Do left handed pianists have an advantage?

Researchers who studied handedness in professional pianists and string players found no difference between a left-hander's performance whether they were playing reversed or 'normal' instruments; both of them performed better with the right hand.

inovusmusic.com - Left Handed Piano Playing – how hard is it for a left-hander to play ...

Is a 6th chord also a 13th?

Dominant chords with a 6th are: Dominant chords with 6th are called 13th chords. May 27, 2021

Last updated Mar 5, 2020

What song should I request?

Top 200 Most Requested Songs Rank Artist Song 1 Ronson, Mark Feat. Bruno Mars Uptown Funk 2 Journey Don't Stop Believin' 3 Walk The Moon Shut Up...

Last updated Apr 16, 2022

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Promotion

People have a lot to say about left-handers. Some regions of the world until this day believe that left-handedness is just a bad habit, while others still believe that ‘only the devil uses his left’ – something Jimi Hendrix’s father told him when he was learning to play the guitar. In the Western world, being left-handed is sometimes perceived as a sign that you are more intelligent and creative than the rest of the world, even though official studies have disproven this . Oh, the power anecdotal evidence has over scientific research!

Not much is said, however, about playing the piano as a leftie. Few music teachers – if any – have a way of accommodating for that. In a classroom full of ‘rightie-only’ desks, a teacher can request a left-handed one. There’s nothing much a piano teacher can do: even if you can get yourself a left-handed piano like the one concert pianist Christopher Seed owns (yes, they actually exist) or find an electronic keyboard that can reverse keyboard direction, you will be limited in terms of sheet music. You can, of course, play the pieces collected by Paul Wittgenstein, a composer who lost his right arm during World War One and then commissioned over 800 works for the left hand alone from composers like Britten, Korngold, Ravel, and Prokofiev. But unless you suffer from a significant injury in your right hand like focal dystonia, is there really a need to limit yourself to this?

To a beginner student with a dominant left hand, the piano at first glance appears to be an instrument which requires ambidexterity. Playing well demands an equal level of precision from both hands, and to an untrained eye, the left-hand appears to look even more complicated than the right-hand melody. It’s all those darn eighth notes! As you begin to progress, however, you realize that playing is one hell of a brain workout. Maybe you ask your teacher, who assures you that learning piano is generally challenging: either way, it requires a great deal of focus and coordination. So you plough on, but it still seems so difficult! Maybe you tell yourself: well, it must be that way for everyone. It’s a familiar thing for left-handers. You become so used to accommodating a world designed for right-handers that you don’t even notice when something is unusually hard. Children in school spend their whole lives using scissors everyone in class is using. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but since few other students seemed to have any exceptional trouble with it, you just naturally assumed that cutting is uncomfortable for everybody, and perhaps only once you’re older did you realize that it was difficult because scissors are designed for right-handers. The day you try a left-handed scissor for the first time is the day you understand why your classmates were able to cut out perfectly shaped stars while you were stuck with deformed and obese starfish – it’s because cutting is supposed to be easy!

With all this in mind, is there a significant barrier to how skilled you can become at playing if you’re left-handed? Also, is it worth investing in a reversed piano?

What is Taylor Swift's most unpopular song?

Taylor Swift's most unpopular songs that failed to chart and/or failed to hit sales expectations include Better than Revenge, Gorgeous, Stay Stay...

Last updated Sep 27, 2019

Are females more right or left-brained?

A major study by Kevin Ho, undertaken as part of his doctoral dissertation clearly shows that women are significantly more right brained than men.

Last updated Sep 4, 2020

Promotion

Surprisingly, the answer to both these questions is no.

It is true that the piano is built with a right-hand bias, whether it’s the keyboard or the pedals themselves, and in terms of sheet music, the greatest volume, variation, and complexity of notes must be played by the right hand. Studies have shown that beginner students do perform better when given a reversed keyboard , and feel much less frustrated than they do when they practice on a traditional keyboard. The younger you are when you begin playing, however, the more likely you are to develop some degree of ambidexterity. Well then, if it is more of a challenge, why doesn’t it count as a barrier to success? Researchers who studied handedness in professional pianists and string players found no difference between a left-hander’s performance whether they were playing reversed or ‘normal’ instruments; both of them performed better with the right hand. In fact, many left-handers even preferred the standard playing position . Why is that? Because practice makes perfect. Yes, that undying cliche remains as true as ever: left-handers who learn to play the piano compensate and even over-compensate by practising longer and harder than their right-handed counterparts. The result is that they are not only as present as ever in music schools, but also perform every bit as well when there. There are even those who suggest that southpaws (as left-handers are affectionately known) are at an advantage rather than a disadvantage. Some musicians comment that even though the right hand is in charge of the central melody, chords may need more strength and flexibility to play. When it comes to baroque pieces that feature polyphonic music, some say this advantage is even more pronounced. Interestingly, there is a possibility that the Baroque composer Carl Philippe Emmanuel Bach may have been a leftie himself ! Overall, as with any challenge you might face which is not shared by others in your position, the question is definitely mind over matter. Students who begin taking singing lessons and find themselves struggling with pitch, as opposed to others who instantly recognize it, might get discouraged unless they persevere and realize that humans are innately musical, and getting better really is just a matter of time. Playing the piano might not come as naturally as singing, but being left-handed is definitely not a barrier. As a leftie, you’ve probably already learned to adapt to different motor situations, musical or otherwise, and if Stevie Wonder could adapt to being blind and Beethoven to being deaf, then being left-handed shouldn’t stop you from becoming an astounding musician. But if all else fails, and nothing’s going right, remember: you can always go left.

What is the most played song on Spotify?

Shape of You ""Shape of You"" by Ed Sheeran is the most streamed song on Spotify with over 3.2 billion streams.

Last updated Dec 10, 2019

What is the most famous piano piece of all time?

19 Best Piano Songs Ever Written (All-Time) 1) Moonlight Sonata – Ludwig van Beethoven. ... 2) Canon in D – Johann Pachelbel. ... 3) Für Elise –...

Last updated Oct 22, 2018

Promotion

Bonus: if you’re curious, take a moment to check out some of these essential works for left-hand piano and this video of Christopher Seed playing his unique piano. The Inovus i88 Digital Piano – Feature Packed with 88 Fully Weighted Keys, Bluetooth®, 200 Sounds, and incredible learning features!

inovusmusic.com - Left Handed Piano Playing – how hard is it for a left-hander to play ...

Do we have 20 senses?

Scientists say there are far more, but disagree on the exact number. Most of those familiar with the matter say there are between 14 and 20,...

Last updated Jun 8, 2018

How many people use Spotify?

As of the second quarter of 2022, Spotify had 188 million premium subscribers worldwide, up from 165 million in the corresponding quarter of 2021....

Last updated Mar 2, 2019

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

Promotion

What is a private lesson?

Students who decide to take one-on-one, online or in-person, lessons will receive the teacher's full attention for the entirety of their lesson....

Last updated Feb 13, 2018

Promotion

What is a fancy word for piano?

What is another word for piano? keyboard spinet pianoforte pianola claviature instrument ivories manichord grand piano concert grand 5 more rows

Last updated Apr 9, 2022