It turned out that all the respondents who played righty-handtop were actually right handed, but just started that way and didn’t want to change, while all the left handed respondents had been taught, or trained themselves, to play lefty-handtop.
So playing righty-handtop didn’t appear to have any connection with being left handed.
The little shepherd boy on the Clarke book’s cover is shown as a righty-handtop, which may influence beginners. I think this may be as a result of flipping the picture over to suit the design, because I’ve seen the same picture the other way which makes him a lefty-handtop. The straw-chawing yokel sometimes seen beside him is actually ambidextrous, i.e he can hold his straw in either hand.
The more I look at that picture the wierder it gets, what an odd way to play the whistle.
She’s playing with flat fingers on top, pipers as Cran suggests, and fingertips on the bottom. The pinky I think is just down to stabilise the instrument. And how does that hat stay on? It’s clearly there to give more sound reflection, the Fez having been jettisoned minutes before the pose was taken, but this hat appears to be glued on, or she she lifted her head up it would fall off.
I suspect the artist wasn’t a whistle player and just drew something they thought looked right, never thinking it could affect generations of whistlers in the future.
Does anybody know who designed the cover? They might be able to say if they were drawing a boy or a girl. Or somebody imaginary…I looked through the book and didn’t see any acknowledgements. I migh have missed it, though.
As far as I know, it’s probably an etching from the 18th or 19th century. The (full) picture is in Geraldine Cotter’s “Tradtional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor”. I have no idea who drew it. The child is standing next to a pipe smoking farmer or country fellow. I would guess it’s meant to be a male child - what with the short hair and all. Did girls commonly play tin whistles at this time? The picture reminds me of the story of Whistling Billy . . . maybe it’s in reference to this.
Ambilateral is where you can do a given action with both hands, but not perfectly equally. When I was little, I could switch hit and throw with both hands, just not very well, but not horribly awkwardly either but slightly better with one side. I write and shoot left handed, but throw and kick right handed.
Ambidextrous, which is very rare, is where you have equal ability.
I am also “goofy-footed” which some of our country folk will recognize.
You’re out in the woods and you come to a log across a ravine that you must cross. Do you automatically put a foot out and start going, or do you have to stop and think about it? If you are the latter, you are goofy-footed. Like I am.
I’m the same way. I’ve always thought of it as ‘semi-ambidextrous’. I throw (poorly) right handed, but shoot rifle and bow & arrow left handed. (Actually, I’m way more accurate shooting rifle and bow & arrow left-handed than I am right-handed.)
In surfer talk you’re ‘goofy-footed’ if you surf with the right foot forward (which I do, er did).
I read somewhere that it has to do with something called ‘cross-eye dominance’. In my case, I’m mostly right-handed, but my left eye is the dominant eye, so I tend to be more accurate with the left side.
When I joined the Army they had a test where the Sgt. stood in front of you about 20 yards away and asked you to aim your thumb at his head. The Sgt. could tell your dominant eye by looking at which eye you covered. You can do it yourself if you aim at something with your thumb and then close each eye in turn to see which one covers your target.
I have long been a Hendrix fan, and have heard this statement made numerous times… but it just isn’t true.
Every photo and video I have ever seen that was clear enough to make out the details shows him with the guitar strung for a left-handed person… held upside-down, but with the bass strings on top like normal.
Even when John Phillips did the introduction for the legendary Monterey performance when it was shown on Cinemax several years ago claimed that Jimi strung his guitar right-handed, but the video itself clearly shows otherwise.
Of course John has undoubtedly killed off a good number of brain cells since the days when he knew Hendrix, so I suppose he has a valid excuse to get his facts mixed up!
By the way, I just found out today that Noel Redding passed away on May 11th at the age of 57… no cause of death yet given.
I am saddened by his passing, but hope he’s enjoying jamming with Jimi in the afterlife right now.
