Ambidextrous ? - & effect on playing.....

[JpScoey]

I find this an odd thing for me.

 

I'm naturally left-handed (when writing, throwing a ball, holding a table-tennis racket etc),

 

but right-handed when it comes to other things.

 

For example - I can play the keys much more fluently with my right hand..... & am right-footed (eg: kicking a ball)

 

does this make any sense, or reason?

 

 

Out of curiosity, how many lefties / righties, do we have on KC, & does it affect you in any way ?

[Steve Force]

I find this an odd thing for me.

 

I'm naturally left-handed (when writing, throwing a ball, holding a table-tennis racket etc),

 

but right-handed when it comes to other things.

 

For example - I can play the keys much more fluently with my right hand..... & am right-footed (eg: kicking a ball)

 

does this make any sense, or reason?

 

 

Out of curiosity, how many lefties / righties, do we have on KC, & does it affect you in any way ?

 

Leftie here that does things many things rightie.

[yannis D]

I'm like you. I just have a little "better" left hand as far as piano and other activities (shaving, holding the spoon etc), but besides this i'm a normal animal

As far as keys/piano: we all have a better right hand - all piano vocabulary is based on a strong right hand, and we've all been taught to play/think like right handed people.

[Cygnus64]

Lefty. The only thing I can do with my right hand is throw a frisbee.

[JpScoey]

Lefty. The only thing I can do with my right hand is throw a frisbee.

 

So that's 4 out of 4 so far - I wonder if it's a trait that's common to keyboard players ?

 

It'll be interesting to see what the other guys say when they chime in.

[johnchop]

Left-handed, but lately, as I've been polishing chops, I'm realizing how those fingers still need more work (3&4 especially) compared to the right.

 

I definitely feel very "rooted" when playing rhythmically strong LH lines (like New Orleans style stuff).

[Cygnus64]

Lefties have a much higher percentage of alcoholics.

 

Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They're also more likely to die young and get into accidents.

Lefties= crazy drunks

 

[Steve Force]

Lefties have a much higher percentage of alcoholics.

 

Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They're also more likely to die young and get into accidents.

Lefties= crazy drunks

 

I blame it on not having left-handed hammers, screwdrivers and toilets..

[Cygnus64]

Lefties have a much higher percentage of alcoholics.

 

Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They're also more likely to die young and get into accidents.

Lefties= crazy drunks

 

I blame it on not having left-handed hammers, screwdrivers and toilets..

 

Don't forget Scissors, and evil teachers named Mrs McGuire in the second grade at Wessagussett Elementary in Weymouth Mass forcing a talented young student to friggin assimilate into their right-handed scissor world.

[JpScoey]

Lefties have a much higher percentage of alcoholics.

 

Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They're also more likely to die young and get into accidents.

 

Also (apart from doing stupid stuff like drinking too heavily) -

 

in general 'lefties' are more artistic & intellectual...

 

 

 

"In tests conducted by Dr. Alan Searleman from St Lawrence University in New York,

he found that left-handers can be considerably more intellectually gifted..

 

There were more left-handed people with IQs over 140 than right-handed people - which is the "genius" bracket.

 

This is perhaps why there are more "lefties" in creative professions - such as music, art and writing -

 

and more left-handed astronauts and leaders than would be expected..."

 

 

 

 

..... just a drunken thought

[yannis D]

Lefties have a much higher percentage of alcoholics.

 

Statistics show left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. They're also more likely to die young and get into accidents.

Lefties= crazy drunks

 

Thanx for the info, you made my day

[JpScoey]

I blame it on not having left-handed hammers, screwdrivers and toilets..

 

...

[mate stubb]

Mostly righty, but lefty for shooting a rifle/bow. Dad was a full on lefty.

[Bill W]

I find this an odd thing for me.

 

I'm naturally left-handed (when writing, throwing a ball, holding a table-tennis racket etc),

 

but right-handed when it comes to other things.

 

For example - I can play the keys much more fluently with my right hand..... & am right-footed (eg: kicking a ball)

 

does this make any sense, or reason?

 

Out of curiosity, how many lefties / righties, do we have on KC, & does it affect you in any way ?

 

I am a lot like you. I'm naturally left-handed but can write with both hands. I throw lefty, but bat/kick righty. My right hand is much more developed on the keyboard. I also play guitar righty.

[iLaw]

Lefty here, but (like most lefties, I suspect) I learned in kindergarten that if you want to get your art work done, you'd better learn to use the right-handed scissors.

 

Same applies to pianos, although Christopher Seed disagrees:

 

http://www.lefthandedpiano.com/img/partbuilt.jpg

 

Larry.

 

[VLH]

I am naturally left-handed, but like most left handed people I am "task oriented." For instance, I was taught to throw a ball righthanded and so that's how I do it. With some tasks, I can't figure out which "hand" wants to take the job--eg when fly-fishing (which is actually an advantage, except that reels are designed for right or left hand retrieve; or when a friend was trying to teach me tennis, I kept tossing the racket from one hand to the other rather than using a backhand; drove him crazy). But I'm not really ambidextrous--I just associate different task with different sides but sort of always 'feel' the left side of my body as more present or weighty or prevalent. On piano, my rh is more skilled simply because it gets used more for most performance tasks.

 

(edited to add)

I notice this tendency much more among lefthanded friends, and I think it's because most of the world is righthanded so that's what we see. My wife and many other righthanded friends often have difficulty doing anything that requires more than marginal dexterity with their left hands, but I often see lefthanded people handling righthanded equipment (scissors being the worst).

 

In our family, my father was truly ambidextrous--he was an artist and could draw or write just as well with either hand. The three children never had a strong sense of handedness--eg, if you say "make a right" or "make a left" at X intersection, it takes a moment to figure out which side is left or right. In comparison, my wife always know which side is right (and of course, she is ALWAYS RIGHT!)

[iLaw]

... and here's something that will really tangle up your brain. Geza Loso is another lefty who had a left-handed piano built. But Geza went the next step and started re-writing standard piano literature "lefty-wise" for his piano. Now you and I would think "what's wrong with just using standard notation?" but Geza Loso thinks otherwise. Here's his Minuet in G. It looks fairly ordinary at first glance:

 

http://www.gezaloso.de/images/beispiel_menuett.gif

 

That's just wrong.

 

Larry.

 

[JpScoey]

... and here's something that will really tangle up your brain. Geza Loso is another lefty who had a left-handed piano built. But Geza went the next step and started re-writing standard piano literature "lefty-wise" for his piano. Now you and I would think "what's wrong with just using standard notation?" but Geza Loso thinks otherwise. Here's his Minuet in G. It looks fairly ordinary at first glance:

 

http://www.gezaloso.de/images/beispiel_menuett.gif

 

That's just wrong.

 

Larry.

 

So is that in 3/4 or 4/3 ?

[iLaw]

So is that in 3/4 or 4/3 ?

 

I think what he should have done is used standard notation, but typeset it right-to-left, like Arabic and Hebrew. Beethoven's instructions on "Für Elise" would be to play it "otom ocoP"

 

Larry.

[DanS]

Righty, but I when I play drums, I play like a lefty.

[Joe Muscara]

Right handed, but I've long made an effort to use my left hand as much as I can. At home, I usually mouse (now track) with my left. (Actually, that frees up my right to do keyboard shortcuts and such.)

 

I remember when I was very young, my sister was teaching me a lot of stuff. IIRC, they noticed that I wrote with either hand. They told me I had to pick one. I picked right because, in essence, they said it would be easier to assimilate with everyone else. I've sometimes wondered what would have happened if I had picked the left.

[Steve Nathan]

I'm Aqua-dextrous

 

I can lay in the tub and adjust the water with either foot

[Ken Beaumont]

I guess I am ambidextrous I can screw up simple tasks equally well in either hand.

[dongna]

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as left or right handedness. Everything is task oriented. It's basic muscle control and training. Whichever hand we learn to do something with is the hand we become more comfortable using and therefore the hand we use for that particular task.

 

I've got lots of evidence if anyone's interested, but I don't want to hijack the thread.

 

For the record, I use the following hand/foot:

 

Left:

throw

shoot basketball

shoot pool

eat finger food (i.e. popcorn)

 

Right:

write

eat (with fork or spoon)

play tennis/ping pong

kick

play guitar

[Cygnus64]

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as left or right handedness. Everything is task oriented. It's basic muscle control and training. Whichever hand we learn to do something with is the hand we become more comfortable using and therefore the hand we use for that particular task.

 

I've got lots of evidence if anyone's interested,

 

Fire away. You're of course disregarding pretty much every scientific study known to man...

[Steve Force]

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as left or right handedness. Everything is task oriented. It's basic muscle control and training. Whichever hand we learn to do something with is the hand we become more comfortable using and therefore the hand we use for that particular task.

 

I've got lots of evidence if anyone's interested,

 

Fire away. You're of course disregarding pretty much every scientific study known to man...

 

Yes, please prove us wrong....

[Cygnus64]

I'm chock full of Leucine-rich repeat transmembrane neuronal protein 1.

 

LRRTM1, the lefty gene or an early film by George Lucas?

[J. Dan]

So that's 4 out of 4 so far - I wonder if it's a trait that's common to keyboard players ?

 

It'll be interesting to see what the other guys say when they chime in.

 

You should start a poll, I'd be curious of he results as well. I'm righty, btw.

[Michelle ggurl]

I'm a lefty when it comes to writing and some fine-motor craft things but kick, skateboard, snowboard, throw, and play guitar righty. I can use scissors with either hand as well as do other larger-motor tasks. This last is because you don't find a lot of lefty tools. When I learned to play bass and guitar righty I never saw the point of relearning lefty ... again, given the scarcity of instruments in that orientation.

 

I'm highly ambidextrous now to the point where I can write right-handed if I have to. I have no idea how this affects one's playing since this is the only way I've ever been but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes hand-independence come more easily.

[marino]

Great thread! Personally, I'm totally right-handed, but I've learned to do several things with my left, thanks in part to piano education. I can operate the mouse with left hand, no prob. Writing is difficult but possible, etc.

In my teaching experience, I've observed several hundreds of human beings dealing with hand independence, and I've found that there are infinite variations on the theme. For example, I've meet several people who are left-handed but right-footed (if such a term does exist) or viceversa. Of all these people, I can objectively say to have met just *one* subject who was totally ambidextrous from all points of view. A fifteen-year old at the time, he could do everything with both hands - writing, playing football, playing bebop lines, brushing his teeth, etc.

He could play the piano spectacularly, but amazingly, he didn't care at all. He couldn't care less for the inner meaning of music; to him, it was just a combinatory game. I used to watch him in total amazement, and I tried to give him some sense of artistic sensitivity, but he quit playing after a while. Life is strange...