For my birthday I have a bamboo flute in waiting, problem is before anyone could correct me I began using my left hand on bottom I would therefore play the flute crosshanded. Iv’e tried relearning but I’m just too set in my ways. Does anyone else play crosshanded? any tips, pointers or reccomedations?
I’ve noticed quite a few flute players who play crosshanded but oddly play the whistle with the left hand on top.
There are some pretty good players who do…getting a flute keyed for crosshanded playing ain’t necessarily a bad idea, either; a dodgy righthanded player would probably think twice about the point of stealing it!
You could try to flip the flute over & play lefty.
Maybe you could, Brad! 
No way, I can barely play a flute either which way anyhoo.
Nothing wrong with playing ‘lefty’ Mujo, players like Gary Shannon, John Wynne, Catherine McEvoy, and Mike McGoldrick are all lefties. There’s just a wee bit of talent amongst the few of them! 
…Anyway, that’s what I tell myself…
Regard,
- Ryan the lefty
p.s., Obviously a keyed flute is going to be very ‘hand specific’, but I know some makers also cut embouchures different for right/left-handed playing too - so check with your maker. I don’t know if the embouchure cutting is common - only seen a couple makers make mention of it.
By “crosshanded” I presume you mean turning the flute to the left and mirroring the position of a right-handed player, not playing with the flute to the right with your right hand closest to your face. There’s some potential breathing and structural issues with the latter. You won’t have physical problems playing left-handed, but you will be somewhat limited in finding used, and production, instruments. Makers will still do you up with a nice custom flute. There’s always the fun of sitting next to a conventional player (bookends) in a session and being able to hear them very clearly.
FWIW, I played a friend’s keyless Boxwood McGee (made in '03) )last night, and had no trouble getting a nice, full tone out of it. My friend plays right handed and aside from stylistitc differences (and he with a good bit more skill), we both sounded equally as good imo.
Regards,
- Ryan
I was wondering the same thing. However, not having heard back from Mujo, I looked at the original post again. The phrase “left hand on bottom” makes me wonder if perhaps this is a vertical fipple flute, like the cane ones made in India a lot? In that case we’re talking more about a whistle, and there are even fewer issues (at least until FlOA kicks in).
Steven
Although I have Yet to See the Flute I"m getting the 58$ bamboo flute from lark in the morning. I’m pretty sure it’s the one described in a previous post described as being simialar to an Olwell.
I was orig. thinking of crosshanded as having my right hand closest to my face, but if I could flip the flute around that would be so much sweeter. Sorry iv’e takjen so long to respond but between my 2yr. old son and the Yankees playoffs computer time is hard to come by.
Oh, OK, I see. Well, it does sound like you’re getting a transverse flute. However, if you’re going to hold the flute off to the right, there’s no way you can play with the right hand closer to your face. That’s just not physically possible. So, your two options are to hold it to the left (which should work OK), or hold it to the right and learn the fingering the other way from how you’ve been doing it. If you haven’t been playing very long, it might not be that hard to do, especially since the flute does have a somewhat different feel to it than the whistle does. On the other hand, it might feel very odd, in which case you’ll likely want to go with the first option.
In any case, have fun! The flute is a fantastic instrument, and I hope you enjoy it tremendously. Just don’t get frustrated in the early stages, because it is hard at first. Stick with it and enjoy!!
Steven
Well I’ve been playing the whistle for a couple of years now. The problem is I’m a discumbobulated sort of person, I’m a natural righty, I write righty but for many things I’m lefty wether it’s shooting pool, playing hockey. I can bat fairly well from both sides and in my younger boxing days I was able to switc over to southpaw. I figure that probably what got me in trouble with the whistle. Go figure.
I’m crossed handed as well and its really not that big of a deal. Most makers will make left-handed flutes for very little extra cost. I play pipes, whistles and flutes all left-handed and stringed instruments right-handed.It’s just a matter of what you feel comfortable with.
I play left-handed and was confused because I don’t recall having heard someone describe playing “left-handed” as “cross-handed.” Turn the flute to your left and avoid many physical issues.
My bad, mujo. I couldn’t conceive of playing crosshanded as you had clearly written, so I mistranslated it as “lefthanded”. I agree with U2. Just set youself up in a crosshanded posture for a few moments (even without a flute on hand) and you’ll probably get a glimpse of what he means about physical issues. Flute for most people is physically demanding enough as it is when played in a standard -and natural- hand arrangement. If you’re lefthanded, play as a lefty!
Best,
N
I’m a leftie too. The biggest trouble for me was the issue about how I was going to do when I started playing Böhm system flutes a while back. It’s impossible to play a Böhm flute left handed so I had some problems in the beginning. The real issue is this: Should I try to learn right hand playing on simple system flutes as well and therefor beeing able to, hmm, how should I express this? Develop the playing equally on both instruments and being able to better transfer my experiences on the Böhm flute to improve my playing on woodflutes. Or should I continue playing the simple system leftie and develop thouse two styles as totally separate, as they no doubt will become if I do that. I still haven’t desided but I think I’ll end up with the latter alternative. Anyone had a similar dilemma??