BAGPIPE> Question about left handed pipers
Red...@aol.com
am not sure how to proceed! Should she learn with her left hand on the lower
and right hand on the upper notes of the chanter? I know there are left
handed pipes--should she buy left handed pipes or try to manage with regular
pipes? (She is just starting to learn so the pipes are in the future.) Any
left-handed pipers out there with some comments? Anyone that has taught left-
handed pipers have any helpful hints?
Thanks,
Pat
Patricia C. McMullen
Teddy J. Hart
I am left handed... I was simply taught to play like everyone else... It
was all so new to me that I would have had a hard time regardless of which
hand was which... just teach her the same as everyone else, and she will
develop the skills... it's such a new thing that it shouldn't really make
a difference...
Tip: Don't let her know that there is such a thing as a left handed
piper... just show her what to do.. and I'm sure she will be able to do
it...
In Peace and Brotherhood,
Teddy J. Hart
Modern Combative Arts
Long Island, New York
th...@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Instant Messenger Screen Name: Hwy Piper
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/dojo/9566
"It's a lot like origami... but with people!"
ALIXGUNN
>For the first time I have a left-handed student that wants to learn the GHB. I
am not sure how to proceed! Should she learn with her left hand on the lower
and right hand on the upper notes of the chanter? I know there are left handed
pipes--should she buy left handed pipes or try to manage with regular pipes?
(She is just starting to learn so the pipes are in the future.) Any
left-handed pipers out there with some comments? Anyone that has taught
I am right-handed, but learned to play left-
handed (mirror image, across the table from my teacher). I played left-handed
(right hand on top) on right-handed (drones on left shoulder) for the first 9
years, before switching over to left-hhanded.
In the same band that taught me, we had a
left-handed woman. She played right-handed (left-hand on top).
We're both right. Your dominant hand is to the top of the chanter...more
control.
Let your student hold the chanter whichever way feels most comfortable for
her/him. As far as the pipes go...it's easier
with the cross-hand set if she does end up
playing left-handed.
John and Lori Gaudet
learned to play the way everyone else has....My father entertained the thought of
teaching me with my hands reversed but decided that it would be a worse fate if he
did.....Im in total agreeance with him and am very glad that he didn't teach me
with my hands reversed.
I think it is hard enough to succeed in this game without being "different" than
everyone else. The paths that are created in your brain from repetition of
movements know not which hand you are playing them on......and if you have never
played before....you don't know any better anyway.......So teach that student the
"correct" and "acceptable" way rather than make her/him stick out from the
crowd.......It CAN be done......they just need to persevere!
Cheers Lori Wilson-Gaudet
> For the first time I have a left-handed student that wants to learn the GHB. I
> am not sure how to proceed! Should she learn with her left hand on the lower
> and right hand on the upper notes of the chanter? I know there are left
> handed pipes--should she buy left handed pipes or try to manage with regular
> pipes? (She is just starting to learn so the pipes are in the future.) Any
> left-handed pipers out there with some comments? Anyone that has taught left-
> handed pipers have any helpful hints?
>
LMILLER160
Patricia
As a left hander I am convinced that it is you right handers that have
learned to adapt to a left handed instrument. The way most people play is left
handed and in my left handed opinion it favors the left handers. The
instrument is held on the left shoulder and under the left arm and if you take
away the right hand it does not crash to the floor. What more can I say!
Lynne S. Miller H.O.B.
MiffMole
Strathclyde Police currently have three pipers who play with the drones on the
right shoulder. Certainly, their image is not hurt by this. Someone has
already mentioned P.M. MacDonald. I think that lefties who learn with drones on
the left just for the sake of conformity are probably doing themselves a
disservice. It's a minor issue over which side you play on, but most people are
better at strength moves (such as the bag) with their non-dominant hand, which
leaves your dominant hand for birls, which I think is the only movement that
would be made harder if the hands were switched.
In other words, if your a lefty, go ahead and learn with the drones on the
right, and your right hand on top of the chanter. No one is going to care about
it being backwards.
I learned to pley Green Hills with my hands reversed, just to see if anyone
would notice. In about a year with my old band of using it as a warmup tune,
where I'd play it that way about half the time, no one ever did. THERE was a
good use of time.
Keith Elliott
miff...@aol.com
piob...@bigfoot.com
ALIXGUNN
>.So teach that student the "correct" and "acceptable" way rather than make
her/him stick out from the crowd.......It CAN be done......they just need to
persevere!<
Not certain I care for the impplication that
playing left-handed is "incorrect" or "unacceptable".
I'm told it's how most pipers are taught to play in the isles.
ALIXGUNN
>I learned to pley Green Hills with my hands reversed, just to see if anyone
would notice. In about a year with my old band of using it as a warmup tune,
where I'd play it that way about half the time, no one ever did. THERE was a
good use of time.<
a full year before my band noticed "something was different". Like it matters?
jean hayes
For the first time I have a left-handed student that wants to learn the GHB. I
am not sure how to proceed! Should she learn with her left hand on the lower
and right hand on the upper notes of the chanter?
ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY N-O-T!!!
I am severely left handed and I can say with absolute authority that it's
all in how you learn.
I did the baton thing in high school which is right handed - I play piano
and accordion, and because of it my right-hand fingers outdo my left ones a
thousand times over.
Even though I am almost militantly left handed, when we got our computer I
made the deliberate choice to learn it right handed. (Rationale: left hand
would be free to work the mostly-left-sided control keys, and also hold a
pencil and make notes. Works with adding machines and calculators too.)
And I am now learning fiddle right handed. (A left-handed friend of mine is
one of the best fiddlers in the Celtic world, and has the smoothest bow arm
on the planet. If he can do it, so can anyone!)
________________________
I know there are lefhanded pipes--should she buy left handed pipes or try
to manage with regular pipes?
*******************
Manage is not the right word. It's however you learn. Since she'll be new
to it no matter which hand she uses, she might as well start
conventionally.
_____________________
Any left-handed pipers out there with some comments?
********************
As you might guess, I have many comments. Post me off-list and I'll answer
any question you can think of. We don't want to bore everyone else. (Or
start a war, either.)
Jean
__________________________________________
"Doon the stair tript Lady Jean..." Oops!
--Melville Castle
John and Lori Gaudet
arm....LEFT hand on top.......maybe you are playing it wrong.....;-))) Cheers, Lori
MiffMole wrote:
> Strathclyde Police currently have three pipers who play with the drones on the
> right shoulder. Certainly, their image is not hurt by this. Someone has
> already mentioned P.M. MacDonald. I think that lefties who learn with drones on
> the left just for the sake of conformity are probably doing themselves a
> disservice. It's a minor issue over which side you play on, but most people are
> better at strength moves (such as the bag) with their non-dominant hand, which
> leaves your dominant hand for birls, which I think is the only movement that
> would be made harder if the hands were switched.
>
> In other words, if your a lefty, go ahead and learn with the drones on the
> right, and your right hand on top of the chanter. No one is going to care about
> it being backwards.
>
> I learned to pley Green Hills with my hands reversed, just to see if anyone
> would notice. In about a year with my old band of using it as a warmup tune,
> where I'd play it that way about half the time, no one ever did. THERE was a
> good use of time.
>
> Keith Elliott
> miff...@aol.com
> piob...@bigfoot.com
John and Lori Gaudet
ALIXGUNN wrote:
> >I learned to pley Green Hills with my hands reversed, just to see if anyone
> would notice. In about a year with my old band of using it as a warmup tune,
> where I'd play it that way about half the time, no one ever did. THERE was a
> good use of time.<
Nicolas LE CORRE
John and Lori Gaudet a écrit:
> Why would it be a disservice to ourselves? Drones on LEFT shoulder, under LEFT
> arm....LEFT hand on top.......maybe you are playing it wrong.....;-))) Cheers, Lori
>
> I agree with you :
>
> I learned to play instinctively right hand on top, drones on the right shoulder but
> i'm not a lefty... My teacher told me to play the way i feel it. The only problem is
>
> to mount the bag and the drones for this way of playing.
michaelt...@gmail.com
I am usually right-handed!
But with bagpipes, I am left-handed, and have pipes that are also "left-handed" (ie, sit on my right side when playing).
But I've decided to retrain my brain, and for as long as it might take, I am going to reteach myself. My glimmer of hope is that I'm right-handed in the first place. Lots of patience, so here goes....