Posted by Ian Easton on December 14, 2001 at 08:02:28:
In Reply to: Re: ambidextrous playing...? posted by Klaus on December 14, 2001 at 05:50:19:
I've never found it to be a problem. I play french horn (occasionally) with no discernable difference in speed. I also swap between 3+1 and 5 valve front action valve configurations without thinking about it.
A few years ago I played a whole concert with my left hand when I injured my right just before the show: I guess I was thinking about the music and not the mechanics of playing.
I must admit it's taken me a few weeks to get used to using a mouse with my left hand (due to RSI): and then only on the multiple key operations (eg Cntrl Alt Right Click)!
Maybe it's easy because I play keyboards, or touch type?
I agree with Klaus' point about not teaching each finger to have a fixed function, but I'm not sure of the need to work out a general understanding of what is happening (ie this valve lowers the pitch by...). This seems to 'over intellectualise' the whole process, to me: it should be more spontaneous and subconscious (I'm open to debate about this one!!)
Ian