Discrimination against left handedness is not illegal in the UK - I wonder if it is in the USA. You may have a clearer grievance in breach of contract - they`ve accepted you at their university as a result of which you`ve put aside all other opportunities and plans and taken a place their in good faith. You didn`t decieve them about being left handed. It is astonishing that they either didn`t audition you, or if they did, that they didn`t then raise the objections now being raised. However litigation in this country is so expensive, risky and lengthy that it`s usually a very bad option. I wouldn`t have thought it would be the best icebreaker for the relationship you would need with your teacher either. I suppose you could obtain legal advice so at least you know where you stand. Ultimately you seem to have three options, all of which you can be investigating simultaneously now.

(i) find another university which will take you left handed,
and (possibly) consider any legal remedy for breach of contract against this one.

(ii) do what your teacher says and try to learn right handed. Although I am an advocate of lefties learning right handed from the beginning, with respect to your teacher I just don`t see how this is going to work now when you`ve become a left handed maestro. Perhaps you should challenge him to learn on your instrument and he would understand the difficulty!

(iii) (my favoured option) Try to persuade your teacher. Accept all he says about the difficulties of playing left handed. Accept there may be some orchestras which would not take a left handed Bass player (I suspect there are some which would - it`s not the same as trying to play violin left handed in a right handed orchestra). But ask him to teach you as well as he can as a left handed player, stressing that the problems which he outlines will be your responsibility, which you are warned of very fairly, and won`t blame him for. In all seriousness if he even contemplated trying to re-learn on your instrument to a level where he could play professionally and teach on it, I think he would begin to realise that his "solution" is no less imperfect and fraught with difficulty than yours.

sorry about the misspellings

I`d seriously question the qualifications of any music professor/teacher that maintained a 19th century view of reality in the 21st --regarding sinister students (as they probably think of them!)

Let`s face it. The adage that those that can, "do," and those that can`t, "teach," is correct for about 95% of endeavours and occupations.

Find another school.

Honestly, you can teach youself far more in action what a teacher with that mindset could teach you in a dozen years!

wow.... like i suddenly wished i was like left handed now, like.

I`m the author of the book - “Playing the Violin and Fiddle Left Handed,” that has been mentioned by other posters on this forum. My book contains years of research into left handed playing. All of the supposed reasons why left handed people shouldn’t play a violin left handed are easily countered with scientific evidence, logic and common sense. The situation of playing in a major symphony orchestra still presents a problem though. Curious about that, I had looked into symphonies which included left handed violinists and found few. In particular though, The well known Buffalo Philharmonic at one time included a left handed violinist, a virtuoso player and sometimes soloist for symphony performances. Curious about her experiences I contacted her family, who graciously sent me piles of rave newspaper reviews of her virtuosic solo performances. They told also told me about her life long struggle against important people in the classical music world who discriminated against her because she played left handed. In fact, at an audition for a spot in a major east coast symphony orchestra, the concert master praised her for her tone and power of playing, and in turning her down could only muster the excuse that “it looked funny” when she played. In another such audition she was merely told that she “was too old,” when several of the other players in that particular orchestra exceeded her age, at that time, of 50. On the surface some of the common reasons listed on this forum for not playing left handed might seem to have validity. Rather than spend many hours countering each such individual posting with my replies, as some other posters have admirably already done, I suggest that anyone with a serious interest in the topic read my book, in which I’ve already spent hundreds of hours summarizing the available data on the subject.
Ryan Thomson

Hey Ryan,

I`ve read your book and I appreciate all the effort you put into compiling such a text. Since talking to you last, I`ve bought my first left handed electric bass, lefty mandolin and had my electric guitar converted and haven`t looked back.

I`m still playing a lefty upright bass, but I`m planning on switching within the next two years, once I get the money and time.

Hello. today I had an spoke with who is going to be my violin professor at the conservatory. I`ve played guitar right handed and then turn to left, totally convinced; and now, that I`m just to start learning violin, I want to also do it leftly. But, this professor told me that no one will ever accept me at any profesional orchestra, and that through his twenty o more years of experience, he has never seen a thing like that. Can anybody help me? Does anyone know any web where I can get photos o information about orchestras with a left-handed violin player? Any fact with evidence? Any famous violin player?
please write me!
thanks.
(sori for my english =P )

Three postings ahead of this one is Ryan Thompson, also known as "Captain Fiddle." He`s compiled many stories, theories and struggles of lefties playing righty, righties playing lefty and everything in between. Follow this URL to his story, http://home.tiac.net/~cfiddle/storycfp.html.

As he mentioned above, he`s found orchestra`s that will allow lefty`s.

Check him out.

I am a left handed violin player, and today I went to begin lessons. I was totally denied any hope for success at my misfortune for being left handed and after 2 months hard work learning by myself up to grade 2 standard I must say I was very disappointed when my teacher refused to teach me.

Therefore, I say to all the "unadaptable" left handers to not give up, simply reverse the instrument (in my case, the strings).

I was fascinated to spot this debate on the web.

My dad and I were recently both interviewed for a programme that may appear on BBC Radio 3 in the UK.

I am a left-handed violinist (amongst other intruments) and my dad is a left-handed classical guitarist.

he can be found online at http://rodwillmott.com and I can be found online at http://benwillmott.com

Rod is also a luthier (string instrument maker and repairer) and will do left-handed conversions. This was the only reason that I had the opportunity to learn to play the violin left-handed.

I have scan read some of the posts in this debate and thought I`d add a two-pence worth. Although I did not decide to pursue a career as a concert violinist I do play to a high-standard - and in reply to some of the posts questioning the worth of playing this way round I would say this...

The bow hand is the singing hand... and while yes a degree of skill is required with both hands I would draw the simile with a great artist using their other hand. While you might be able to learn to draw or write with the other hand perfectly proficiently, you might never achieve greatness. More than adequecy perhaps but not the true extent of your capabilities.

The same is true of playing an stringed instrument - particularly the violin where you have such control over the note after the initial attack, but also the guitar where the natural hand should generate the tone. Rhythmically you will always be more natural and accurate with your natural hand, and you will be naturally able to react faster with it.

My main instrument is the piano - and I do know that someone with a lot of money to spare did have a left-handed piano built, but for the pianist you need equal facility in both hands - and an ability to play fluent lines with both.

It`s interesting however that when improvising I find things easier with the left than the right and although I have developed great facility with the right hand I am very usefully fluent with the left.

Back to the violin, I haven`t come across any specific manuals on teaching left-handed but my very first experience of a violin teacher was one who refused to teach me. My father had a much harder time of it. Anyone interested in this and more might be interested in the radio 3 programme so i`ll post on here if anyone shows an interest when and if it is to be broadcast (it wasn`t a definite yet). I will also post here if anyone is interested in more detail of what my experiences have been.

Because of these experiences a left-handed pupil would be the exception I would make to teaching the violin - so if anyone is based in the Southampton area of Great Britain...


Ben Willmott BA Hons


p.s. The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK) for some time had a left handed violinist (or possibly violist) for the person who was looking for orchestra photos... though this unfortunate individual suffered a bad break of arm and had to learn round the other way!

I don`t think I have any photos of me playing left-handed in an orchestra but if there are I will make them available online

p.p.s. The Allegri Quartet (i think it was) also had a left handed violinist!

I forgot to mention a couple of points... playing left-handed in orchestras meant that often I was projecting the sound of the instrument the wrong way (away from the audience).

A high proportion of musician in general are left handed.

It had been mentioned once but yes Charlie Chaplin was indeed a left handed violinist! He didn`t read music properly but with help was able write scores for his films and conduct... a fascinating character!

Hello Ben,
I didn`t know about you when I wrote my first book on left handed violinists or I would have definitely contacted and interviewed you. But now I do know of you, and we should keep in touch for future projects. And yes, the original first violinist of the Allegri Quartet played violin left handed.

In regards to left handed piano playing, the people who have made the shift to left handed pianos, including classical pianist Christopher Seed from the UK, have found that in general, the traditional right hand parts of some important classical pieces require greater facility than left hand parts, so it doesn`t appear to be always true that "equal" facility is needed for piano. There is lately a small, but growing movement of people who are purchasing electric pianos, wired for left handed configuration, which is a far more affordable solution than actual traditionally built pianos. By the way, In the field of folk fiddling, I`ve written both an instruction book for left handed playing, and have produced an instructional DVD. best regards, Ryan Thomson.

Thanks for that Ryan - and I`ll happily keep in touch.

I think I heard a radio interview with Christopher Seed, and at the time wasn`t too impressed with his Chopin - but it`s been years since that interview and the piano may only have jsut been built by then!

I looked up his website and he appears to be teach at Winchester - near me in Southampton so if I get the time I may get in touch... although I think it is a little too late for me to relearn the piano backwards I am curious to have a go on one... I can`t imagine!

I do disagree with all reports of the piano not needing equal facility in both hands though - when I`m not playing jazz/funk my preference is Chopin and Liszt, and for that you really do need to be able to phrase equally fluently with both hands - and Bach!!! Bach you even find yourself spreading phrases between the hands!

Pianists struggle their way through countless hours of technical exercises developing this facility... scales in thirds with both hands, maybe some of you reading will be familiar with books of Hanon exercises... these should be practised hands apart as well as together - so that you can`t fool your ear into thinking that both hands are getting it right

Piano music is definitely in general right-hand dominated, but the examples mentioned above, as well as things like Stride piano demand equal facility.

I`ve read the 8 pages of debates with great interest. I`ve just taken on a new pupil who is age 9 and is very definitely a strong "lefty". Having not taught a lefty before my initial assumption was that she would be at an advantage fingering with her stronger hand. However during the bowing intro (lesson 2) I noticed that she was really struggling to bow on the correct string. I suggested (out of curiousity) that she tried playing the violin the way she found it easy, and immediately she swapped it to her right shoulder and bow to the left hand. Interestingly she played the exercise with accuracy and confidence.

I was concerned of how to address this "problem" but now having read all the conversations I think that it is only fair to let her carry on playing naturally. Because she has the typical beginners style 1/2 size violin (on loan from a family friend) I think I`ll swap the stings and bridge around until it is sure she will pursue at the violin. Perhaps then it would be time to advise her family to invest in a lefty. Incidentally does anyone know of places in the UK that sell such violins?

Any thoughts on the above? I`ve read the comments on orchestras, and my thoughts are that it is pretty pathetic to discriminate a person on their left-handedness. Surely in the case of professional orchestras that would be a case of Employer discrimination if any! In my grandparent`s generation a left-handed person was forced to write with their right hand with the left hand held behind the back. Such attitudes are outdated now in our schools. Surely the same should read across to music?

Incidentally (as a classic right-hander) I tried picking up my violin with my right hand and bowing with my left, and found it pretty impossible!

You can contact my dad - a luthier at http://rodwillmott.com - though the site you will see is for a left-handed classical guitarist!

He is based in the Worcester in the West Midlands. I can personally vouch for his excellence in setting up both left-handed and right-handed instruments - though obviously i`m biased ...you`ll also find him under string instrument repairs in the yellow pages.

As for playing in orchestras... the problem that you can find is that sat in a typical position in the first violins you will be projecting sound away from the audience. In a string quartet situation it actually works very well to have each violinist on the outside - and therefore both projecting to the audience.

Having not gone down the route of orchestral violinist in my career I can`t give first-hand accounts but would imagine that you would find yourself going the slight extra distance to prove your worth.

As a soloist you might never achieve the same level that you would have done trying to play the other way round. In principal you would never come up against obstacles playing left-handed, but some people will refuse to teach you, and some will not have you in an orchestra.

As as soloist or a chamber musician of course you`d much less likely run into any problems