It's no surprise, then, that numerous left-handers have found a home at the piano keyboard, including some of the most famous talents of the 20th century—Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein and Glenn Gould—along with stars of today such as Daniel Barenboim and Hélène Grimaud, to name a few.
You’ve got to hand it to left-handers: although they make up only 10 percent of the population, they’re well-represented in many fields.
Among their ranks are four of the last seven U.S. Presidents, a quarter of all major league baseball players, and entertainment stars ranging from Tom Cruise to Oprah Winfrey to both Mr. Spocks from Star Trek (Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto).
THE LEFT-HANDED MUSIC WORLD
The left-handed dynamic plays out in the music world in varied and unexpected ways. Although “handedness” is generally defined by which hand a person naturally writes with, many musicians—left-handers and right-handers alike—operate on a spectrum that requires a great deal of dexterity from both hands.
Orchestral string players, for example, must deftly operate a bow with the right hand while the left hand utilizes a different skill set, controlling pitch and vibrato on the fingerboard. For other musicians, such as flutists, the hands are of approximately equal importance and perform one task together, selecting pitches while supporting the instrument’s weight. Variety prevails in the brass section, where trumpet and tuba players operate valves with the right hand, while horn players press their valves with the left.
Pianists, meanwhile, are trained from an early age to play independent musical lines simultaneously. It’s no surprise, then, that numerous left-handers have found a home at the piano keyboard, including some of the most famous talents of the 20th century—Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein and Glenn Gould—along with stars of today such as Daniel Barenboim and Hélène Grimaud, to name a few. There are, in fact, a number of piano concertos written for left hand alone, including one by the late former Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Stanislaw Skrowaczewski composed for pianist Gary Graffman, who plays solely with his left hand due to a permanent injury to his right.
And speaking of Minnesota Orchestra music directors: at least one was left-handed, Antal Dorati, who led the Orchestra from 1949 to 1960. “[Dorati] was left-handed, yet...taught himself to be ambidextrous, and could sign his name with both hands at the same time,” notes his former student, conductor-composer José Serebrier. Like nearly all left-handed orchestral conductors, particularly those working today, Dorati conducted using the same basic techniques as a right-handed conductor—using the right hand to hold the baton and keep time with standard beat patterns, while making additional gestures and cues with the left hand.
CUSTOMIZING OR CONFORMING?
Although left-handers have their own specialized scissors and baseball gloves, handedness-specialized musical instruments are comparatively rare. Two notable exceptions are the guitar and the electric bass, which have attracted left-handers who sometimes customize their performance style by reversing the order of the strings or by holding the instrument upside down—allowing them to more easily strum with their dominant hand and change chords like the mirror image of a right-handed player.
By contrast, orchestral string players don’t generally have this option: seated closely together, they must all hold and bow their instruments the same way to avoid running into each other. Percussionists play a menagerie of instruments, but most are not customized for lefties—although left-handed drum set players may position their instruments in a different layout to better match their level of dexterity.
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA PERSPECTIVES
Among the Minnesota Orchestra’s left-handed musicians are Principal Percussion Brian Mount, Co-Principal Bassoon Mark Kelley—who retired from the Orchestra in summer 2022—Assistant Principal Second Violin Cecilia Belcher and third horn Ellen Dinwiddie Smith. All four took the time to discuss the topic of left-handedness.
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It only lasts for a duration of 31 seconds, and Eminem manages to pack in a staggering 224 words, equaling a total of 330 syllables. That works out to an average of 10.65 syllables per second, or 7.23 words per second.
Rapper Eminem made his surprise comeback this month with his 10th studio album, Music to Be Murdered By. The record has already sparked controversy: one track, 'Unaccommodating', has drawn criticism for making references to the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England in May 2017. Another track on the album, however, just made history.
The third verse of 'Godzilla' is being called the fastest rap in the genre's history:
A hundred percent of you is a fifth of a percent of me
I’m ‘bout to fuckin’ finish you bitch, I’m unfadable
You wanna battle, I’m available, I’m blowin' up like an inflatable
I’m undebatable, I’m unavoidable, I’m unevadable
According to Genius, the verse outpaces his previous speedy hit 'Rap God', and his feature on Nicki Minaj's 'Majesty'. It only lasts for a duration of 31 seconds, and Eminem manages to pack in a staggering 224 words, equaling a total of 330 syllables. That works out to an average of 10.65 syllables per second, or 7.23 words per second.
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Godzilla Watch on
'Godzilla' marks the third time Eminem has held the record for fastest rap: on 2013's 'Rap God' he spat out 157 syllables in just 16.3 seconds (that's 9.6 syllables per second), and his verse on Minaj's 'Majesty' in 2018 contained 123 syllables in 12 seconds (10.2 syllables per second).
'Godzilla' was a collab with rapper Juice WRLD, who passed away on December 8, 2019 following an accidental overdose of painkillers.
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