As I'm finishing my first quarter this year, and prepping my materials for my students in the upcoming quarter, I'm reminded how important playing position is in giving students the best possible chance of creating a successful sound.

The first challenge is always the ukulele position itself. I personally steal...ahem...borrow classical guitar technique for holding the ukulele. We don't stand and play in my classes (a topic for another time), so we spend a good amount of time just getting the position and balance of the instrument right before really trying to get a sound out of it. 

One of the things that we miss most often, though, when trying to get a clear sound on the instrument, though, is the exact placement of the finger in the fret space. A lot of the time, students naturally place their fingers in the center of the fret space, which requires more force on the fingertip to get a clear sound.

Try this yourself (and I always demonstrate the same thing): choose any string, any fret, and lightly fret it directly behind the fretwire, just where you can feel the string start to "incline" toward the fret. Find just the right amount of force to get a clear sound, to the point where any lighter would mute the string.  

Once you find that, slide your finger back with the exact amount of pinch strength.  You'll notice that the tone will quickly get "stuffy" or even muted.  The goal, of course, is to get the maximum return for the least amount of work. In other words, "smart laziness." THAT the students get!

Students will argue that they see great players with thumbs up, etc. all the time, and yes, we do.  I teach them that this is the "default" position that you can deviate from when needed, and they quickly see that they can be much more successful in getting a clear tone with decent instrument positioning.  If it ultimately doesn't "stick," then they have developed the ability to play in multiple ways!

I was recently a clinician at a school inservice for music teachers, and a question was asked during that session about whether or not I allow students to play left-handed or not. This question comes up at every session I've taught, and this particular one came on the heels of a long discussion on one of the Facebook groups I follow. Now, in general, my rule is not to engage in these types of discussions on social media, since the arguments tend to center around the idea that "this is how I did it, so they can, too," regardless of the opinion that is held; ukulele, musically, or otherwise. I even saw a post about a year ago from a teacher who had dug their heals in so deep about the fact was that the "one correct way to play was right-handed," that it fomented (predictably) rebellion in their class in which one student was not comfortable with it and questioned why they could not play left-handed.

So I'll state my (oddly) controversial opinion: We make accommodations for all sorts of students for all sorts of reasons. I arrange my seating order to give students the best chance of success, either for social reasons, or just so they can see the board.  I have at least 4 desks in my room that are left-handed desks. I have installed colored strings on my ukuleles to help my students learn better. 

Why the heck WOULDN'T I have a few left-handed instruments set aside for students who need them?!?

Look, when I started teaching guitar as a general music class, I was actually unaware that there WERE left-handed guitars. (I have no problem admitting that I was pretty green when I got into this...) I'm primarily a chorus teacher, and learned enough guitar in college to "boom-chuck" my way through elementary music, if necessary. Teaching class guitar in middle school kind of fell into my lap.  

It wasn't until halfway through my first quarter teaching class guitar that I recall watching a student REALLY struggle to do the basics.  Now, this wasn't an intellectually-challenged student, nor was he generally uncoordinated (he was a pretty good athlete, as I recall).  Then I noticed that he was writing with his left hand, and it hit me...and I went to research whether there were such things as left-handed guitars. (There are.) I was lucky enough to have a sympathetic principal who immediately purchased 4 left-handed guitars, considering it a reasonable accommodation for students, and he immediately improved.  Again, this wasn't a perception issue on either of our parts; neither he nor I knew that left-handed instruments were even a "thing."

I know the arguments. It's just that I consider most of them invalid. The arguments for teaching all "right-handed" tend to be the following:

1. Using your dominant hand for your fretting hand could be considered an advantage.
Honestly, I don't know if it would be or not.  I've often wondered if I would feel differently if I had originally started by using my right hand (dominant) to fret, and the left hand to strum and pick.  Truly, I think this is a hard thing to judge without having done it both ways. (Any enterprising University student want to start an extended study on the subject?!?)  However, I will say this - as illustrated by the story above, I never knew about left-handed instruments until a left-handed student was having trouble playing right-handed. That's the answer for me, and my chosen focus.  Not the "right" thing, but the right thing for the student. I will agree that, from my experience, some lefties will find an advantage in playing right-handed, and choose to do so.  Others find it easier to go lefty - in 7 years, and about 800 students, I find that given the choice, it goes about 60/40 - 60% choose right-handed, 40% choose left.

And almost all of those 40% chose to continue in music after the class in some form.

2. Left-Handed students who learn using a left-handed instruments will be at a disadvantage when reading standard chord diagrams and TAB.
Well, that depends on how you teach.  If you teach standard notation, it's not an issue at all, but I find it to be little issue even if you use it. (More on this later.) But let's look at chord diagrams.  That was one of my main concerns at first, too. In fact, I created left-handed chord diagrams to go along with my "standard" ones, until one of my lefties pointed out something that I didn't realize, and probably should have: Standard chord diagrams actually make more sense to a lefty, if you think of them as looking through the neck from the back.

I've encountered a LOT of students that have trouble with this orientation, since this is not how we experience the fretboard as players.  We don't experience playing it from the front; we play from behind the fretboard, so it can take a while for us to process that "flip" in perspective.

​As far as TAB, unless they are playing a right-handed ukulele upside-down (that is, strung as a right-handed instrument, but with the neck in their right hand), there should be no difference.  They just have to read the lines.  Truly, the only thing that's different is reading the chord diagrams, and that's a fairly simple switch with the right way of looking at it.

3. There are no right-handed or left-handed instruments; there's no left-handed or right-handed piano, after all!
I do hear this one a lot...and consider it one of the weakest arguments out there. There were also no left-handed desks...until there were. There were no left-handed scissors...until there were.

So now what? Can I just flip the strings?
For ukulele, the answer is pretty much yes.  (Guitar is a different matter...) The shorter scale of the ukulele means that there won't be a huge intonation problem until you're really up the neck, and on classroom instruments, I doubt you or the students will notice.  THEY will notice that you've gone the extra mile to give them a chance to be successful, though! If they are purchasing higher-end instruments, then they might want to look for a specific lefty, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal. 

Depending on the string gauge, there may need to be some slight alterations to the nut slots, but even though I'm capable of making minor adjustments to that, I've never needed to on any of my ukes, and I usually have up to 4 ukes set up for lefties.

I give the students the choice.  This is the information I give them to make the decision on whether they want to learn lefty or righty:

1. It is their choice. They can try back and forth for about a week, but I want them to settle one one fairly quickly to avoid confusion.
2. If they CAN use a right-handed instrument, I recommend they do, because it will simplify many things down the road, including purchasing instruments, and being able to pick up a friend's instrument and play, etc. However, whichever is the one that "feels correct" to them, go for it.

It's amazing to me that in this day and age that there is a debate or even question about this, but we in music education are an odd mix of innovation and strict conservatism.

The heart of the question should not be "what is the correct way," but instead "what is the right way for THIS student to be successful."  I'm truly puzzled by teachers that force students to play ukulele or guitar right-handed. I see no purpose when the instruments are there and available. By all means, if there is something that I'm missing, please post it. I'm curious about where this attitude comes from!