No problem if one only realizes that David is Italian tablature personified, manifested anthropomorphically in front of you. An interesting way to go through the looking glass, but beware of the Barre Sinister.
During the year of tendonitis in my right forearm, I spent some serious time & effort attempting to practice the lute left handed. Not restrung, just to feel how the reversal affected joints, tendons, muscles, etc. One thing I noticed immediately was intense relief in my right arm, hand turned around and pressing instead of doing what it had been doing. I also learned to eat lefty, including chopsticks, brush hair, teeth, etc. The only thing besides serious lute playing that I could not master lefty was handwriting, a dying skill anyway in this century. As an archer I have always shot lefty because of crossed hand/eye dominance; I am left eyed. Dan > Or imagine you are looking in a mirror. > >Some of my pupils like doing the latter, saying it makes it very easy >to copy technique and posture. Some keep getting mixed up and find >especially looking at hand-on-the-fingerboard fingerings (chords!) >very confusing. But some don't even notice untill many, many lessons >after the first one. >The only negative point for me is that I cannot play on their >instruments. Not just to check set-up or tuning, but also to show them >it's not the lute that makes the good or bad sound but it is the >player, and, yes, speed is possible on their lutes too, and, indeed, a >barre is a little harder how it's done by putting my hand on their >instrument, while they are holding it, so they can really see what it >looks like from the player's point of view. By now I can fake lot of >good hand postures with the 'wrong' hand, and even make a pretty >decent tone with the 'wrong' hand. Perhaps I should learn to play >right handed now? ;-) I remember a lesson from Tony Bailes who in his >usual fashion was going to bend over me to play on my lute while I was >holding it. He suddenly stopped, stunned, and realised something was >amiss. > >I thought of reversing the videos but didn't. After all, I'm left >handed and that's how it looks like. > >David - cuts sashimi with his right hand > -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
