Greetings All:
I'm another stereotypical lefty...except when it's time to pluck. Every
stringed instrument I have endeavored to play, I do so on standard
instruments.
As alluded by a few, most plucked string instruments to stop strings along
a
neck--from the very dawn of extant instruments--are braced asymmetrically
to
stiffen the soundboard nearer the bridge on the treble side in an effort to
balance tone across range. Simply reversing strings, even if crafting new
nut and bridge, aren't true conversions to mirror images of standard
instruments because of this internal asymmetry. Unfortunately, the whole
world of original vintage instruments is shut off to those who opt to learn
to play in reverse to standard, because accommodating instruments
historically were non-existent to very, very rare.
Because playing music is very strictly anthropogenic, I contend that
assignment of tasks, string plucking or stopping, may be relatively
arbitrary. I'm not arguing that it makes no difference which job is
assigned to the dominant hand, but that both jobs are relatively complex
and
strictly learned behaviors. I suspect a lefty who approaches music
plucking
with the right (from their perspective, non-dominant) hand very well *may*
do so differently than righties. I thus also contend that left-handed
beginners at least owe it to themselves to *try* to learn using standard
instruments with neck in left hand.
I sometimes wonder if lefties who insist on learning in reverse to standard
do so because of the expectations they've learned growing up left handed.
There certainly are left-handed keyboard players and violinists out there,
but seeing any of them play in reverse to standard is rare in the extreme.
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.
Best,
Eugene
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Miles Dempster [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 3:46 PM
> To: David van Ooijen
> Cc: lute
> Subject: [LUTE] Re : Re: restring?
>
> David,
>
> What an instructive and hilarious posting! Many thanks!
>
> I am a lefty, but from the very beginning of my plucking life (age 12 or
> therabouts) I have played guitar and lute right-handed. Perhaps I am
> ambidextrous to some degree, but I certainly throw a ball with my left,
> and write with my left.
>
> Since both hands must be used skilfully, I wonder if there is any
> fundamental reason why the plucking or bowing hand has to follow one's
> dexterity or sinister tendencies.
>
> Just a thought
>
>
> Miles Dempster
>
> ----- Message d'origine -----
> De: David van Ooijen <[email protected]>
> Date: Vendredi, Janvier 9, 2009 5:30 am
> Objet: [LUTE] Re: restring?
> À: lute <[email protected]>
>
>
> > On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Jean-Marie Poirier
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > I'm afraid it isn't that simple... I am left-handed so I know what
> > I'm talking about. In fact a lute is not built like a guitar and it is
> > not enough to change the strings the other way round to ba able to
> > play a left-handed instrument.
> >
> >
> > Another lefty here. Jean-Marie is right, it's not a good idea to use
> > a
> > right-handed lute the other way round, too many complications. Having
> > said that, I do own one right-handed lute, and have re-strung it.
> > Just
> > so you know what a bad idea that is, I'll give a short summary of the
> > problems playing that lute gives me. It's a 7-course: single first
> > course, 6 double courses. That makes 13 strings. I have not altered
> > the bridge or nut, so to have it as a left-handed 7-course I have a
> > single first and a single 7, only the middle 5 courses are double
> > now.
> > That makes 12 strings, and one spare peg. It has a very awkward
> > string
> > spacing, left and right. For fixing that, changing the nut would not
> > be a big problem, drilling some extra holes in the bridge is a little
> > more tricky, especially as they must be very close to the existing
> > holes. I never bothered. The neck is, as it should be, slightly
> > off-centre. That means it's slightly off-centre the wrong way round
> > now. You don't want to know how awkward that can be, playing in high
> > positions. The neck, the whole instrument in fact, is slightly
> > warped,
> > perhaps designed to be so, perhaps it came about when the maker was
> > adjusting the instrument, perhaps it happened over time. The result
> > is
> > a good action: low for the first course, a little higher for the
> > basses. But that's good action for a right-handed lute, so more
> > circus
> > acts needed to play it as a lefty. Minor aberrations as slanted
> > bridge
> > or nut to compensate for tuning differences in high and low strings I
> > don't particularly notice, the other problems are great enough to
> > occupy me when playing it. Luckily I once managed to push my knee
> > through the sound board, in a desperate act preventing the lute from
> > falling from my lap, firmly pressing it with my hand to make sure the
> > knee went all the way through, which resulted in an excellent repair
> > job by a better luthier than the original maker. He managed to
> > improve
> > the action by shaving of a considerable part of the edge of the bowl,
> > before gluing the, repaired, soundboard back in place. Repair cost me
> > almost more than the lute itself.
> > Remains the question, why do I bother with an instrument like this,
> > having a good collection of quality lutes? It's my teaching
> > instrument
> > when I have to go off to my music school: strung in all-carbon (yuk!)
> > and Pyramid (yuk!). From 415 to 440 in no-time between pupils.
> > D-minor
> > for the next. Single bass to C, D, or F, whatever is needed. Everyone
> > is allowed to have ago on it, drop it, sit on it, leave it in the
> > rain, dry it on the heater. In good Dutch: it's my StuiterLuit
> > (bouncing lute). Would I ever bring it on stage? No. Would I ever
> > record with it? No. Would I ever play it at home for fun? No. Do I
> > ever treat my pupils and myself to a proper lute? Regularly. Should
> > you treat yourself to a proper lute? Definitively!
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > --
> > *******************************
> > David van Ooijen
> > [email protected]
> > www.davidvanooijen.nl
> > *******************************
> >
> >
> >
> > To get on or off this list see list information at
> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> >
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