Playing Violin as a left-handed

 I am left-handed.

I tried learning violin when I was in school about 13–14 years old. I realized that the bow is not held as simple as a stick, but as a special grip - at least that’s what my Guru taught.

Not like this

Source: shutterstock

But, like below:

At that age, I did not feel that grip comfortable with my right hand - I used to feel pain in wrist and shoulder and not natural - some awkward twists in wrist after practicing for 10–15 minutes.

I did not feel similar discomfort while holding the bow with my left hand.

I gave up learning after my Guru and dad felt it would be too expensive and effort to shift the strings on violin.

When I grew older, in my late twenties, I restarted playing violin - I no longer feel pain/discomfort with the right hand grip - however, I don’t find time to practice and take to the next stage to actually see if I can play at a decent level.

Why do some right-handed people bat left-handed in cricket and baseball?

 For cricket, it depends on two main things -

1. Top hand grip or bottom hand grip
2. Left-footed or right-footed.

The lesser likelihood of getting LBW, destroying bowlers’ lines are all additional unintended gifts.

1. Grip: A batsman chooses top-hand or bottom-hand grip based on his comfort or convenience. So, if you are right-handed and a bottom-hand player primarily playing square and cutting, you choose right-hand batting whereas if you are left-handed and more of front-foot driving, you choose to bat left-handed.
2. Front Foot is a major factor in one’s batsmanship - it’s the pivot for all your shots. I am a left-footed. So, I could move my left leg more comfortably and instinctively than my right. With an RHB stance, my left would be the Front Foot and thereby helps me to move freely. When I play with LHB stance, my front (right) foot would just stuck there. Similarly, a right-handed batsman may choose a LHB stance, if he’s more comfortable in moving his right foot as a pivot.
   My theory is right-handed LHB batsman like Ganguly and Lara prefer to play front foot more and could hit sixes easily for this reason.

Read this interesting article “On the Other Hand”[1] on why and how Hussey, a right-handed shifted to batting with LHB stance.

Hussey is naturally right-handed. He writes right-handed, plays tennis right-handed, brushes his teeth right-handed, picks up a spoon right-handed, and throws and bowls with his right arm. When he first picked up a cricket bat, he picked it up right-handed. But on that fateful sunny morning he decided to try batting left-handed, like Border, and ended up sticking with it for the rest of his life.

In so doing, Hussey may well have inadvertently bequeathed himself a natural technical advantage, for if there is one thing that the two main schools of batsmanship that exist in Australia - the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) school and the native autodidactic school headed by Sir Donald Bradman and Greg Chappell - agree on, it is this: a grip with a firm top hand and loose bottom hand is optimal for good batsmanship.

Logically it is easier for a batsman who holds the bat with his naturally stronger hand as the top hand (and his naturally weaker hand as the bottom hand) to grip it with a firm top hand and a loose bottom hand. When Hussey switched to batting left-handed, his naturally stronger right hand became his top hand. That wasn't what motivated his change - he did it "purely" because he "wanted to be like Allan Border" - and even when he became a world-class batsman, Hussey was generally not conscious of "the dominance of one hand over another", except when batting at the death of a one-day or T20 game. It was then, he told the Cricket Monthly, that he took the firm top-hand, loose bottom-hand grip to its logical apotheosis:

"At the end of a one-day game or a T20 game, when you're looking to basically hit sixes every ball… I made a conscious effort to really loosen the grip of my bottom hand. So I'd basically just rest the bottom hand [on the bat] on one finger - my index finger - because I was finding that when I was looking to slog, even though my bottom left hand was my less [naturally] dominant hand, it was gripping the bat too hard and taking control of the bat too quickly and affecting my swing. I wasn't hitting through the line of the ball as well as I would have liked."

Footnotes

[1] On the other hand

Why don’t more people who are righties bat lefty, since your power hand when you bat left is your right hand?

 I see 2 reasons -

1. In cricket, especially in early coaching days, importance is given to free movement of your front foot. Back foot is supposed to be stable. Hence, whether you are left-footed or right-footed also matters in addition to your handedness. In general, right-handed are right-footed. Of course, there can be exceptions.
   I am left-handed and left-footed. But I bat with RHB stance. So, I tend to move my left-foot freely. It helps in having left-foot as front foot to freely move across for playing drives (esp. cover drive) and flicks/glances.
2. I personally think the bottom hand is the power hand in cricket - opposite of what you mentioned in your question. Your top hand acts as pivot and the bottom hand to generate power - especially for pulls, cuts, lofted shots.
   Again, in my personal experience, being left-handed and playing RHB stance, my top (left) wrist tends to move quickly, thereby shifting the bat to leg-side resulting in frequent leading edges. And, I find it difficult to drive on off-side.

I am a righty. How can I start learning left handed writing?

I am a left-handed person and I write with my left hand. I know many right handed persons who write with left hand and vice versa. It’s not a big deal. With practice, one can use the non-dominant hand for writing or any other activity and become ambidextrous.

I can also write with my right hand, though not as beautiful as with my left.

How come many left-handed people tend to be slightly ambidextrous?

Left-handed people will be using their right hands more regularly and efficiently than the use of left hands by right-handed people. However, that does not make them ambidextrous.

Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well .

So, a left-handed can become comfortable using the objects designed for right-handed - like scissors, knives, can openers. A left-handed can be using the right hand for more activities/actions in a day.

However, he/she would be ambidextrous only if he/she could write legibly or play racket sports like tennis/badminton or throw/pitch a ball/basketball/baseball or play snooker/pool with either hand with reasonable skill.

Footnotes

Ambidexterity - Wikipedia

Holding phone with your right or left hand?

I hold my mobile phone with left-hand while talking. No preference of ear thought - If I have to hear with my right hand, still I hold with my left hand.

While browsing on phone, I hold the mobile with my right hand and swipe with my left hand. Only because, most phones are designed (placing of power, volume buttons, etc) for right handed.

Only when I write/take notes or using my left-hand for some tasks, I hold phone with my right hand.

I have an office landline phone - I am in meetings over phone for at least 2–3 hours a day - I hold the phone with my left hand naturally. Also, the landline phones are designed to dial with your right hand.

Can a baby be trained to be right or left-handed?

One can train a baby or train oneself to perform an activity with opposite (non dominant) hand. You can train the baby to write with a specific hand, do normal chores like brushing, shaving, open door with a specific hand, etc.

Like the way, I trained myself to eat, shake-hand, serving food, religious rituals, etc with my right hand.

But, you cannot curb the natural instincts. In most cases, a left-handed (right-handed) baby/person would use its left (right) hand for a reflex or natural or untrained activity - like pick a pebble from ground, pick a fruit, cover nose while sneezing, etc. Or an action that needs strength like using spanner for unscrewing/screwing, etc.

p.s: This answer is from my experience as a left-handed. Not endorsed by any scientific theory.

If you're right-handed, what are some of the things that you do with your left hand, and if you're left-handed, what are some of the things you do with your right hand?

I am left-handed, left-eyed, left-footed. I prefer left by nature and by choice if there’s an option.

Below are few things I use right hand for, by habit/adaptation/lack of choice (mostly the last one):

• While eating with hand (Indian). Will use spoon with right hand in public and left-hand at home. Sometimes, at home, I snack with left-hand if I am alone.
• Using computer mouse at work
• Turning on/off ignition key in car daily
• Steering as my left-hand is mostly on gear shift (Right-side driving in India)
• Scissors, nail cutters, knives
• Hindu religious activities when obligated - rituals like pujas, lighting lamps, putting tilak/bindi, ringing bells in temples, taking prasad/harati (arti)
• Serving food at family events (avoid as much as I can)
• Using ATM
• Dialing on my office VOIP phone
• Buttoning/unbuttoning my shirts/jackets/trousers -yeah, you can do easily with single right hand, but not with single left hand. Try yourself!
• Locking/Unlocking paddle locks
• Open refrigerator door
• Biometric reader (fingerprint scanner) at my office turnstiles entry that reads only my right index finger.
• Clicking (pressing shutter button) on my SLR camera needs my right fingers (by design), though I use my left-eye for view-finder - my nose bumps and smears the LCD screen

Do left-handed people and right-handed people buckle their belts differently?

As a left-handed, I used to do buckle the opposite way as a kid - insert to the left loop of my trouser first - so, the tail end stays to the left after buckling - like the kid standing on the left in the picture in the Question comment.
However, I slowly shifted/adapted to the common practice, like many other things, for few reasons -

• Wearing my school belt that way would show the school emblem/logo on the buckle in inverted way

• Same way with the general belt buckles - I have to find a design that would have a symmetric design when inverted. I cannot use the below one, but the following ones.

• Some belt buckles would have a button/pin on the bottom to loosen and release the belt. With the inverted way, the button would be on the top pressing into my belly.

• The second layer of belt would not let me to easily insert my ID card holder to the right-side of my trousers.

However, wearing this way (start by inserting into left) causes few inconveniences as a leftie -

• To remove the belt from the rings, i can pull only by my right hand. Pulling by left hand won’t remove the belt easily.
• I can unbuckle easily only with right hand. I have to remember that sometimes.
• The hanging second fold of the belt gets hit to my left hand which is the active one, especially while taking out wallet/phone from left pocket. Another reason to wear the watch on right hand.

Is it still considered Left handed, if you do all other tasks with left hand leaving besides writing and eating?

Yes. I consider one as a Left handed, if one does all other tasks with left hand leaving besides writing and eating?

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion, not a scientific answer.

I think ‘Writing’ and ‘Eating’ should not be considered as the primary criterion in identifying the ‘handedness’ of a human.

Writing is an acquired skill and it depends on which hand you started training and learnt.

Similarly you can train yourself to write with a specific hand, learn to do normal chores like brushing, shaving, open door with a specific hand, etc. Like the way, I trained myself to eat, shake-hand, serving food, religious rituals, etc with my right hand.

One’s “natural”, “reflex”, “physical”, “instinctive” actions should distinguish that person as a left-handed or right!

· If I throw a dagger/stone at you, would you rise your left hand or right hand to block?

· If I offer you a bag of apples, will you pick with your left/right?

· When you sneeze, do you use your left/right hand to cover your nose? In some cases, this can be trained. I pick my nose with my right hand because my left hand would be busy most times like writing :-) Just kidding.

· I set/comb my hair with left hand

· In an action that needs strength like using spanner for unscrewing/screwing, do you use left/right?

Some websites talk about other ways like

•      “which thumb is on up side when you interlock your fingers?”,
•      “which palm is up when you clap while applauding?”,
•      “which hand is up when you hold hands on your back?”
•      “with which eye do you wink?”

I don’t believe in the above stuff.

Things I do with right-hand, though I am left-handed

I am left-handed, left-eyed, left-footed. I prefer left by nature and by choice if there’s an option. Below are few things I use right hand for, by habit/adaptation/lack of choice (mostly the last one): 

• While eating with hand (Indian). 
• Will use spoon with right hand in public and left-hand at home. Sometimes, at home, I snack with left-hand if I am alone. 
• Using computer mouse at work 
• Turning on/off ignition key in car daily
• Steering as my left-hand is mostly on gear shift (Right-side driving in India)
• Scissors, nail cutters, knives, peelers, can openers
• Hindu religious activities when obligated - rituals like pujas, lighting lamps, putting tilak/bindi, ringing bells in temples, taking prasad/harati (arti)
• Serving food at family events (avoid as much as I can)
• Using ATM
• Dialing on my office VOIP phone
• Buttoning/unbuttoning my shirts/jackets/trousers -yeah, you can do easily with single right hand, but not with single left hand. Try yourself!
• Locking/Unlocking paddle locks
• Open refrigerator door
• Biometric reader (fingerprint scanner) at my office turnstiles entry that reads only my right index finger.
• Clicking (pressing shutter button) on my SLR camera needs my right fingers (by design), though I use my left-eye for view-finder - my nose bumps and smears the LCD screen

What are some of the ways you can distinguish between left and right handed persons, besides Writing?

I think ‘Writing’ should not be considered as the primary criterion in identifying the ‘handedness’ of a human. Writing is an acquired skill and it depends on which hand you started training and learnt.

Similarly you can train yourself to write with a specific hand, do normal chores like brushing, shaving, open door with a specific hand, etc.

Like the way, I trained myself to eat, shake-hand, serving food, religious rituals, etc with my right hand.

One’s “natural”, “reflex”, “physical” actions should distinguish that person as a left-handed or right!

• If I throw a dagger/stone at you, would you rise your left hand or right hand to block?
• If I offer you a bag of apples, will you pick with your left/right?
• When you sneeze, do you use your left/right hand to cover your nose? In some cases, this can be trained. I pick my nose with my right hand because my left hand would be busy most times like writing :-) Just kidding.
• I set/comb my hair with left hand.
• In an action that needs strength like using spanner for unscrewing/screwing, do you use left/right?

Some websites talk about other ways like

• “which thumb is on up side when you interlock your fingers?”,
• “which palm is up when you clap while applauding?”,
• “which hand is up when you hold hands on your back?”
• “with which eye do you wink?”

I don’t believe in the above stuff.

Why do lefties face problems with day to day objects?

Wake up in the morning and do the following with your left hand.

• Unlock your phone - buttons are on the right side.
• Go to toilet - Flush button is on the right side. Tissue dispenser or water bidet are on the right hand side.
• Open your fridge door to pull milk sachet.
• Use scissors to cut the milk sachet.
• Unscrew the lid for sugar tin.
• Turn on/off the stove burner/knob.
• Drink coffee in a printed mug.
• Switch on the TV with power button on remote.
• Use a can opener to open your cut-fruits tin.
• Cut onions with a one-sided knife.
• Button up your shirt with one hand.
• Wear watch on your left hand. Wear belt the regular way - push first into the left side ring.
• Turn the keys to lock your home.
• Put a signature for a delivery boy.
• Use the lift/elevator buttons, which are kept on the right side of the door.
• Turn the ignition on your car.
• Go to ATM and withdraw money.
• Go to a super market or a shop, and sign on the PoS at the billing.
• Go to office. Shake hand or high-five your boss/coworkers.
• Switch on your laptop or desktop.
• Use a water pitcher or coffee machine.

Now, tell me what your experience is and whether there are any problems/inconveniences. Note the above is not an exhaustive list.