How can I improve the dexterity of my fingers?

March 11, 2011 at 3:15 AM

I've been playing violin for almost 10 years now. This year I just made the transition from my high school orchestra, to a college symphony. I've stepped up my practice time to about 12 hours a week, but I've still been having trouble. I'm about 5"7 with short fingers and very thick wrists. I'm not able to grip my fingers around my wrist even. Well anyways, I've been having problems with my fingers keeping up with my bowing. I can play all the notes in tune, but not at the speed that some of my pieces require, it's like my fingers won't listen to what I'm telling them, they seem to delay. Is there any sort of practice technique you would recommend that can improve my finger's dexterity? Any advice is appreciated.

From Bart Meijer
Posted on March 13, 2011 at 8:30 AM

Scott, I have the same problem. What helps me is Ševcík, Op. 1 Nr.1. It contains runs of notes in first position. At first I practice such a run slowly, taking care to relax after setting up each finger; next, double the tempo, and double again, keeping as relaxed as possible.

Another thing is practicing in rhythms. Simon Fischer's book Practice comes in handy.

Good luck!

From Laurie Niles
Posted on March 14, 2011 at 6:55 PM

It sounds to me like what you are describing is actually coordination problem, but of course I have not see you play. However, it might help you to know that the speed will come only after you fix the coordination problem.

Fingers first, bow second. You may need to slow down, even stop in between notes, to be sure that your left-hand fingers are going down before your bow moves. You may make the surprising discovery that, even at a slow tempo, your bowing gets ahead of your left-hand fingers. Put stops anywhere that happens. Literally stop the bow, put down the finger, then go. Practicing in rhythms also does help this.

I think you probably need to re-program before you try to play faster. Once you can play something perfectly -- and well-coordinated -- at a slow speed, you can play it at virtually any speed.

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on March 15, 2011 at 4:09 AM

Greetings,

I agree with Laurie that you are talking primarily about coordination. Sped is not really an issue if this is okay.

The classic cordiantion exerise I mention time and time again on this site is called the `hooked exercises` or the hooked bowing exercises.` By means of this brilliant technique one trains the fingers -without fail- to move ahead of the bow. (Coordination is almost always a problem of the bow getting ahaea dof the fingers). Please do a search of this site as I am too lazy to describe it yet again.

As far as developing facility is concerned I feel that the work of Drew Lecher in isolating the basic hand patterns and applying rythms to them has made the need for working through the sevcik redundant although I still recommend much of sevcik to anyone. If you are short of time and want an efficient toechnique then I suggest you buy his book. Check out his web site.

All the best,

Buri

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

How can I improve the dexterity of my fingers?

Subscribe

Laurie's Books