Klarinet Archive - Posting 001241.txt from 1997/09

From: Jim Lytthans <lytthans@-----.net>
Subj: Left-handed violinist
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 12:52:52 -0400

Doug Sears asked:
> But did you ever see a l.h. violinist in a symphony orchestra?

Yes, I have. I believe it was a televised concert performance of the
New York City Opera, with the orchestra on stage. One of the 1st
violinists played left-handed, and, yes, he sat all alone. That was
about five years ago. Left-handed clarinets? Why? All woodwind
players need to be relatively ambidextrous (sp?), so the Balkan bagpipe
player (if he ever took up clarinet) would just have to adapt, or call
Luis Rossi and ask to have one hand-built.... at an enormous price (go
for it, Luis!) I've seen many early clarinets in museums that could be
played either way (the Deutsches Museum in Munich has quite a
collection), as well as shawms, chalumeaus and recorders, by the way.
--

Jim Lytthans "Primo Arundo Donax!"
Principal Clarinet
La Mirada (CA) Symphony Orchestra
Claremont Symphonic Winds
(http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/~dooley/csw.html)
My home page:
http://home.pacbell.net/lytthans/index.html