So why does idiodexterity only apply to string instruments? To help us define it, let’s try considering what it’s not.
Can you play a drum kit idiodextrously? What about a piano, or a balafon? If you swap which hand is ‘on top’, are you an idiodextrous saxophonist?
Let’s take these questions in reverse order.
If you swap which of your hands you place on the uppermost keys of your saxophone, you are adopting an unconventional handedness approach – but the pitch organisation of the instrument in relation to your body hasn’t changed, so this wouldn’t be an idiodextrous approach.
If you programmed a keyboard to invert the (linear) pitch distribution in relation to your body (like Joe Zawinul famously did on this Weather Report live performance of Black Market), that also inverts the pianistic roles of your hands (bass and treble) – but it is not strictly speaking the result of a different ‘handedness approach’ to the instrument itself, since playing piano is a bimanual task in which both hands are assigned the role of ‘sound production’ (striking or pressing the piano keys). Sitting on the ‘other side’ of a balafon would produce a similar one-dimensional inversion of pitch. Are these examples of idiodexterity – or are they better defined as ‘left-handed approaches’ to instruments for which a left-handed version (with some exceptions)[1][2] simply isn’t typically built?
How do you think about the pitch organisation in a drum kit? Is there an argument to be made that by involving the feet as well as the hands, the pitches are in fact organised in three dimensions? To further complicate matters, kit drummers typically have the option to set up their instrument ‘right-’ or ‘left-handed’, or to play ‘open’: leading fills and keeping the highest subdivisions of the time (on the hi-hat or ride, for example) with their left hand while playing on a standard ‘right-handed’ kit, or vice versa. Thanks to technological advances like hydraulic kick and hi-hat pedals, it’s even possible to swap the roles of the feet without changing the setup of the kit. This paragraph feels like the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drum kits and I’m not yet clear whether idiodexterity can apply to drums. What do you think?
These definitions are thought experiments very much in progress. Please see the Open for debate! section to contribute your thoughts to the discussion.
[1] Schneider, Heidi. 14/6/2022. Playing the left-handed piano – A hands-on experience: On the meaning and importance of the left-handed piano. [Accessed online 9/12/2023] https://www.linksgespielt.de/en/post/lefthandedpiano
[2] Seed, Christopher. The first left-handed piano [Accessed online 9/12/2023] https://www.lefthandedpiano.co.uk/chris_seed.html
Next article: Different idiodextrous approaches
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