What's With All The Lefties?

Oct 12, 2008
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Andrei Jikh, Lee Asher, J.B, Eric Jones, we got a bunch of left handed guys on the theory11 staff. Even outside of here, Bill Malone and many others are left handed too, is there some connection between lefties and magic? (for the record, only 7-10% of people are left handed, but 25% of those releasing 1on1s are).

My brother, who is not left handed, does all of his magic in reversed hands. My question is, is there some connection from lefties to magic? and if so, is it an advantage?

Just some thoughts
Daniel
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Left-handed people tend to think with the right hemisphere of the brain more predominantly, which focuses less on logic and data crunching than creativity.

Connection? Possibly. I'm just an armchair psychologist, not a doctor of neuroscience.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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That's one of the things I've been wondering about also, but I've got no clue as to why. My first thought was that it was coincidence, but reversed hands seems like it could come in handy to let the spectator mirror your moves in a "do as I do trick" but no other reason comes to mind to me in general.
 
Yeah, I'm a lefty. It's a bastard to learn stuff from books, but, as Sterrpike said, we tend to use the creative side of our brains more. That's why the majority of famous artists are left handed.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Yeah, I'm a lefty. It's a bastard to learn stuff from books, but, as Sterrpike said, we tend to use the creative side of our brains more. That's why the majority of famous artists are left handed.

Maybe not a majority, but definitely a surprising proportion that includes some highly influential names. David Byrne, Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant, all left-handed musicians. Renaissance painters Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael were left-handed. W.C. Fields, Robert De Niro, Mickey Rourke, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Chaplin, the same.

I myself am actually about 80-90% left-handed. My right hand is visibly smaller than my left.
 
Maybe not a majority, but definitely a surprising proportion that includes some highly influential names. David Byrne, Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant, all left-handed musicians. Renaissance painters Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael were left-handed. W.C. Fields, Robert De Niro, Mickey Rourke, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Chaplin, the same.

I myself am actually about 80-90% left-handed. My right hand is visibly smaller than my left.

Yeah, probably not a majority, but you got what I meant.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Yeah, probably not a majority, but you got what I meant.

Either way, we can still brag that our section of the population gave the world Robert De Niro movies as well as the songs Once in a Lifetime and Psycho Killer. You're welcome, everybody.
 
Sep 3, 2007
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My father is Left handed and from my perspective he is a genius. He just doesn't know it. I am somewhat ambidextrous, likely because my dad was left handed. His brother is left handed as well.
 
May 3, 2008
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Singapore
www.youtube.com
Either way, we can still brag that our section of the population gave the world Robert De Niro movies as well as the songs Once in a Lifetime and Psycho Killer. You're welcome, everybody.

Amusing use of stereotypes. I must say Steerpike, I was watching the video of you performing on the witching hour site, you seemed right handed.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Amusing use of stereotypes. I must say Steerpike, I was watching the video of you performing on the witching hour site, you seemed right handed.

I try to keep the heat off my hands by keeping their movement uncomplicated. You should see my hands in real life, though. My left middle finger and thumb are nearly half an inch longer than their right hand counterparts and the other left fingers are just over a quarter-inch longer. Add in the obviously larger left palm (about another half-inch in diameter) and it borders on the freakish.
 
Sep 3, 2007
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I try to keep the heat off my hands by keeping their movement uncomplicated. You should see my hands in real life, though. My left middle finger and thumb are nearly half an inch longer than their right hand counterparts and the other left fingers are just over a quarter-inch longer. Add in the obviously larger left palm (about another half-inch in diameter) and it borders on the freakish.

That is pretty cool. Do you walk with a limp in your left foot? You know I'm just joking around. But do you?
 
Oct 28, 2007
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Sydney Australia
Lefties tend to be more creative I guess.

Learning new material as a left hander is very very difficult as you need to reverse everything you see. Flourishes are also difficult, eg learning pandora, and this can cause a plethora of mistakes to occur.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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No. In fact, I've been told it's spooky that I seem to glide instead of walk and nobody can hear my footfalls, even when I'm wearing combat boots on a tile floor in an empty hallway.
 
Jun 10, 2008
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You little stalker!
Guys, keep in mind that some of those left handed artist may still be right-handed. John Carney is right handed but he still hold the deck in his right hand. On his palming DVD he says that since the "mechanics grip" hand has to do most of the work in most sleights so he wants his dominant hand to do most of the work.
 
Jul 8, 2008
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Foldmaster;211537 Eric Jones[/QUOTE said:
Eric Jones is right handed. I'm left handed with cards and mostly with coins. I love what Bill Citino did with his new book. FINALLY some left hand coin magic lol. But he does cards righty lol.
 
Eric Jones is right handed. I'm left handed with cards and mostly with coins. I love what Bill Citino did with his new book. FINALLY some left hand coin magic lol. But he does cards righty lol.


Actually I'm a lefty with both cards and coins.

I think southpaws who have been successful in magic, have really had to overcome a major learning curve that would discourage most others. We have to dedicate ourselves to watch/read the learning medium we're studying and then process it backwards in order to retain it. This changes the way we look at the world, not just in magic. This often does alter the creative process, but doesn't give the left handed magician/person any advantage over anyone else.

As far as creativity goes, here's an exercise I invite you all to try. I promise this will get your creative juices flowing. Pick up any magic book, instead of looking through the method, read and re-read the description of the effect. Imagine that you were viewing that effect for the very first time w/ your "Spectator Cap" on. After you've imagined the moments of astonishment, only then do you conjure your own methods to achieve the same effect. Use all the techniques and gimmicks you already have knowledge of, and have access to.

Once you're satisfied w/ your own method, only then read the published method to see how close you came. Perhaps you can combine your method w/ the published method to come up with something completely new. It's a technique that I've employed over the years, and I certainly invite you to do the same.

E-Roc
 
Jan 14, 2008
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i am i righty i use my righthand for almost everything i do except cardmagic... i dont know why but when i started learning magic i just got use to it.... when studyinga moves or slieght i just do the exact opposite....

there is no devine power out there that makes lefty way better than any one else...
those mentioned personallities just love what they do and they strive to be the best at their craft thats just it....
 
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