Just an observation: as she dropped in for CHristmas greetings and all that, I just had Brid O’ Donohue try my Wooff C flute which has re-joined me after a long time away. Brid picked up the flute and played it left handed, adapted to it in two minutes flat and played away merrily. Should that tell me anything about left vs right handed flutes and the advantage of specially cut lefty embouchure holes?
I think it tells you good things about the flute and even better things about the player.
Wishing you a happy and safe holiday,
–James
I have read here about left handed flutes on occasion but never given it much thought. When Brid picked up the flute I realised she is ofcourse a lefthanded player and wondered would it make a difference. Once she tried it was apparent enough it didn’t. I suppose her Liddell flute isn’t a lefty either, though I am not sure.
I was wondering about this myself just the other day, being lefthanded.
It’s funny, but the embouchure characteristics of certain flutes seem to translate to lefty players even if not specifically designed to do so. OTOH and ironically enough, I couldn’t even get a sound out of the one lefty-designed flute I’ve ever played.
Edit: Of course the design of the tone holes can be significant - a dramatically offset righty hole pattern makes a flute pretty much impossible for me to play - for example, a Casey Burns ergonomic. And keys, same deal.
That is very interesting. Brid is probably ambedextorous (sp?). I have tried my Flutes on the other side just for fun my Lejeune and Bleazey sound fine, but my Hoza doesn’t as it has a cutaway on the righty side.
Playing lefty, I have tried many “right-handed” flutes, including most of Eilam’s (which is already many) and can’t truely say I’ve noticed any difference in my ability to produce a good tone vs. specially cut lefty embouchrues - some flutes, like the M&E, are cut equal bilaterally, but most wood flutes are supposedly cut sharper on the blown edge, yet I can’t tell the difference - now I’ve only been playing about 5 yrs, so certainly am not expert with all the nuances… having said that, I always order flutes with lefty cuts, but when other very good players try them the other way they don’t notice any difference either. My current flute has 8 lefty keys, by Dominic Allen, and I’m quite enjoying getting the feel of it - I’ll post a review on that one soon.
Tod