I have at least 4 desks in my room that are left-handed desks. 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. So I'll state my (oddly) controversial opinion: We make accommodations for all sorts of students for all sorts of reasons.
![ten thumbs up ukulele ten thumbs up ukulele](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d8/ee/74/d8ee74d140800a96e0a8a8fe0f89e17d.png)
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. 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. 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. 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. If it ultimately doesn't "stick," then they have developed the ability to play in multiple ways!
![ten thumbs up ukulele ten thumbs up ukulele](https://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/exercise-9.png)
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. Students will argue that they see great players with thumbs up, etc. In other words, "smart laziness." THAT the students get! The goal, of course, is to get the maximum return for the least amount of work. You'll notice that the tone will quickly get "stuffy" or even muted. Once you find that, slide your finger back with the exact amount of pinch strength. Find just the right amount of force to get a clear sound, to the point where any lighter would mute the string. 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.
![ten thumbs up ukulele ten thumbs up ukulele](http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/exercise-8-300x65.png)
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. 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.