Comments

Greetings,
you may be having two kinds of problems, both of which are fairly eays to resolve with patience. First, the relationship between elbow and fourth finger and second, your left hand is too far back towards the scroll.
A simple daily exercise is to place the fourth finger correctly curved and very relaxed on the e string and pluck it as a left hand pizzicato. Be conscious of the pad of the finger and keeping that nicely curved shape. No need to pluck agreesively or alter the shape of the finger. The pull back is from the base of the finger. Take care not to tighten the muscle sin the forarm.
After plucking the e stirng a few times move over to the a string and repeat the carel set up of the fourth finger. Everythign arranges itself around that finger. Nothing is strained. You will find that the elbo has changed position to accomdate the fingr. this is corretc. After plucking a few times repeat the procedure on the d string and then the g.
One minut eof this pracitc eevryday will helpI think.
Cheers,
Buri Buri, I'm plucking the fingers of my right hand, a la violin, as I'm reading your suggestion. I get it - and I promise to try it on something besides my right hand next.

Thanks!

First of all, let me tell you how much I enjoy your writing! You write about yourself but it's not just like "This is me. This is my life. And that's it!" You write like you're writing a novel, and it makes you a character. It makes reading your blog so much fun!

When I read your paragraph about being fired as a student, I laughed b/c that's practically what happened with me when I got reprimanded for my lack of improvement due to my lack of practicing. But I saved myself from being fired by promising that I would practice. Isn't that funny? You can be fired even as a learner/student? (It IS a little funny!)

Sheila

Sheila, oh no - you mean my imagined scenario might happen?? Boy, now the fingers will REALLY start slipping during my lesson! ((Terez rushes from room to pick up violin and start practicing NOW...))

And thanks ((back again...)) for your nice words about my blog - it gave me the warm fuzzies to read. : )

Well...what to say? Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed your description of your "problem"--fabulous writing. I wish people like you would write whole books about learning to play violin.

I have not spent much time with my 4th finger on violin. On cello, yes, and it's no problem--as long as I remember to keep it curved rather than straighten it out. Straight, it goes sharp. Curved, it's much more likely in tune. I just recently decided that I would work on my fourth finger on the fiddle, for fast passages (triplets) that go from C to E and back to C again, and some others where the difference in the strings is just too noticable. I don't take fiddle lessons (lessons on cello are going to have to be enough--there's a lot of cross-over and I have a good fiddle friend who helps me out when I need it), so I haven't had to "perform" any of this in front of teachers.

It's funny about the A string though. I have a loving relationship with my A string. Actually, I love all four strings. I have little patterns on all four strings that I have a hard time keeping in tune. But this little instrument is so delightfully sweet all over...

Theresa - you and Buri have a good point about the curved fourth finger. Off I go now to step into the cage with the lion for the next hour. Wish me luck...

It is funny, isn't it, that it's the A string that I don't get along with? My teacher tells me it's usually the E and the G her students struggle with. I was always one to do these things differently...

And thanks for your nice comments about my blog/essay. I think I've spawned a new sub-genre here. It's not a traditional blog. But it's more than just a random essay. It's a... blossay!