Author: Kalakos
Date: 2007-04-11 06:34
I don't know why they also made "left" handed clarinets (ie the right hand is up). However, I do know that many people who played folk instruments such as bagpipes, double reed shawm type instruments, cross blown flutes etc. always played them with the right hand up. These are all instruments with no keys or just a key at the bottom. It was irrelevant which hand was up, and many if not most played with right hand up. It would be a natural thing, then, to want to play with right hand up if you moved to the clarinet.
I should say that I began playing Greek folk flutes (floyeres) with right hand up, and I still play the Greek wind instruments (gaida, karamoudza, floyera) that way (although I play the Albert clarinet with right hand down because when I started I could not find a "left" handed clarinet available). I have since found 2 or 3 of them, but it is too late to change. A famous Greek clarinetist named Vaios Malliaras played "left" handed clarinet.
Best regards,
John
Kalakos
Kalakos Music
http://www.TAdelphia.com
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