects with their
chosen hand from an early age. When a violin bow is held
out to a child for the first time, righties usually take
it in their right hand and left handed kids usually take
it into their left hands at first, before the teacher
points out the lefty’s “error.”
I found one issue which clouds the handedness
question. That’s the phenomenon of ambidexterity. Most
tools and implements in this world are designed for
right handers, and by learning to use them many lefties
have a great deal of experience in developing
ambidexterity, and often express pride in this ability.
Some lefties often purposely choose to use their right
hands for certain activities as a child because the
majority of their peers or family members do it that
way. Throwing a ball is an example. With some extra work
one can become good at manipulating the non dominant
limb. I experienced this myself when I learned to write
with my left hand as a child, practiced throwing
frisbies left handed in high
school, and then as an adult learned to bow my violin
with my left hand. I’ll admit that I feel pride in my
left handed violin playing accomplishment, the same
pride that I hear expressed when a left handed person
tells me, “I write with my left hand but I bat right
handed at baseball.”
Most lefties up until recent times were literally
forced by well intentioned teachers and family members
to primarily use their right hand. Several of the adult
lefties I’ve interviewed had attended grade schools in
the ‘50s and ‘60s. During that era most all school
teachers would force lefties to write with their right
hands. Several people related to me that their teachers
actually tied their left hands down to their school
desks with a cord, in order to force them to use their
right hands to hold the pencil. Others had their left
hands slapped with a ruler by vigilant teachers who
spotted them attempting
left handed writing. When they got into music, their
music teachers also steered them in a right handed
direction. Since most school teachers in the USA now
allow lefties to choose their preferred writing hand,
Its amazing to me that 99.9% of violin teachers still
adhere to the archaic practice of forcing lefties to bow
right handed.
One of my violin students of high school age
recently described to me how she resisted when as a
child her grandmother tried to make her write and eat
with her right hand. I initially taught her basic
introductory bowing and fingering exercises playing
right handed and then followed with the same instruction
playing left handed on a left handed instrument. She was
asked to take both instruments home and practice each
for an equal amount of time. When she returned to my
studio she appeared to have equal skill on both
instruments. When asked about the experience she stated
that
she preferred to play with the left handed violin
because she “could handle the bow better.” She could
finger the violins equally well with either hand.
In my book I’ve documented several amateur left
handed musicians, on violin, guitar, and mandolin,
trained to a moderate level of skill in right handed
playing, who purposely took the time and effort needed
to relearn to play their instruments left handed. And
not surprisingly, they found that they could actually
play better left handed. I’m in regular contact with
many individuals interested in the handedness issue. One
friend, a classical violin teacher trained at a
prestigious music school, maintains a strong opposition
to the idea of anyone playing violin left handed.
Another right handed friend who runs a private violin
school for children is very excited about the concept.
After reading my book she has changed more than a dozen
of her naturally left handed beginning students over to
playing lefty violin.
She was delighted to report to me that the lefties
are making good progress, none worse, but most better
than when they played right handed. A violin teacher and
former student of mine consulted with me when he
discovered that one of his lefty fiddling students was
being banned from a public school music ensemble because
he played left handed. The school music teacher had
insisted that he relearn how to play violin all over
again right handed.
Despite being a righty myself, I've become a lefty
advocate, and an activist even, but I’ve taken care in
my book to point out reasons why lefties might at least
consider playing in the traditional right handed way,
despite their natural inclinations. I think that my book
gives them the information they need to make an
intelligent and informed decision.
I’m a firm believer in utilizing resources with
maximum efficiency and utility in every aspect of human
endeavor, whether it be encouraging the production of
fuel efficient vehicles, turning an unused cubby into a
storage space, or advocating that capable and willing
disabled persons be offered gainful employment. I’m all
for progress that results in a net gain for humanity. As
a teacher and educator, my foremost task is to recognize
and nurture the skills and talents of my students. To
that end I strive to facilitate their musical progress
in any way that I can, even if it means bucking a
dubious establishment. Music making is a journey, often
a fulfilling lifetime pursuit. There are many possible
paths, many possible goals. The journey might lead
solely to personal satisfaction and enjoyment in private
playing. It might lead to a career in professional
performance. My job is to facilitate the journey
regardless of its endpoint.
Ryan Thomson is a string teacher at Phillips Exeter
Academy and the author of “Playing the Violin and Fiddle
Left Handed,” which is the world’s first book to
challenge the prescription
that all violinists must play right handed. ISBN
0-931877-42-3
Ryan Thomson
Music Department
Phillips Exeter Academy
20 Main Street
Exeter, NH 03833-2460
603-659-2658
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