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We often get queries from parents concerned that their left-handed child is not being allowed to play their chosen instrument in the most comfortable way for a left-hander.
One concerned mum contacted us on behalf of her 5 year old daughter Kerri who had started to play the recorder and was progressing extremely well, playing as her left-handed mum did with her right hand at the top of the instrument. Things began to go wrong when Kerri was told by her teacher to use her left hand to play the top notes, which she found very uncomfortable and thus dented her conficence and enthusiasm to play. Why, asks her mum, does it matter?
Playing the recorder, the left hand takes the lead
We asked advice at the Royal College of Music and the Centre for Young Musicians. Adopting the standard hand position for wind instruments is important, it seems, because although the recorder would appear to be pretty ambidextrous, should a child wish to progress to other wind instruments such as the clarinet, oboe or saxophone, the lower holes are positioned for the right-hand fingers. However, both hands need to be equally flexible and are worked just as hard so these instruments could be considered even-handed. It is unfortunate that Kerri’s teacher did not alter her fingering when she first picked up the instrument, as she would have then played her first notes with her left hand, and have become accustomed to holding the instrument this way. Once positioning has been learnt, it is very uncomfortable to reverse it.
Interestingly though, the standard finger position could in fact be considered to be advantageous for left-handed players, as Club Member Vicky who plays the oboe and recorder pointed out. Vicky found that since the first notes you learn are with the left hand, she feels greater co-ordination and control than right-handers would. This point is taken even further for players of the French horn, an instrument which gives left-handers a distinct advantage, as it requires geater dexterity in the left hand than the right.
We will be adding articles on playing other instruments soon, and do add your comments and experiences on playing wind instruments in the box below.
More information on learning to play instruments left-handed is available in Lauren’s Book “Your Left-handed Child” published by Hamlyn and available from our online shop.
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I am an 11 out of 12 lefty, I tried to learn to play the piano my teacher finally told me I was wasting my time and money, my right hand just did not do what it was meant to do, if I could have found a left handed piano!! being in the retired age group I grew up in a world where to be left handed was not acceptable, and was always being forced to be right handed, which failed miserably and made me miserable as well. I play percussion, and get comments that I look odd when I play, but of course I play left handed with my right hand doing very little work. I notice that I play in reverse to a right handed player who brings the right stick down first, and above the left one.
My husband and 2 of our 3 children are left handed, but they are each ambidextrous to a degree, they play brass instruments with ease, and our eldest son taught himself to play guitar on a borrowed guitar which of course was right handed.
I started playing recorder in year 3 and clarinet in year 5 and have never had any problems playing either of them, I think it may be becuase I find it more comfortable with the left hand at the top like its suppossed to be played. The only problems I do have is the keys at the bottom right hand side which often have to be used. I’m in year 9 now and I’ve olny just realised that that is why it seems easier for me. My Dad tried to teach me guitar with the strings reversed but I was rubbish!
I get conflicting advice re playing the recorder. All right-handed professional musicians and music teachers tell me it does not make a difference, but the few left-handed people I know tell me it does make a difference.
I am not sure if this will be different in a few years time, as my parents’ generation was still taught to write with their right hand not matter what to ‘train’ both hands, and because ‘it doesn’t make much of a difference.’ Well, that has been proven wrong, and I wonder if in ten years or so all left-handed children will be taught on lefty instruments…
I have been advised to buy my child a conventional recorder, and am currently trying to decide whether I should just go ahead and by a left-handed one nonetheless!
As for left-handed musicians having an advantage over right-handed musicians when it comes to strings…I know for a fact that that’s not true, since I am a musician myself (violin). Also, if that was actually the case, why are instruments not built in a way that favors the (right-handed) majority of musicians – in a world where everything else is geared toward right-handed people? This argument does not follow, IMO.
Anyone who is interested:
There is a company in Ireland that sells wooden Irish flutes and can make them right or left handed. It is called Hamilton Flutes. You can find links to it by doing a Google search (or another search engine) under Hamilton Flutes. They offer keyed and unkeyed versions of the instrument. I
was not sure if this should have been in the “other instruments” category because it is not a conventional flute so I put a comment about it in that section also.
Edward
But don’t any of you oboists make your own reeds? I had to learn to make them when I was an oboe major in college; not knowing that there were such things as “right” handed and “left” handed knives, I purchased one for righties. My oboe teacher at first was going to have me return and switch it, then decided that I should try learning to use it right handed. I did, and made reeds all through school and beyond – right handed. I couldn’t begin to do it the other way around now!
Also learned to knit right handed when the Girl Scout leaders couldn’t figure a way to teach me to do it the opposite way. I can use the mouse either hand, but the really important things like eating and writing are left-only.
I am a leftie and play recorder and clarinet in the conventional way. I also teach Primary School children to play the recorder and in my experience, it is the RIGHT HANDERS who always want to put their right hand at the top, which feels more natural to them. At the start of every beginners class, I get all the kids to hold up their recorder in the air with their left hand at the top and go round making corrections. As others have stated, it is important if students go on to learn other instruments and also to avoid confusion when teaching in a group. I wonder if anyone has any fun tips to help kids get it right, especially when practising at home?
Hello Sarah.
I’m teaching also, here in Portugal, some children how to play the recorder. To the righties, I usually say that the right hand is in the bottom because it has four holes, and the left hand has only three (no counting with the thumb). Well, to the lefties, i say that they have to use the thumb, and so the left hand is in the top of the record!
I’m a director of a wind band. I had a directing teacher who used the baton in the left hand. When he was showing how to do, i did like a mirror, because i was tough by other teacher to use the right hand. But, if i want to show how to do to my pupils, i use the left hand and they use the right one, like a mirror.
I played the clarinet from 5th grade through the end of 8th grade. I never had any problems adjusting to it. My left hand on top and right on bottom. The hardest part was the keys requiring my right pinky. The hardest part had nothing to do with the keys. It was actually making the correct note sound and not a squeak. I don’t know if my ease was due to my left handedness or if it is because of what little right handed things I do. I am way more left handed than right but I sometimes wonder about what I naturally do right handed.
I play alto sax, which actually seems more left-handed than right handed. There are a few more keys for the left hand for the right, including a thumb (octave) key, and two extra pinky-finger keys. However, the right hand needs slightly more flexibility than the left, as more keys are pressed by the palm, rather than the fingers on the right hand than the left.
I play the flute and trombone, and have had very little problem with either. I did get funny looks all the time when I first started playing trombone, because I flipped it so the slide was on the left so I could use my left hand in high school. But when I got into college, they made me “conform” and play it the “normal” way. But even then I was able to play just fine, though it doesn’t really feel as comfortable. With the flute, there’s no real way to change it, so I guess I could say it got easier over time because that was the only way I ever played it.
I play all recorders and have taken up the clarinet. I don’t find any problem being a leftie. My problem is my hand span is a bit small so I keep doing stretching exercises.
My son has been playing the saxophone for 5 years and has had no difficulty being left- handed. He also plays Guitar Hero on the PS2 left-handed. He would love to play a real guitar but I don’t know anyone who can teach him to play left handed. I on the other hand played violin when I was in elementary school and had a terrible time trying to play right-handed. It just didn’t work for me.
I played classical guitar as a child/teen, and found no dificulty playing in the “standard” way. In fact I found it easy to use my left hand for the notes as that was a more difficult thing to learn than the picking/strumming initially. I think that Guitars, in fact most instruments, are AMBIDEXTROUS rather than being right or left, as most require both hands to be used equally if differently. I quit guitar because my teacher was boring and it wasn’t challenging or interesting enough, wish I’d kept going.
Phyllis,
If you can find a half decent, right handed guitar teacher, it really shouldn’t be too much of a problem for your son to learn from her/him. They would just simply sit opposite each other, in stead of side by side. Also, if the teacher has to show your son a certain grip and can’t figure out how to do it left-handed, I’m sure your son will have no problem at all observing the teacher doing it right-handed and then switching around to left-handed himself. After all, as lefties, we have to deal with this ALL the time and our brains are used to this kind of problem-solving …!
Hey! I saw your comment about your child learning guitar. I play left-handed and took lessons from a right handed player. In some ways it was actually more advantagous than if it were a right hander teaching a right hander. During lessons, I sat across from my teacher, and we were a mirror image sitting across from one another, so it was actually easier to mimic his movements.
I played the oboe way back in secondary school and didn’t even think of my left handedness- it was natural to have my left hand at the top, probably because you begin leaning notes with the left. Last year I started teaching myself the flute and have progressed really quickly (probably to about grade 5) again, the standard way around. This year I’ve started teaching myself guitar and have bought a left handed model. I find this more comfortable as the left hand does the fiddly movements and the right holds the strings steady. I did consider the violin, but they don’t seem to make a left handed version and I don’t think I could get on with it “back to front”. I also wanted to lean the piano, but the right hand tends to do the melody while the right does chords, so I don’t think I’ll make much progress on that!
I learned to play both the clarinet and the accordian when I was young. Had no problem with the clarinet, the left hand being at the top seemed the most natural. But the accordian was a little different story. While I took lessons for something like five years, and got fairly decent, in looking back, I think I would have done much better had I had a left-handed accordian. I never was as proficient as I would have liked with the bass “buttons” on the left, and while I was more proficient with the keys on the right side, it was never a comfortable feeling. I would love to try a left-handed accordian- if such a thing exists- to see how it feels fit/comfort-wise by comparison. I suspect once I got used to it it would feel much more comfortable and fluid. And
btw, since I am a total lefty- do nothing right-handed, grew up wondering why I even had a right arm, except for balance- I have never found it easy to adapt in a right-handed world, whether instruments, tools, sports, whatever.
Hey guys, I saw one comment saying that there was a “lefty flip” on Guitar Hero. It works for me on the Nintendo DS but on the TV one, it doesn’t work. To tell you the truth, I only like it on the DS. Anyway, like the Guitar Hero, I’m worse on the left hand than on the right on piano.
they do have left-handed mode on guitar hero, all you have to do is flip the guitar and put it on left mode
OMG!!! That’s awesome! Now I just have to go get the game! LOL!
If only the makers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band would make left handed guitars for their games; then we lefties would have it made. I’ve always played air guitar left handed and I suppose that if I had ever taken guitar lessons, I would’ve had to have a left handed guitar. I also never had a problem playing the recorder in elementary school. It never occured to me to put my left hand at the bottom. The problem I had was getting my right pinky down onto the very bottom hole. That was difficult in itself. And what little piano I have played, I’ve never had a problem with either. I seem to be a bit ambi when it comes to anything with keys. Pianos, computer keyboards, cash registers.
I started on the oboe and within 2 months I was ready to join the beginner group (which was about to have a concert in 2 weeks). In my school there were only 3 oboe players, the band director, a clarinet/sax that decided to switch, and me. The other oboe student had been playing for nearly a year but her half hole just wouldn’t come out right. (on the oboe there is a note that is played with your index finger on the left hand, it sometimes requires that you move back and forth quickly, covering and uncovering the whole). Because she did not have much control over her left hand and I did, it was much easier for me. Within a couple months I was moved to the English Horn ( a common second instrument for oboist because of the similar fingerings). On the English Horn, the B note (the one with the half hole) is split into 2 keys very close together. It is necessary to move your finger a greater distance than on the oboe. Again, I had greater success. My band director had never had a left handed oboist before and commented on how quickly I was able to grasp the half hole concept.
Also, in Venezuela, my grandfather was a leading musician of his day (about 50’s-90’s). He wrote many left handed method books. I do not know if these books can be bought anywhere other than the family store. Also, he made left handed instruments for himself. In countries such as Venezuela, it is not uncommon for musicians to make their own instruments. He spent a lot of time studying each instrument so that he could make left handed versions for himself and other musicians.
I’ve also found that a greater percentage of musicians are left handed, as compared with the general population.
I’ve played a cornet, tenor horn, baritone and euphonium at different points in my life – all are right handed instruments, and on the whole I’ve done reasonably well. I still feel though that I don’t have as much control over my right hand as a right handed player though (or maybe it’s just lack or practice
)
I know when I was a kid *someone told me* you could buy left handed versions of these instruments, but you normally needed to add about £1000 to the price (which seems a bit excessive now), but would have been right the 25 years ago I’m thinking of.
I in my youth played Cornet and Tenor Horn without any difficulty using my Right hand to manipulate the valves, later in life I graduated to the french Horn, and played this in the traditional manner. At a later stage I made and played a five string Banjo, and laterva Mandolin, playing both of these in hte standard way i.e Plectrum in right hand, fingering of strings with left hand.
Co incidently I now write with either hadn, and play Lawn bowls using either hand depending in which direction I wiish to aim the bowl.
you can buy most instruments leftie now and trombone can be put together “backwards” so you can use the slide with your left hand!!
I play trombone in my school’s concert band, and I’ve always liked having my music stand on the left-side. But now I am having problems, because my teacher wants me to hold it up higher, making the bell block my view of my music.
The most important keys are on the left hand for many of the instruments mentioned above. (I play clar, sax, trumpet.) A good horn for ‘lefties’ also is the french horn – you use your left hand for the notes unlike a trumpet where you traditionally use your right….
I am a leftie and I taught myself the recorder when I was a child. I did start off with the wrong hand at the top. When this was pointed out to me by a teacher later, I had to go through re-learning the fingerings with the correct hands, but it really wasn’t that much of an issue and I went on to play clarinet with no problem.
It was required at my elementary school to play recorder in 4th and 5th grade. When the teacher told us how to hold it, I had no problem, instead, a couple righties had trouble. I went on to play sax in 7th grade and still had no problem. It seems to me, like other people said, that I use my left hand more often, not nesecarily for high notes, but for low notes as well.
I too learnt the recorder first then progressed to the flute. I never had problems. I think i was comfortable with the way i handled the instruments and never questioned a possible problem because of left handedness.
I play the saxaphone and I find it an advantage to be left-handed. The fingering for your left hand is more complex and used more often than the lower notes of the right hand. However, the best way to discourage “bad” habits is at the beginning so somebody who started playing with their hands in the opposite position would have a lot harder time switching than someone starting out with the correct position
I started on the recorder at about 6 and clarinet at 7 and saxophone at 14. It never felt awkward being a left hander, if anything it was useful as many of the first notes I learnt were with my left hand and not my right.
I’m still playing my clarinet and saxophone to my class of special needs children and they appreciate my playing.
Like most people I started playing the recorder when I was 7. We were told left hand at the top and right hand at the bottom. Being left-handed never came into it. To me it was natural. I then played the piano and violin for a short time but left them to play the flute. I then went on to play the saxophone and clarinet and finally went on to teach woodwind in schools. Some children when playing the recorder with there right hand at the top when questioned why, they answered ‘I’m left handed’. I then went on to tell them that if they wanted to go on to learn another woodwind instrument they would have to change there hands round. It doesn’t matter whether you are left or right handed it’s the instrument you are learning.
my son plays trumpet..has for six yrs…is awsome trumpet player….his mmusic teacher had him teachin freinds…i dont think anyone realizes he is left handed..
I am learning to play the fiddle. I have found it very easy to use my left hand for fingering the strings and the right for the bow. When my instructor discovered that I was left handed, she said that I should be playing the other way around! But that would seem odd to me. The fine motor skills are easier with the left hand – the right just moves back and forth!
I am a professional (left handed) musician, oboe and piano. My husband and daughter are both professional violinists and teachers. Believe me, we left hander have an advantage over those righties on the string instruments, and on wind instruments it makes absolutely no difference—-you use both hands equally. On string instruments, the fine movements are in the fingers of the left hand, and the large motor skills are in the right hand. I would think that playing the piano is a bigger concern as you have to move the right hand a lot more than the left. However, I actually find that I can do more with my right hand on the piano than my left. It really is how you train yourself for a particuliar job. In my 50 years of teaching oboe to people from age 6 to 72, I have never found an instance where hand preference made a bit of difference. A further observation is that I’ve found in musical social settings (dinners out etc) the majority of the musicians will be left handed, none of whom worry about playing the instrument as it was designed.
Dayna, I couldn’t agree more with your comments. As a fellow oboist, both hands are equally needed. One needs to work on getting those pinky’s strong on both hands to play well. I am proud of being a lefty, but we can’t use it as an excuse (not that you are, but some do) to not practice or to give up too soon.
I am currently learning to play keyboard/piano and find that I also find it easier to play the tune with my right hand rather than left. However, in tunes with a melody in both hands ,like sticks and stones, I have found it easier to play the piece than other “class mates”. Whether this has anything to do with my being left handed I have apsolutly no idea.
I play the Flute. (I learnt the Recorder when I was in Primary School too.) I’ve never had any trouble with my “handedness” on these instraments because I played them “right handed” from day one. I find that if I’m learning a new task, then whichever way I lean to do it is the way that I will continue to do that task.
Same here:-)
i play the trombone. i dont think there are any left-handed trombones, but i felt comfortable playing it. i think its because i’m not completely left-handed i guess. i write and eat with my left hand, but play sports (baseball, tennis, etc.) with my right.
I’ve been playing clarinet since the 5th grade. from the first moment that I picked it up until now I have always fund ease in playing. I’ve been playing for 9 years and I love every moment of it!!
I had a violin for 2 months when I was 7-no room for being a left-hander either, we were removed from each other for the sake of world peace!! Confidence badly dented thinking I was so useless. I learnt to play the guitar as a teenager but found it very hard to find a left handed intrument so adapted a right handed one (bridge and all). I then found co-ordinating my hands difficult, each doing something different (strum/pick and cords) – so gave up after a while, also it was difficult to play with anyone else in a band unless there was a lot of space. I picked up the Sax when I was 30 and haven’t looked back. Both my hands are playing one thing!! I never needed to be ‘lefthanded’ with the key positions either, it feels much more natural than an instrument that requires a ’split’ brain. And I CAN play music after all.
I play recorders, and whistles, and have played violin and clarinet, all right handed. For the recorders, it’s an advantage, as the really difficult higher notes are formed using the left thumb. I played violin in a school orchestra. It would be impossible to sit next to another violinist and use the bow left handed. Think about the arms hitting one another! Anyway, the really difficult bit for me was getting the fingers on the strings in the right place to form the note, and that’s done with the left hand.
Me too – I played the clarinet all through high school and felt very comfortable, didn’t even give it a second thought.
Like Vicky, I played both the recorder and the oboe, and had no difficulty placing my hands in the same positions as a right-hander. It never felt awkward or unnatural. However, if someone handed me a stringed instrument, such as a violin, I would find my instinct would fight hard with my received knowledge of how it should be done and I would be at a complete loss to know which hand to bow with and which to finger with.