2016.01.18
Yesterday I noticed I can play tuba almost as well with my left as my right - an old observation for me, actually, but I realized there might be a tie-in with another bit of physical modeling i do: I tend to remember which key on my keyring is which via it's physical placement, and more specifically, I subconsciously expect them to be in left-to-right order corresponding to the outermost/innermost arrangement of the doors. Take my car and house keys (one for the front, one for the back)... holding them all "teeth up", my hand expects the car key on the left (corresponding to how I first arrive), and then the front door key to the right of that (since it's the key I need next) and ending with the key to the back (either since I don't need that then, or because the back of the house is "more inner" than the door facing outward to the street. It takes much more mental effort to remember which key is which when they don't align to a inner/outer concept.
So: tuba valves, three in a row. I would have assumed I associate them with either specific 1,2,3 placement. And maybe it's just that I use the same finger for each valve, just on the other hand, when I play leftie. But it seemed like a "deep" revelation that maybe I think of them more in terms of which valve is closest to me - and that maybe years of playing brass as a youngster imprinted that way of thinking on me. But maybe that's mixing up cause and effect, or so there's another, simpler explanation.
In general, I'd say I have a hard time than average remembering left from right.
Hmm. This could explain piano being challenging for me as well? Like it's just harder to integrate things when on my left hand, the thumb plays a higher note, but on my right hand the thumb is the lowest note. Yeah; when I try to play basslines with my left, everything feels wackily backwards.