Left Handed Violinists

[sankark]

This thought stuck me y'day in PrasannaVenkataraman's concert - we have left handed mridangists. Are there left handed violinists (or vInai or khajira players)?

Violin is symmetric, isn't it? The strings can be ordered the other way around and the screws at the bottom of the board can be reversed AFAIK so the design of the violin isn't precluding any leftie to pick it up.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Left Handed Violin Playing :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brYRXvKvFmo

Left handed violinist, Claire Zollinger :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYyAc2RqSlw

LEFT-HANDED VIOLINIST? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW :-
https://www.connollymusic.com/stringova ... ed-to-know

[Sachi_R]

You can’t turn a standard violin into a left-handed one by simply putting the strings on in reverse.

I am fond of an Amazon Prime series Mozart in the Jungle. There is an Amazonian woman in that fictional series who plays the violin left-handed

[Sivaramakrishnan]

*Though it is technically possible to play the Violin left handed (i.e bowing with left hand), I have not come across such violinists in South India.
Several left handed violinists could be seen 'handling' western music.

*If it is just a procedure of changing the order of strings in the instrument for left handed violinists, it's just impossible for a plucked instrument like Veena. For academic sake if you insist, the construction itself will be entirely different leave alone the fact you won't be able to play it at all!

*'Left handed in guitar' will also be an impossibility!

*A left handed flute needs no different construction but needs to be just held towards one's left for playing. Pt. Hariprasad Chourasya is a left hander.

*Do not ask a Nagaswaram or Shehnai vidwan whether he is left handed!!

*Harmoniums for left handers will have the bellowing panel on the right of the instrument. The player will apply bellows with his right hand.

* Just interchange the 'pieces' for a left handed Tablist.

[uday_shankar]

*'Left handed in guitar' will also be an impossibility!.

Not at all true SRK. Jimi Hendrix, considered the greatest rock and roll guitarist in history was left handed. And what's more, although there are specific left-handed electric guitars made (in regards to the placement of the volume knob and wow bar as well as the bridge/tuning reversal) Jimi Hendrix used the inconvenient right handed guitar and played left-handed. He was quite crazy, but there have been and are quite a few left handed guitarists in rock and roll. blues, etc...

Here's Jimi Hendrix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDvlErh5zcc

it's just impossible for a plucked instrument like Veena.

Not true either. Check this talented Australian sitarist:

http://joshbennett.com.au/sadhana/bio.html

And watch this space as I record a demo of playing left-handed vina with a conventional right-handed vina as well as chitravina .

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Uday for the studied information.

Again some points from the observer's point:

* in guitar too, the task could be mainly rearranging the strings and making changes on the main platform.

* the left handed sitar seems to be an exception.

*You can't compare Veena with Sitar though both are plucked.

* I am eager to see your left handed Veena demo.

[uday_shankar]

* I am eager to see your left handed Veena demo.

Just tried it and realized I can't do it except on the uppermost frets because the tala tanti beradais are in the way. So a mirror image vina is needed with the beradais and the taala tantis on the opposite side, as well as the string order reversed (for pulling).

Will do the chitravina demo, which will be easier, later tonight .

[SrinathK]

A left handed violin will need everything mirrored - the bass bar, sound post, nut, bridge, pegs, chin rest, even the graduation of the plates. The bow need not be modified.

[nadhasudha]

I used to think that the veena is built to favor right handed folks. I know of a leftie student who plays the veena. He says that his left hand is the most worked hand in that it traverses all the strings and up and down the frets. The right hand is doing the plucking. He finds the playing of the veena quite easy being a leftie and according to him it favors lefties the way it is. A different perspective

Are there any left handed singers - meaning singers who keep the beat on the left hand?

[uday_shankar]

SRK, can't believe I forgot to mention the most famous left-handed multi-instrumentalist of the first half of the 20th century - Ustad Alauddin Khan, the guru of Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Annapurna Devi, Nikhil Bannerjee and many others.

There are enough pictures of him playing a left-handed sarod if you google his name. But there is also this rare picture of him playing violin left-handed (he tried every instrument that came his way):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol66Z29dshA

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I used to think that the veena is built to favor right handed folks. I know of a leftie student who plays the veena. He says that his left hand is the most worked hand in that it traverses all the strings and up and down the frets. The right hand is doing the plucking. He finds the playing of the veena quite easy being a leftie and according to him it favors lefties the way it is. A different perspective

Are there any left handed singers - meaning singers who keep the beat on the left hand?

1 A leftist's right view!

2 You mean the side of 'Lap Tap'?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Uday,
I had seen photos of 'Baba' (Ust. Allaudin Khan) teaching Pt. Ravishankar and others, in Sruti magazine several years ago. The guru was seen playing a sarod left handed while the disciples seated on ground were using their respective instruments- all of them right handed! I did write to Sruti seeking more information about this rarity but the then editor- the indomitable N Pattabhiraman -jokingly suggested to find out answers myself taking it up as a cute little project!
Thanks for the reminder.

But where's your demo?

[uday_shankar]

But where's your demo?

Sent you a whatsapp video . The young volunteer didn't want it to be made public but is known to you

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thank you, Ji!

[nadhasudha]

I used to think that the veena is built to favor right handed folks. I know of a leftie student who plays the veena. He says that his left hand is the most worked hand in that it traverses all the strings and up and down the frets. The right hand is doing the plucking. He finds the playing of the veena quite easy being a leftie and according to him it favors lefties the way it is. A different perspective

Are there any left handed singers - meaning singers who keep the beat on the left hand?

1 A leftist's right view!

2 You mean the side of 'Lap Tap'?

Yes I mean the Lap Tap - Usually singers do the Lap Tap on their right side, but wonder if there were any Carnatic musicians who were left handed and hence did the Lap Tap with their left hand. Although, I doubt very much that such singers were there because in India the culture was to discourage the use of left hand and force natural born lefties to switch to right hand.

[thenpaanan]

Yes I mean the Lap Tap - Usually singers do the Lap Tap on their right side, but wonder if there were any Carnatic musicians who were left handed and hence did the Lap Tap with their left hand. Although, I doubt very much that such singers were there because in India the culture was to discourage the use of left hand and force natural born lefties to switch to right hand.

Ironically lap tapping on the left side (for righties) would have helped with tambura playing. Because we _must_ use the right hand to lap tap we Carnatic singers cannot play tambura and sing at the same time. Hindustani musicians play the tambura while they sing but don't lap tap because of the tabla. Why can't we do both?

-T

[SrinathK]

The right hand for the tala is not such a big deal - one can with a bit of practice put it equally well on the left. The real issue is that one can't move one's body freely in tune with the music when you've got a big heavy tambura to hold. Not only that, plucking the tambura constantly while doing everything expected in CM is a skill that takes time and additional concentration to master - much easier to give it to a student while your hands and mind are both free to focus on singing.

[harimau]

The right hand for the tala is not such a big deal - one can with a bit of practice put it equally well on the left........

In fact, with practice, musicians can maintain two different talams with their two hands, as demonstrated repeatedly by the late Suguna Purushothaman and her student Gayathri Kamakoti.

[SrinathK]

The right hand for the tala is not such a big deal - one can with a bit of practice put it equally well on the left........

In fact, with practice, musicians can maintain two different talams with their two hands, as demonstrated repeatedly by the late Suguna Purushothaman and her student Gayathri Kamakoti.

Two different talams in two different nadais even....

[thenpaanan]

The right hand for the tala is not such a big deal - one can with a bit of practice put it equally well on the left. The real issue is that one can't move one's body freely in tune with the music when you've got a big heavy tambura to hold. Not only that, plucking the tambura constantly while doing everything expected in CM is a skill that takes time and additional concentration to master - much easier to give it to a student while your hands and mind are both free to focus on singing.

Of course, it _can_ be done and many many great singers have managed magnificently without any lap tap at all, as have all our great instrumentalists. I also don't think it is necessary to move one's body a lot while singing, in fact it can be a handicap. I recall from my learning days when my teacher said to me "enna daa, paattu mela pogalai, mandai maathram porudu" (Boy! your voice is not going up, only your head is) or "mandai aattinaa porumaa, gamakam asaya vendaamaaa" (it is not enough to shake your head, you have to sing the gamakam too).

My point is simply that we have eliminated the possibility that beginner students could have even contemplated such a thing as doing both lap tap and tambura. I have heard singers in the past not bring an acoustic tambura on stage because they "could not find a person to strum it for them".

Not that it is a big deal, but I have very rarely seen even intermediate level singers put tALam with their left hand. I know from my own experience that the lap tap becomes quite a crutch -- I needed that physical feedback to calm my anxiety that I had to work hard to overcome. Even today I have to put down the tambura and lap tap with my right when I have to negotiate tricky pieces, which I think is an inconvenient if not unfortunate legacy of my early years.

-T

[MaheshS]

Are there any left handed singers - meaning singers who keep the beat on the left hand?

Found one Dr S Sunder. Dr.S.Sunder @ Nadopasana - 11th May 2018

[nadhasudha]

Are there any left handed singers - meaning singers who keep the beat on the left hand?

Found one Dr S Sunder. Dr.S.Sunder @ Nadopasana - 11th May 2018

Thanks MaheshS. Good to know.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

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Earlier discussions (2010/2011) on this subject !

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13428

viewtopic.php?t=17407