Upside down?

[blower]

Now and again I visit antique fairs and occasionally there will be Accordions of varying types on sale. I have noticed that probably 9 times out of 10 the dealers display the instrument upside down. Of course in the majority of cases the stall holder will have no knowledge of Accordion playing but what induces them to give the keyboard to the left hand and place it in a position which makes it difficult to read the makers name. I often notice the same tendency on ebay too.
Why is this?

 

[JIM D.]

Just ignorance of the Accordion. In all these cases beware of the sellers claims of playability.

 

[TomBR]

Just ignorance of the Accordion. In all these cases beware of the sellers claims of playability.

It makes a lovely noise, just needs a bit of TLC! hey?

 

[Glenn]

Well if it were truly random it would be 5 out of 10. Spooky. Maybe we have been playing it wrong all these years.

 

[Pipemajor]

In the accordion club I used to go to, one left handed member played his upside down.

 

[JerryPH]

We have a member here that is a true "lefty" and plays his CBA (amongst other instruments), upside down.

 

[donn]

I'm glad I'm not left handed, I think playing saxophone and tuba upside down would be real awkward.

 

[JerryPH]

That full sized harp and Grand Piano would also be quite the challenge, especially when trying to balance them in your lap... lol

 

[Pipemajor]

Going off track a bit, why do left handed folk not play "normal" (ie right handed) instruments ?
Surely, if learning anything from new you are taught from scratch which would mean in the case of musical instruments, learning the left hand with the left hand and vice versa. I mean, as far as I know, you don't get left handed pianos, so left handed folks learn to play the piano the same as the rest of us.
In the piping world, we have a piper who is missing his right hand pinkie, so he learned to play left handed. Conversely another piper, who was brought up in an orphanage in Scotland, although right handed, learned to play left handed, because the tutor who gave the class lessons every week hadn't noticed that he was mirroring the fingering of the teacher as he faced the class.
Any thoughts :?:

 

[JIM D.]

Your comment is quiet correct. Whether if you are right handed or left handed both hands must be trained on the instrument. Now there are of course exceptions in the case of deformity or missing fingers.
I can just imagine a string section of a symphony orchestra with both right and left handed players. I would look like one large sword fight :lol:
And just a note;
In the past Hohner used to offer some custom order left handed accordion models (not upside down) and Gabbanelli still offers left handed models (on custom order) today.

 

[donn]

I doubt it makes any difference, but long ago when I was in school, the theory seemed to be that the cerebral hemispheres in some left handed individuals are also specialized in the corresponding opposite way - so musical faculties that are usually mostly developed in the right hemisphere, are in the left hemisphere in these individuals - but in many, the brain is organized in the same way as right handed people, instead of following hand dominance. As left handed people were at the time anyway thought to be statistically better at sports and other right-brain specialties, these would presumably be the latter group, who have their dominant hand hooked up to that hemisphere. The former group where the whole system is reversed, would not I guess be endowed with any such super powers. And the two groups might also react differently to playing standard configuration an asymmetrical instrument like the accordion.

 

[StargazerTony]

Hmm, just picturing playing the drums upside down

 

[blower]

Pipemajors comment is interesting, "why do left handed folk not play normal". When not playing accordion I sometimes mess about on the Ukulele. I'm right handed but my Grandson is left handed and he'll have a go on the Ukulele and insist that he should hold it left handed. I think he feels that he must hold it leftwise and he totally rejects my suggestion to hold it rightwise because, as I say, if you play right handed the left hand does all the work and I'm sure his left hand is more agile than mine. Another thing to consider is that when playing chords on a string instrument all chord diagrams are for RH players. Now back to the accordion.

 

[debra]

Pipemajors comment is interesting, why do left handed folk not play normal. When not playing accordion I sometimes mess about on the Ukulele. Im right handed but my Grandson is left handed and hell have a go on the Ukulele and insist that he should hold it left handed. I think he feels that he must hold it leftwise and he totally rejects my suggestion to hold it rightwise because, as I say, if you play right handed the left hand does all the work and Im sure his left hand is more agile than mine. Another thing to consider is that when playing chords on a string instrument all chord diagrams are for RH players. Now back to the accordion.

It all depends on what you call doing all the work. Violinists (and other string instrument players) invariably use their left hand to select the notes and the right hand for the bow or plucking the strings. Likewise, an accordion player can also play in the normal orientation when left-handed. My wife is left-handed and plays in the normal orientation. A pianist will also play in the same way independent of being left- or right-handed. Everything can be learned. Until about 50 years ago it was even quite common here to force left-handed children to learn writing with their right hand.

 

[donn]

because, as I say, if you play right handed the left hand does all the work and Im sure his left hand is more agile than mine.

Indeed, youd have to wonder - how did it end up that way? Supposing that these choices were determined as usual by right handed people, why does the left hand do all the work on string instruments? Or does it?

Getting back to our own instrument here, think about how you work an accordion. The right hand is on the right, of course, but much more in the center. You can look at it, and I guess most players are fairly consciously aware of whats doing there.

The left hand on the other hand is hanging off to the side, out of sight and to some extent out of mind. I dont know how it is with others, but in the normal course of affairs I have to make kind of a particular effort to even become aware of what my left hand is doing, it can just motor along by itself to some extent. Considering that the right cerebral hemisphere works like that (mostly helping to keep us from running into things), and the left side is wired to the right brain, maybe theres some reason behind this. Most left handers are wired up the same way with the same right/left specialization in the brain despite different dominant hand, but not all.