One handed instruments?

Subject: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,Dazbo at work
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:41 AM

Seeing the thread about the pipe and tabor on Chris Evans's show reminded me of a French guy at Sheffield Folk Festival a few years ago. He played his three holed pipe brilliantly (in fact I didn't realise it could play so many notes) but for ages afterwards I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then it struck me that he didn't have his drum with him so he was only using his left hand to play the pipe and I realised that was what was wrong.

So are there any instruments that are designed for only one handed playing (one hand holding the instrument doesn't count and a mouth organ in a holder round your neck doesn't count either)? I think any instrument that is supported by or utilising any other body part should be excluded also. So the final question is:

Are there any instruments, apart from the aforementioned pipe, designed to be played one handed and supported by that hand?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:45 AM

Damn! So many opportunities, and I made a New Years' Resolution too...

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,Dazbo at work
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:50 AM

Oh, I hadn't thought of that, though it probably falls foul...

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:57 AM

Trumpet/cornet, or any valveless horn smaller than a trombone. (Besides skin-flute, of course.)

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 10:04 AM

There's a miniature harmonica that you can hold in your mouth & play with your tongue - no hands!!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 10:13 AM

And Whats His name from Swan Arcade , Dave Brady ? Used to play duet concertina with one hand , the other end strapped to his thigh !

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 10:45 AM

Monophonic keyboards

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: gnomad
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:37 AM

Quite a few percussion instruments, including bones, maracas, finger cymbals, shaky eggs (shaky lots of things in fact) and castanets.

Kazoo, mouth organ without truss, noseflute.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:40 AM

Didgeridoo!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:40 AM

The voice

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:41 AM

Sorry, the voice, one hand behind ear.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:52 AM

Comb & Izal!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 12:16 PM

Stylophone!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 05:11 PM

Need two hands for that Les. ne to hold the styus and the other to hold the phone!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,oldfogie
Date: 21 Feb 08 - 03:04 AM

bodhran (or it should be)

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 02:15 AM

The sound of one hand clapping.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 03:37 AM

Bosun's Pipe.
Bugle.
Duck Call.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Snuffy
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 08:12 AM

And no hands at all for a kazoo, eh Geoff?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 10:46 AM

Some time ago I started a thread about a guitar strummer for a friend who had a stroke. My friend could chord alright but the strum was way beyond his then current ability. The system I used involved using a Hi-Hat cymbol stand that activated a cable which worked a sliding carriage on the top of the guitar. The carriage held a pick.

For very rudimentary strumming this system worked fine. But as I suspected it quickly became a source of as much frustration as not being able to play. A system was designed at Duke university involing a similar process with ultimately the same results. I believe that this device is very possible but it would require the able hand to be used for strumming or finger picking and at the same time activating solenoids that replace the fretting hand and attached to the guitar neck. Still a limited success but one capable making real music. The cost is estimated in several thousands of dollars.

Altruism aside, the one handed guitar Strum-A-matiC will likely remain a theoretic probable until some one can come up with an affordable option.

Don

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: oldfogie
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 11:05 AM

Hi
Dave Brady used to play guitar one handed. I think he used three finger chords and -sort of strummed using his little finger. It's a long time ago that I saw this but I'm fairly sure that's how he did it

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Claymore
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 06:48 PM

Ther is actually a bass fiddle type of drum that is traditionally played with the tabor pipe in early French Renaissance music. I forget the name, but imagine a rectangular box-like instrument about 1x3 foot with three heavy strings running vertically and tuned to a chord matching the pipe. The strings are hit with a stick, either individually or two or three, as the tabor pipe tune demands. The box is strapped across the body diagonally and one hand plays the tabor and the other the chorded "drum".

A friend of mine, Nick Blanton, builds Hammered Dulcimers and has build this type of "drum", which he plays with the pipes during Morris dances. We both enjoy the contradiction of the origins of the music and the dance, but it makes for a great May Day.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 09:37 PM

In my folk photos on-line collection at:

http://rudegnu.com/art_thieme.html

you will find 2 photos of a mountain dulcimer for a one-armed person. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship. The noted first string it pressed down with foot peddles---and the strings are strummed with the player's good hand and arm.

I found this instrument at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas---early 1980s.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 09:32 AM

Dictaphone?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 09:56 AM

I'm not sure that this fits within your parameters, but Uncle Dave Macon and Leroy Troy (and others, I'm sure), play(ed) banjo with only the left hand in many passages in pieces where they were ("are" in the case of Troy) spinning the banjo in various planes or gesturing with the right hand or holding the banjo out to swing as a pendulum in "My Grandfather's Clock". Admittedly, these are only fairly short passages, so presumably they don't meet your criteria.   Impressive, though, in context.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 01:49 PM

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Melodica

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 09:47 AM

Dictaphone??

I use me finger!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: treewind
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 09:56 AM

NO - handed instrument [You Tube]

Not what you meant but pretty impressive anyway.
I only discovered it yesterday.

Anahata

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 10:01 AM

It's possible to play guitar and bass (especially the electric versions) just by using hammer-ons with the fretting hand (it is of course the beginning of the slippery slope that leads to two-handed tapping). I saw an video on YouTube of someone playing guitar and bass at the same time this way to accompany himself on a harmonica.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 10:16 AM

That guy with no arms - astounding!!

I don't play that well with!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 11:13 AM

Most brass instruments.

The tilinko.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: GUEST,Mr Red at work
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 12:35 PM

I have seen a double bass played via bicycle pedals moving the bow and I assume one hand for the notes. The musician - I thought it was Nathan Abshire or Austin Pitre but they don't look the part.

The picture was on a Cajun LP cover he had a second instrument.

Does this ring any bells?

Now there is a one handed instrument - even though hand bells are usually used in pairs.

Carillon?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 12:39 PM

But aren't handbells normally played with a pair in each hand?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Kiss Me Slow Slap Me Quick
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 12:42 PM

Bones. Although, the realy good players play with two hands full.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Amos
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 02:21 PM

The theremin can be played with one hand.


A

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 11:43 PM

"The theremin can be played with one hand."

Yep just decide whether you want to change the pitch or the volume though.... :-P

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 09:19 AM

But aren't handbells normally played with a pair in each hand?
very clever Mr McGrath of Harlow

But which note plays? Or are they a diatonic pair?

Can anyone help on the bicycle bass picture? It is bugging me.

I have seen pictures of Cajun recording sessions in shoe shops! But who was on Shoe Horn?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 10:31 AM

well,why not a hammered dulcimer....if that one hand is REAL fast.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 10:31 AM

oh...and a bowed psaltry.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 10:44 AM

Harmonicas are not designed to be played one-handed, though they can produce a tune that way, or in a neck rack; the resulting quality can range from pretty good (Andy Irvine accompanying his songs) to terrible (B*b whatsisname) with the emphasis on the not-very-good end.   Harmonica playing in which the harmonica is the real point of the thing ideally requires both hands, which are used to form a cup around the harp that plays a major part in forming the tone produced. So not a true one-handed instrument.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 04:36 PM

Strange thing, Amos. I thought I had posted the Theramin about three hours prior to your post. Don't know what happened to it. I expect it was that I started looking on You Tube for Theremins, and got sidetracked. Even a cat can play one BLICKY.
My argument was that it is technically a No-Handed instrument, as you do not actually make contact with it at all.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 05:15 PM

One hand might be all you need!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 06:01 PM

Claymore (if you're still there - I've only just caught up with this thread): the instrument you describe is called a Tambour de Bearn, or Bearnais Drum. Some friends of mine in the Early Music world had one, and they used to hang metal rings on the strings to give a jangly sound.
John Kelly.

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Gene
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 07:11 PM

Never thot about the fiddle being a fiddle for one hand, but
there is a guy on UTUBE playing a fiddle and HE HAS ONLY ONE ARM!

worth a looksee...

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 07:13 AM

Here he is:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SYmqC5XznEw !!

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 05:15 PM

This was touched upon in a thread a while back which might prove interesting here:

Folklore : The One-Armed Fiddler

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: JHW
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 05:31 PM

Decades ago, fortunately, I played Melodica (those equally aged may recall), resting on the guitar top, using thumb (as I still do) to play the guitar and four fingers to play the melodica (which I certainly do not do now), held and blown by the mouth.
Does played by half a hand count?

Subject: RE: One handed instruments?
From: Mr Red
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 02:48 AM

No, it's wind assisted.