Fourth Finger Strength

August 12, 2004 at 10:43 AM · Hi,
Ted, I think by avoiding a weak pinky (or any other problem area), one just starts off a downward spiral.

1. pinky is weak, therefore one avoids using it
2. because one avoids using it, the other fingers get ever stronger and better in comparison
3. the better the other fingers get, the more the weak pinky sticks out "like a sore thumb"
4. repeat from 1. ad infinitum

Just like it is pointless to play etudes that you have already mastered instead of tackling new stuff that still presents a technical/musical challenge.
Therefore, I suggest that we should all work on our weaknesses during practice and use our strengths during performace.
Bye, Juergen

August 12, 2004 at 04:18 PM · Kriesler, whenever possible, avoided the fourth finger.

September 10, 2004 at 04:26 PM · Did Kreisler play open strings or did he just shift all the time? I have a terrible time with my fourth finger. The middle joint always collapses and the finger becomes stiff and uncontrollable. I've played for 26 years and I don't remember my teacher ever working with me on it, so I'm wondering if that's just normal (stiff, collapsed fourth finger). While I have nice vibrato with the other three fingers, I can barely do it with my fourth. I agree, if one practices a lot, the fourth finger gets stronger or less lazy and grabs the note quicker, in tune, and more confidently for a better tone.

I'd like to hear others' thoughts about this.

September 10, 2004 at 04:40 PM · I've had that problem. It's unfortunate that your teacher never worked with you on this. Mine simply said that it was bad and I should fix it. However, with no tips on how to do so, I did not take the discipline to correct until it was such a hindrance that I couldn't advance musically. My college professor first introduced me to the horrors of pinkie exercises, beginning with the collapsed right hand pinkie and then moving to the left hand pinkie. The weak muscles were being overcompensated by their neighboring muscles. Try this: Hold your hand as though you were playing, relaxing the fourth finger so that it curls naturally. See, when you're not playing, it will do this by itself. Touch the tip of your pinkie to your thumb. Now, can you bend/collapse the last joint (by the tip)? If not, help it to flex by pressing on the top with your other hand. Do all this without straining. Repeat this exercise regularly, but not to the point of being sore. You can also rest your fourth fingertip on the edge of a table and practice flexing that stiff first joint. The third finger will probably try to help the fourth, but keep it still; don't let it assist.

Eventually, this will help to undo some of the stiffness in the joint by strengthening the weak muscles.

Next, every time you can think of it, make sure you put the fourth finger down without letting the middle joint collapse. Watch the angle at which it comes down while doing scales in the mirror. It should match what the other fingers do when they land. When you go slow, it is easier to focus on that individual task. It helps to go as lightly as possible with the finger ation. Your joint collapses when you press hard. Have your teacher examine your hand's overall position, making sure that you are not further hindering the pinkie by making it stretch more than necessary. Don't even think about vibrato until you can get the finger to drop without collapsing.

This could take a long time, and it requires incredible diligence. I'm still working on it myself, in fact. You will always suffer from intonation problems, inaccuracy, and weak. stiff vibrato unless you fix it, though. I think it's definitely worth the effort.

Good luck!

September 10, 2004 at 05:04 PM · Kreisler used both open strings and stopped, where he found it suitable.

September 10, 2004 at 09:42 PM · Greetings,

of course it is true that the fourth finger is weaker for us and it spells a problem but I tyr to bear these pints in mind:

1) Use it or lose it.

2) It is not as weak as people often think. The probelm is iften deeper. Thumb tension causes an apparent weakness because there is a concnetion between 4th and thumb not comont to the other fingers. So does tension in the shoulder, whole body, knees, blah, blah. Lok to the big picture to resolve the small.

3) Finger exercise are importnat (for example Kreutzer 9) but there is a built in danger which may cause you to 'weaken' the fourth finger even more. That is, the time taken to contarct a muscle is ten times shorter than that taken for it to return to full length. Ths if we paly repeated left hamnd exercises at the same tempo we will eventually end of with shortened and inefficient muscle trying to opertae the finger. thus Short trills or mordent, paying attention to the up rathe rthan down, with long breaks and hand stretchign are a more effettive means of getting the conncetion between brain and litlte finger. An hour on the Kreutzer or any other will give you aswollen pinky muscle a feeling or pride and sod all technique.

$) Find out where the muscle that activates the fourth finger is actually situated in the hand. I have a feeling we tend to map the muscle fgor the third finger on to the fourth which may be confsing things,

Cheers,

Buri

September 10, 2004 at 11:45 PM · Maybe a gripmaster will help.

September 11, 2004 at 01:04 AM · probably not necessary.

September 11, 2004 at 10:36 PM · Buri, if you don't mind my asking, my fourth does not collapse so much as it comes down at the wrong angle. I watch and it reaches around sometimes. The wrist sometimes tries to contort to help it out. Unfortunately, these things worsen the problem, and I suffer from an unreliable fourth finger when it comes to intonation and vibrato. Would the mordent/trill exercises that focus on the upward motion help? If so, what things do you focus on when executing the movement? Are there books that cover this topic?

September 12, 2004 at 03:44 AM · Greetings,

Emily, I think it might help you to practice the various posisble exercise using the Geminiani chord position with no bowing (silent exercises). I think if you search for Geminiani on this site you will find some descriptions of what to do.

The thing is towork slowly and carefully at what you are doing, always starting form the fourth finger in a confortable position and then setting the rest of the finhers from that. Check your hand is not too far back.

Idon"t think the trill studies are what you need right now.

The next step might be to practice thirds, again favoring the fourth finger first. You can trill these as slowly as you want, separate fingers , together, one string ata time or whatever.

The major citeria is comfort and ease plus short bursts.

I think your problem also has someorigins in other places, either in the thumb or third finger squeezing. But also check for a comnfrtable stance and see if you are anticipating trouble with this finger by squeezing the neck muscles immediately prior to use.

As far as the wrist is concerned don"t use it to adjuts the finger. Work the other way around. Don"t get too puritanical about keeping it straight though- it actually works better with a slight inward angle (very small).

Cheers,

Buri