Building strength in the left hand/arm/shoulder

October 15, 2011 at 10:35 PM ·

I presume the instrument you are talking about is a violin.

1. Make sure you have a chinrest that really fits your jaw/chin.

2. If you need to use a shoulder rest, be sure it is one that provides for more comfort than playing without one.

3. Be sure your violin is pointed at an angle off your left shoulder that allows comfort in playing up the G string.

4. Allow your left hand to do some of the work of supporting the violin at the neck - and be sure you have a left hand/arm position that is not straining your muscles. If you do need to change the way you are doing this, you really should get a teacher or coach to help you work it out. Making changes in the way we play is really tough - especially if we've been doing it (poorly) for a long time.

5. There is not that much music that requires continuous playing for long periods of time without a least a few seconds of rest here and there - take advantage of the rests to relax.

6. I changed my violin-bow hold in my early 30s. It took about a month to get comfortable with the new bow hold and bring my playing back to where it had been - but with the improvements of the new hold.

7. In my early 40s I undertook to improve my left hand (as well) and worked on a 30 minute routine of various etudes and Paganini Caprices before starting to work on my "regular music" each day. My left hand did get numb and tingly during those 30 minutes, but worked through it and then was fine to really work on getting better. Without that really tough 30 minutes I could not get back to where I had left off the day before. That was almost 40 yeas ago - so now when I get numb and tingly, I stop. So my advice must be considered with some concern for your own age and health at this time - exercise discretion!

Andy

October 15, 2011 at 10:43 PM ·

Once a week I do a few sets of dumbbell exercises to hit the front, side, and rear deltoid muscles.  Basic principle in strength training: Don't directly work the same muscle group 2 days in a row.  Let at least 48 hours elapse.

EDIT: Working out and violin practice have long been part of my life.  So it's hard to measure what, if any, added benefit these exercises have had for my playing, but they definitely haven't had any negative impact.  In either activity, proper form and posture are key.  Without them, any exercise can do more harm than good.
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I practice and play about 3 hours a day on a split routine -- 90 minutes + 90 minutes, pausing frequently to stretch out arm and neck muscles.  For left hand, small doses each day of Sevcik, Schradieck, and Dancla, in rotation, help me maintain muscle strength and finger independence.  Heavy-stress drills like Kreutzer 9 come every other day.

October 16, 2011 at 01:18 PM ·

You don't really require any exercise at all. If you are having problems in this area it's because you are using the wrong chin rest,  or improper shoulder rest adjustment. The further the head  comes down and forward the harder the arm has to work.

October 16, 2011 at 07:22 PM ·

 Although set up is critical for long term playing comfort, I do agree that physical exercise also plays a part. Some of the longest playing/injury free string players I have witnessed swim regularly. I can also see how yoga, and weight training can have an important place in a fitness routine for the string player.

October 17, 2011 at 05:01 AM ·

Greetings,

Paul is right.  Players with the greatest longevity tend to do other activities that involve differnet and greater range of movement.  In particlar,  the vilinists left arm is kept ain a rdiculuous @ostion for long periods and this is often extremely detrimenta without remedial movement .  A small poiunt about weoight training.  I kind of agree but keep in mind that weight training is actually shoort for `progressive weight training`   in the sense thta one is constantly striving to lift the maximum possible weight for the maximum possible number of reps unless y9ou are off the Mentzer/Yates school.  This is not ,  in my opinion,  a good idea for violnists. Rather see it in temrs of using lighter weights (preferably dumbells)  in a huge variety of exercises that hits the muscles from as many angles as possible....    There are certain weight traning exercise sthat shpould espcially be avoided.  In particular the behind the neck press (a dumb exercise for weight training in generla actually).  If you want to do some heavier lifting then focus on the back and legs rather than the front of the body so much.

Incidenatlly, all violnists would probably benifit from rotator cuff exercises using weights.

Cheers,

Buri

October 17, 2011 at 06:10 AM ·

Rotator cuff/shoulder exercises with exercise bands are excellent too. 

Body weight exercises are another option and require no equipment. 

 A good source for these types of exercises with video demonstration is YouTube.

.

October 17, 2011 at 11:27 AM ·

 i think many people, esp adults in good health, have sufficient amt of musculature already on their frames.  although it is a great idea to continue to exercise them--hopefully violin specific in reference to the left upper limb-- a component often misunderstood and neglected is the role of flexibility.  

strong muscles for the most part if not supple are not conducive to good function.

because of the contorted nature of the left upper limb for a violin player, a flexibility program for warm up and cool down is essential.

discomfort can arise from weakness or tightness.  tightness is a bigger problem with violin player, imo.

October 18, 2011 at 03:32 PM ·

 Many problems especially in experimented violinist  are due to a misconception of relaxation. Arm and shoulder are both slacken as a whole ,,the shoulder are kept low and backwards 

Pupils  often keep the shoulders  high and backwards with a forwards  projection of the head leading to a break of the line head-shoulder.

Both situations lead to a bad direction of the shoulder joint (made of the shoulder blade and humerus).

Exercises that cultivate the feeling of the shoulder blade sliding on  the ribs are certainly more efficient than muscling.

October 29, 2011 at 01:08 AM · Thanks to everyone for your replies. I started doing some shoulder exercises.

I actually play viola most of the time. A relatively large one (a bit over 16 1/2"), but it's relatively light, as well. While I am relatively comfortable, my left hand (mostly wrist) and shoulder do get tired after awhile. I have more stamina on violin.

October 29, 2011 at 01:58 AM · Andrew- beside the fact that violas do weigh more, I think the position of the left arm with the elbow at an obtuse angle, is inherently more tiring. You are holding the shoulder-to-elbow part less perpendicular and more parallel to the floor and are having to support more of the weight of your arm than with a violin. A bigger viola straightens the arm further than a smaller one. Keep that in mind while deciding which groups of muscles need more exercise.

October 29, 2011 at 02:32 AM · Andrew,

Assuming that you haven't increased the size of your viola lately where the added extension will tire you quicker, you can work with a low-resistance band to do "lifts" from the floor. You basically step on the band with your foot, hold the top part in your left hand and simply lift up. Don't overdo it, just a few times each day to build strength.

Another thing to look at is how high you are holding the viola. While a lifted scroll is great for violin, on viola, maintaining that position for a long period of time is not so great (not saying it is ok to have the viola down around your knees though!).

A trick Buri told me about many years ago is to roll up a small tea towel and put it under your left arm for support while the strength is build up slowly.

October 29, 2011 at 02:43 AM · Mendy, that is a great idea. I will keep that in mind for when my daughter moves to a bigger instrument.

October 29, 2011 at 12:39 PM · Hi,

There has been a lot of good advice already. I agree with those above who mentioned exercise. Being in good shape aerobically and anaerobically is a must since it ensures good circulation which is important in preventing injury.

Here are some more thoughts, some of which are personal. A proper fitting chin rest is must. Also, positioning is important. That said, tension and fatigue are results/consequences of other issues that need to be addressed. First, I think that part of the misconception is that of holding up the violin. In fact, we balance it. It falls on our hand which is essence an obstacle that prevents it from falling down. The best comparison would be to that of a chair: the chair is an obstacle that prevents our behinds from falling to the ground, yet it doesn't push us up in the behind. I think that the same applies to the violin.

About positioning... I think that one of the biggest problems is that of over-rotation of the elbow towards the right. I don't really know why this is taught, but to be in balance with gravity, the arm should hang down with the elbow pointing towards the ground like a pendulum. That way, you are in harmony with gravity and will be relaxed. If not, then you will tense up somewhere to restore balance. This applies to many activities aside from the violin. If you do cycling on rollers, you realize how close and relaxed you centre of gravity has to be in order to not lose balance. It teaches on a lot. Great martial artists also apply this which results in their fluidity.

Another problem of tension lies in the setup of the left hand. The left hand should rest not on the thumb but the base of the first finger. Thumb height is determined by the length of the fingers, the length of the thumb to its base and the distance between the base of the thumb and the base of the first finger. There is a good discussion of this in Carl Flesch's Art of Violin Playing worth checking out.

Lastly, many people overwork on the violin. Please think that power comes from strength, it does not. Power, projection and skill comes from balance, relaxation, speed and motion. Strenght and tension are its enemies in my opinion.

As for shoulder support systems, whatever they may be, you have to do what is right for you. But, not matter what you do, if you violate the above rules it will do nothing good for you. The one perhaps misleading aspect of shoulder rests and pads is that they can hide problems of balance and movement to some extent, so one has to simply be careful to respect the same principles as one would do playing restless.

Hope that there may be something of help in this.

Cheers and best of luck!

November 6, 2011 at 11:55 PM · Thanks again to all of you. There is some wonderful advice here.

I've found too that positioning the elbow too far to the right weakens the support system - that was a habit I was working to break awhile ago.

Mendy, I just ordered some resistance bands.

Thanks again...

November 7, 2011 at 03:37 PM · My viola is a big fella, but I love it. I've gone through a couple of chin and shoulder rests, but it wasn't until I started working out regularly with a personal trainer that I noticed I wasn't fatigued at all in playing (and I wasn't getting the usual injuries either that normally plague violists).

I'm not saying to get a personal trainer, but I will definitely side with those who said to exercise regularly.

--Ann Marie

November 8, 2011 at 12:32 PM · Hi,

John: an ill-fitting equipment will force one to do things to compensate and create tensions that will lead to injury. It is more important than many realize. Will that solves everything: no. You still have to be in very good physical shape and play with good positioning to avoid injury. It is really a multi-factorial but inter-related problem. In the end, you have to solve all three I think. Like anything, it's all about balance.

Cheers!