Hi there, I have been a lefty all my life, and as I was originally self-taught on guitar, when I shifted to lute, afetr years of bluesin' and jazzin' around, it was out of the question to change my ways. So lefty I was and lefty I will stay as long as possible... Of course it means specially made instruments, but on the whole, I have never been bothered because of my left-handedness by my subsequent teachers, Hoppy Smith one of them... or perhaps should I say my left-handedness never bothered them : the major drawback was they hhad to use their own lute to show me some tricks and subtleties of phrasing and thing. By the way if Jonathan Rubin was on this list he might also contribute, just like David van Oijen and a couple more. He is a prominent lefty who was in Basel at the same time as Smith and O'Dette, among others...
I tend to do quite a bit of continuo work on the (left-handed ;-) theorbo and archlute, and although it is sometimes sort of funny to find an adequate place in the orchestra but I have never been in trouble, or fired, because of that, even in a squad of 4 or more pluckers as it sometimes (too rarely, alas) happens. By he way I also play the viol, and Derek Porteous made an excellent left-handed tenor viol for me a dozen years ago and I tend to specialize on that instrument when playing in consort. The issue of bowing is not so hard or complicated to overcome as long as your partners are happy to play with you ;-) ! Here again, my enduring lefty playing cannot be held reponsible for a single casualty in trios, quartets, quintets or sextets I have been taking part in ;-) Finally, my experience leads me to think that most, if not all, makers (at least lute-makers) will be too happy to make a left-handed instrument if asked to. David Van Edwards, from Norwich, England, made quite a few, including mine and they are top class lutes indeed ! I am looking forward to an 11 course Baroque lute after Frei by him, which never posed the slightest problem when I ordered it from him and discussed some details for decoration and string length etc... He will simply symetrically reverse the plan of the famous Warwick Frei realised by Michael Lowe in the late 60s I think. Didn't seem to be a problem for him at all. Best wishes and a happy new lefty and righty year to all ! Jean-Marie Poirier ======= 12-01-2009 18:13:16 ======= > >>Re: left-handed violinning: >>http://www.captainfiddle.com/playvioleftbook.html > >GREAT link! -Thanks for sharing. As a teacher, I have often been >hard-pressed enough just trying to find a half-decent, affordable >lute for my right handers. Lefties? Forget it! -I instantly realized >the difficulties of a mere restringing, as so thoroughly well >explained by David O. > >When I worked at a guitar repair/dealer's shop, it was easy enough to >set up moderate price level, assembly line guitars for lefties, given >the presence of workbenches, specialty tools, and piles of bridge and >nut blanks. This still didn't address the internal barring issues >which require a true, custom built commissioned instrument. (Barber & >Harris have some really gorgeous lefty lutes on their website, by the >way.) I have worked out ways to drill/re-drill lute bridge holes at >home; while not doing a R-L conversion I have had to make two very >close holes on either side of a single treble string hole to >accommodate a double first (an old vihuela since sold), but that's >about the least of the problems for proper left hand play given the >action & neck angle issues. > >"I'm not certain why we find plucked string luthiers catering more to the >whims of left handedness, perhaps because keyboards tend to be such >substantial and often multi-user things, and the vintage violin market is >much more serious than the vintage lute/guitar/mandolin market amongst >"serious" musicians." > >With all the difficulties involved with building plucked string >instruments, it's even worse for bowed. Carved top- already a far >more expensive, labor intensive job, never mind the bass bar. Only >the sound post is a quick change. And of course the same neck issues >but this time on a rounded, (or at least far more rounded) >fingerboard. The one thing Ryan J Thompson didn't address adequately >is the problem of backwards bowing in a tight ensemble- quartet >players can spread out, but the orchestra? You can poke somebody's >eye out with that thing! > >Dan > >-- > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Orange vous informe que cet e-mail a ete controle par l'anti-virus mail. >Aucun virus connu a ce jour par nos services n'a ete detecte. > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = jmpoiri...@wanadoo.fr http://poirierjm.free.fr 12-01-2009
