I think Bach's Goldberg Variations are more difficult than Chopin's Revolution Etude. But I can't play either of them properly :-( Luckily there are other people around who can. :-)

Unfortunatly I can't play Bach's Goldberg Variations (I haven't tried) and I don't know if I play Chopins Revolution Etude properly, but I try...

Intressting theories about the diffrent skills och the hands...

I have wanted to be able to do this forever!  (And I'm actually right-handed.)  Call me crazy, but I think that this relatively simple concept should have been utilized by programmers long ago!

I have used something like this very long ago. In the 1990's I owned a Yamaha V50 synthesizer that allowed me to set a different pitch for each key. And I played with very strange keymappings like the reversed-scale that was posted in this thread.

I also experimented with things like quarter-tone tunings ( one octave would use two octaves on the keyboard ).

My favourite trick was: setting an octotonic scale on the white keys.
Imagine playing a scale like C C# D# E F# G A Bb on the white keys.
If you try to improvise on such a keyboard with complex chords on the white keys, you immediately start to sound like Olivier Messiaen. ( This scale is one of his "modes de transpositions limitées" ) 

This thread inspires me to make something like that possible with Pianoteq. Should be no problem. I'll be back if I have worked it out!

berghs.kedjan wrote:

I think that it acctually is a good thing to be left-handed on an ordinary piano.

Now I can see that it seems like I am left-handed... But, I'm not... But when I play Chopins revolution etude I wish I was...

Ever tried playing the left hand of the Revolution Etude with your right hand ? That's probably even more difficult ;-)

In fact there are things the left hand often can do better than the right hand, regardless if you are a right or left handed pianist.  The left hand is better for global harmonic things and wide distances and big chords, for harmonic patterns, the right hand is better for melodic details, trills, scales. Some scholars say this has something to do with different functions for the right and left hemispheres of brain.

(Un)fortunately some composers don't care much about pianists. They just want to write good music:  I think Bach's Goldberg Variations are more difficult than Chopin's Revolution Etude. But I can't play either of them properly :-( Luckily there are other people around who can. :-)

I think that it acctually is a good thing to be left-handed on an ordinary piano.

Now I can see that it seems like I am left-handed... But, I'm not... But when I play Chopins revolution etude I wish I was...

I've heard that a lot of the realy good pianist have been left-handed. I think that it acctually is a good thing to be left-handed on an ordinary piano.

God bless you!

I'm not a great pianist - I'm barely a fair pianist, but being left-handed has conferred a great advantage to me when it comes to left hand work.

It has enabled me to use a lot of moving left hand in my solo arrangements - something that at least a few right-handers have had trouble with.

Glenn

God bless you!

I think that's ridiculous.

Left-handed people can learn to play the normal piano much the same as right-handed people.

Sure, they CAN but with today's technology it doesn't have to be a MUST!  If someone wants to remap their keyboard and they have the ability to do it then more power to 'em!

Curt

And a option to mirror all the existent piano models too.

I had actually wanted to do this long ago, and I had _no_ idea that you could use the Scala files to do it.  Now, my right hand can "plumb the depths," and my left hand can "scale the heights!!!"

In fact, I'm going to mess with some of the numbers and see what other weird alignments I can create.  Talk about good mental/physical exercise!

(I adapted quite naturally to the reversal.  Always thought I would...  8^)

Even though I hardly look upon this as a "parlour trick," I could imagine _really_ messing with folks (players and viewers) by using these alternate arrangements. 

Thanks again -- you've made this piano player _very_ happy!

:-)

Then my thoughts: I'm another left handed pianist and I agree with ED and Glenn; as Glenn said a piano is just a piano (not left nor right-handed) thus the so called 'left handed' is another instrument. Fullstop. It should be called mirrored piano to avoid confusion..

It can happen than people, that can't afford a music teacher and want to learn playing guitar by themselves, start with the instrument in the wrong way and this can justify a left handed guitar or bass but with a piano it can't happen.
All notes we play are melodies (bass lines, basso continuo, high voices, layered harmony lines) so I can't understand this people complaining for the lack of this piano; I think it's just a matter of ignorance.. sad..

Btw one could always play this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Conc...nd_(Ravel)

I think that's ridiculous.

Left-handed people can learn to play the normal piano much the same as right-handed people.

OK, I'm left-handed and I agree with ED.

The beauty of the piano is that one becomes ambidextrous and learns to use both hands proficiently.

Besides, a piano is neither left nor right-handed - both hands are used extensively if it's played well.  Beginners might not agree.

If you don't believe this, just download some Chopin midis, and play them  in Pianoteq - my god the man was superb with both hands, and he really made the piano work.

Did I ever wish there were left-handed pianos?  Never.

Boogie woogie was made for us.

Glenn