Really struggling with fourth finger and C natural
I'm about to do my Grade 2 exam, and even though I have been practicing hard I am nowhere near competent in any of the pieces.
I'm going to be doing 'Mango Walk', and I always lose it and stumble at the very opening. For those who don't know, it's D on the A string, then fourth finger E on the A string, back to D, and then back to C natural, B, C natural, B, and then A.
My problem starts with that fourth finger. My teacher always says I am flat, but my finger is stretched as far as it can physically go. If I try to push any more it is excrutiatingly painful and strains my entire hand and arm.
Not only that, but I then somehow have to get all the way back to hit a C natural. No matter how many times I repeat this segment, or how slowly I do it, I am always off. My fourth finger is too flat, my C is too sharp. I always feel like I need to move my hand forward to hit the E and then shift it back again to hit the C natural, but I haven't learnt how to shift positions yet and it's not right to do it anyway.
I've tried several practicing techniques, foremost the one where you repeat the phrase slowly several times until you get it right and then work on playing it at the right speed, but it just isn't working for me. Just this morning I must have played just those four notes about thirty times, and I'm still not improving.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and my exam is in six days. :(
Does anyone have any tips on how I can improve these shifts? I know it's too late to master anything in six days but anything that might help me overall would be great.
Replies (5)
Ask your teacher to make sure your hand is balancing properly so you really aren't 'reaching' for the 4th so much. Where's your thumb in all this?
greetings,
You need to have the basic concept tat ye fourth finger must be curved and relaxed. It does not stretch forward from the other fingers, hand. Rather, the other fingers stretch back from it.
So from nw on, every time you practice this, set up your hand first. That is, play a 4th finger e and nothing else. Let it be curved and relaxed. Memorize that feeling. Now when you wok on the passage don't let your Han move back down to st old habitual setting which may well be too near the scroll anyway. Keep going back to that fourth finger relaxed set up until it is second nature while at the same time feel your other relaxed fingers stretching back from that fourth finger.
Cheers,
Buri
You have already got some great advice about proper finger positioning.
It is also possible that your violin is simply too big for you or not setup properly.
Discuss with your teacher if your hands and / or fingers are smaller than the average. If that is the case, you may find that 7/8 violin, with a smaller "mensur" (vibrating string length) and thinner neck is all you need to be more comfortable in the 1st position. In the past, luthiers were more willing to customize instruments for their customers of different body size. Even today, one can find rather small Italian violins made long time ago. While in viola world people have become more aware of how important the instrument size is, the violinist sometimes struggle unnecessary.
Regarding the setup; proper string clearance, the distance between the strings, bridge curvature, string tension, as well as body_stop:neck stop ratio are important when it comes to personal comfort.
A quick solution is to hold your first finger on B, then press only one finger at a time for the rest. So in OP's case, it'll be 1+4, 1+3, 1+2, then release 2 will go back to 1.
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June 29, 2013 at 06:32 PM · It sounds as though you're in a tension loop- very common. We get a little frustrated, then get tense, rinse and repeat... Assuming your hand is not way smaller than most, try relaxing, doing something soothing away from violin, and focus on relaxing hand, forearm, left arm, and just going for it as if it's easy. Get the sounds of the notes in your head and just go for what you hear.