Advice for the Aging Violinist: Start Jumping

October 6, 2025, 2:19 PM · In life we are often unexpectedly struck by the most innocuous statements when we least expect them. One of my biggies is "When we stop jumping, we start to die."

Before I elucidate, I will just briefly recap the two blogs that preceded this "Final Answer": Physical Fitness for the Aging Fiddler and Breathing and Internal Support for the Aging Musician. In those blogs, I discussed the truisms that we need to start getting and staying in shape while young, so that our aging curve is non-traumatic. The essential component is muscle-building, and although weight training is the key, a busy violinist may get by on resistance bands, which are portable and can be kept handy in a music studio. From there I noted that we must pay serious attention to muscle fascia organization and that this involves some serious work on our feet, which most people neglect. The extent which this kind of work immediately improves our playing is quite extraordinary in some cases.

As I proceeded with this survival program, I stumbled across the opening statement and was forced to admit this was one of my problems: I'd effectively stopped jumping. As a naturally sedentary violinist who tends to embrace Dounis and donuts rather than weekend tennis, I was in a mess.

For sure, the training I was doing included some quite strenuous jumping (jumping jacks for example) but always with the caveat "If your feet and knees are stuffed, here is the beginner's version. You may never move beyond this…" Clearly this was going to be a long and arduous journey. Now, I can handle long and arduous, but I prefer short and sweet.

Apparently so do a lot of other people, because I discovered that the smart ones use a rebounder (mini trampoline) to get qround those joint problems that were grounding me. This turned out to be a surprisingly effective solution. After some cursory research and the investment of more money than I care to think about, I had found the final component for me, and its implications for violin playing are sufficiently strong to justify posting this on a violinist site rather than an exercise site.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this tool, as I was, it comes as quite a surprise to find how versatile a rebounder is. It is not only about jumping but also, well, pretty much anything you can come up with….yoga, pilates, weight training, rehabilitation, dance and jogging can and are, all done on rebounders. I am hoping to start a revolution here by arguing that violin playing should also join the list. Here’s why:

For a month before my first rebounding, my right shoulder was becoming progressively more painful and playing on the G string became an issue of rotating the violin through 90 degrees and faking it. After two days of gentle bouncing (feet not even leaving the surface of the rebounder) I was pain-free and considerably more relaxed in the shoulders than usual. (Hilary, if you are reading this, please get a rebounder…)

This kind of got my attention. I started working through the information (NASA studies, nut jobs and serious doctors who discuss rebounders) and discovered something that I found a little hard to swallow at first: when we jump on a rebounder, every single muscle in our body relaxes during "flight" and then contracts on the very minimal landing impact. In essence, it is a micro-version of weight-training.

I was dubious about the claim it was every muscle, but within a few weeks I found my donut-based body composition had seriously changed and that I was sprinting up many flights of stairs when using the subway, with no heavy breathing. I hadn’t been aware of any hard work or strenuous exercise leading up to this.

For impatient readers who want some violin-related stuff, I offer an exercise the brilliant pedagogue Grigory Kalinovsky has his students do before they begin practice: Simply raise the arms to shoulder height 20 times, with the hands pointing forward. Repeat with the hands pointing down and then with the hands pointing backwards. This last is a kicker because it shows up weakened rear delts and general inefficiency in the shoulder. For some people, this third variation can be quite hard at first. It was in my case.

So I started doing it on the rebounder and, lo and behold, whatever blockages were there simply released. I can do these three movements all day if I so wish. Such is the power of release. (BTW I would respectfully suggest that these exercises are more efficient if one comes up on one's toes as the arms raise since this will activate the fascia system...)

As far as balance is concerned, the fact that the body instinctively strengthens the balance muscles just from standing on a rebounder has a huge effect on one’s violin playing. The necessity of coordinating the body into a whole that works in tandem immediately clarifies itself through some simple and fun exercises that directly affect one’s playing.

Also, the mind-body connection can be substantially developed by even some of the most basic exercises. For example, try standing with your feet hip width apart, one leg pushes the body up and down on tip toe while the other leg rotates the ankle in circles while keeping the big toe on the mat. This kind of exercise creates whole new pathways in the brain that also translate into more efficient violin playing.

And the kicker: Since you are not going to fall off unless you are seriously ill, I strongly recommend anyone who can, to play the violin while standing on a trampoline. Every part of the body coordinates and works together as you play around with weight shifting and just general body awareness. It’s super rewarding and tremendous fun.

For those of you with the space, budget and interest I would add the following advice:

Don’t get one with springs. You need individual bungee cords.
Get the biggliest one you can.
Don’t get it from Walmart. Expect to pay between 300-400 dollars for quality that works. I think the best one for violinists is the Bellicon, which is generally regarded as the top-of-the-line for quality ‘softish’ trampolining. I wouldn’t recommend the harder surface types which are designed more specifically to foster athleticism rather than mysticism.

I hope this blog starts a kind of mini-revolution for some violinists who may be struggling. (If I get a thank you note from HH, for whom I dreamed up the Schoenburger I will die happy.)

In the meantime, I am going to do 250 (yes 250) jumping jacks on my rebounder because it’s not only easy, it’s also a total blast!

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Replies

Stephen Symchych

October 6, 2025 at 07:44 PM · Does one use shoes, socks, or bare feet on this? My biggest fear about taking a violin onto it wouldn't be tripping or losing balance, but rather slipping on its surface without hands free to get stability.

Stephen Brivati

October 6, 2025 at 08:04 PM · Good question. Bare feet or shoes are both fine. The rule of thumb is bare feet for more relaxed stuff and shoes for higher intensity. It is recommneded you use something called grippy socks if you use socks. Regular sock are not recommended. The surface of a quality rebounder (bellicon. BCan, cellesizer etc) is completely non slip. The danger of an accident is pretty much non-existent.

Cheers,

buri

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Advice for the Aging Violinist: Start Jumping

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