Hello All,

I'm currently preparing for my Grade 4 violin exam - hope to complete it next Spring and I would appreciate some advice from more experienced violinists here.......

I am an adult learner and find just recently that I have become much more aware of my (many) shortcomings as a violinist and have become much more critical of my tone and hand positioning - both left and right. I'm hoping this new sense of self-awareness is a sign I am improving even if I feel my playing is not....

Anyway....my real question regards my left thumb. I seem to have developed a habit of gripping the violin quite firmly with my left hand and my thumb gets very tense and sore after just a few minutes playing. I'm finding it very difficult to force my left hand to relax and am wondering if anyone else has had this experience and how they overcame it.

I tend to tense my right hand also but if I concentrate I can find a more relaxed bow hold which much improves my tone.

Help for my poor left thumb would be appreciated!!!

Thanks.

Hi Orla

Good to see you here again Sorry I can't help with your thumb though.

I'm hoping to do Grade 4 in Spring too but haven't been playing scales for a looooonnnng time

My problem is a stiff right shoulder and arm which makes my tone sound horrible. Oh and I stick my right index finger up... and my wrist is too stiff... and.. and... I think we adults have a rough time trying to put all this together the right way up I'm not trying to steal your post - I just think we adults are also very hard on ourselves... I wish we could share our experiences over coffee somewhere

Hope someone can help you out
Happy violining

Hi Orla,

It's a common problem so don't worry - I think it's something everyone has to get over!

Try this excercise: whilst holding the violin and holding one finger down circle your thumb round slowly - after a couple of 'circles' change direction. Practice this a few times holding down different fingers. It's really hard at first, and it will take time, but this will help to loosen your grip.

What a coincidence, I was only asking someone about this the other day. Im an adult learner too but Ive had a 20 yr break as I played up until I was 17 and stupidly gave up, so I put it down to lack of use followed by overuse if you know what I mean??? Ive been playing again since May and all has been fine but recently Ive played constantly (trying violins out) for up to 3 hours at a time and my thumb is now hurting.
The person I mentioned it too reckonned its tension and not overuse so Im trying to relax more when I play.

Have you been sucking your thumb too much....... ???............

Stretch your hands well before playing, don't "try" too hard (read the inner game of music for that one), and most importantly...
try to start your practice with some very gentle shifting exercises, as these require a free left thumb. I mean literally no more than moving the hand from 1st pos to 3rd and back, for a couple of minutes, also experiment doing this with no contact from the left thumb or index finger, just the hook bit in between. If you use a shoulder rest it may be interesting to remove it for this. You will learn a lot about any tensions in the L hand and neck/shoulder areas from this.

Then get Alexander technique lessons.

I have a stiff right shoulder too, esp when the music is really fast (we are playing brandenburg 4 and the last movement is making my head spin).

But how do you stick your right index finger with your bow hand????