Klarinet Archive - Posting 000935.txt from 2003/06

From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Left, Right or mixed handed?
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 22:41:33 -0400

Oh, is that so Bill? I'll have to disagree that it would be a major
difference to follow a left-handed conductor. Now you have really opened a
can of worms. Sometimes I'd swear members of the list start these debates
deliberately to spark a lively debate but I'll bite anyway. Expecting a
strongly left-hand dominant person to "conform" to the right-handed
conducting style is a bit like asking a kid with ADHD to simply pay
attention, or a kid with dyslexia to read what everyone else is reading, or
to tell a hearing impaired person they simply need to listen better in order
to hear. Intelligent, empathetic and understanding people don't make these
unreasonable types of demands of people with differences or handicaps. They
do make accomodations, and if I may remind you, this is required by the law
in this country. This is the reason for handicapped accessibility to public
and many private buildings, for example. Using your reasoning, one might
expect that those in wheelchairs simply stand up and walk up a flight of
stairs and into a building since that's what the majority do. The
insistence that a left-handed person learn to conduct a beat pattern with
their right-hand is an unreasonable demand for a teacher to make. I never
thought about this before but my guess is that this would be a demand that
could feasibly be challenged in court under IDEA if a conducting teacher
were to insist that a student conduct the beat pattern with the right-hand
and it could certainly be challenged if the teacher were to give the student
a lower grade due to the inability to meet this "requirement."
People with differences may be in the minority but who says we need to
conform to the standards of the majority to get along? I don't believe that
to be true at all. If I am deaf do I need to start hearing to get along?
Of course we need to conform to laws in order to "get along" but breaking
the law is a far cry from conducting in an unconventional way. I would
suggest that you try using your left hand for all your daily tasks for the
next month and perhaps you will have a much more empathetic view of all
this. We'll give you one of those little desks used in most college
classrooms, only it will definitely have the writing surface on the right
side for at least several hours while you write your notes. You'll probably
give up and decide to put the notebook on your lap. It will fall out of
your lap at least 5 times during that time and the pain in your back will be
excruciating. The experience can be compared to forcing a person to wear a
set of clothing and shoes that is two sizes too small for them. Fortunately
we don't do this and clothing is made to accomodate a person's size.
I suppose the question in the next debate will be whether
left-handedness is a handicap or a behavior of choice. It reminds me of the
debate about whether a person's sexual preference is learned or acquired by
choice. Some left-handed people may be offended at the suggestion that
left-handedness is a handicap, but unfortunately, it is a disadvantage and a
handicap when they must work overtime to accomodate the right-handed
world-at least those who insist they couldn't possibly be flexible enough to
make some accomadations for the differences of others. This give and take
is the basis of all good relationships and it is this reciprocity and the
ability to put oneself in another's shoes that helps us all get along.
Having said all of this, I do conduct a beat pattern with my right hand, not
due to having been taught that way, but due to that being my natural
preference with which I am most comfortable. However, I can definitely
understand how difficult this may be for some and I don't think it would be
difficult at all to follow a left-handed conductor. The up and down beats
are, after all, in the same place anyway and that is what I see most clearly
out of the corner of my eye while playing. Christy
>
> I said it would be a MAJOR difference, but not an impossible one. The
> majority group must be sensitive to and accommodate the differences of the
> minority, but the minority must accept the fact that they ARE the minority
> and conform as much as possible to the majority's standards and practices
> if they expect to get along. This is true of handedness, religion, race,
> ethnicity, and many other differences between people.
>
>
> Bill Hausmann
>
> If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!
>
>
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