Exploring the Left Hand Wrist Set-Up - Violin Lesson

[@madbadtrad7746]

Professor Fitzpatrick, this video is just superb! Thank you! Love that story - synchronicity indeed :) It seems to me that that finger angle provides much better intonation - in part, I suppose, because it engages the more padded/fleshy part of the finger? Also, as you say, it works with your other concepts: not pressing all the way to the fingerboard, rotations, etc. It also allows for - what feels and looks to me like - a more open hand, one that is more "pinky dominant"; whereas that straight back-of-the-wrist orientation looks and feels more closed, more "thumb dominant". To me this means that my hand/fingers are more relaxed, lighter, more agile. When I watch Milstein and many others from the past, this is how their wrists (and therefore hands/fingers) seem oriented. I myself was having a mini crisis: so many of the greats do it this way - yet, no one seems to teach it this way. All of this also circles back to what you always say about finding what works for your own body, etc. In the end, that's what matters: what works. In first position, especially, when my wrist is in that position, the neck naturally rests upon the base of my thumb - the mound/muscle on my palm. It's the perfect ledge. And as I move up the neck, it slides increasingly onto the thumb itself. You are an outstanding teacher! I envy your students. Thank you! Merci! Grazie!

[@uhoh007]

Also "the other way" stretches the tendons less, the "neutral wrist", however your bend is not extreme, and I am going to try both ways to start. I very much apreciate your teaching videos. I'm an old piano hack learning violin at 63, and guitar. Tendonitus is much easier to get at age, and biomechanics of the hand I find seldom considered in guitar. So far I'm uninjured playing music, but never have I played so much as currently, so I'm trying to minimise the possiblity.

[@afroblue9427]

Ps, how do you or would you play these passages with consistent thought!

[@virtualsheetmusic]

Please, post your questions or Prof. Fitzpatrick on VSM, otherwise he won't see it here: www.virtualsheetmusic.com/experts/william/left-hand-setup/

[@jan-christinejohnson8852]

Helpful for this emerging one day at a time violinist. Thank you.

[@erikaperna7917]

OMG! Thank you so much for this video. I spent hours yesterday determined to get beautiful tone. Was extreamly frustrated. Your video was in my mail this morning. I love syncronicity. This has changed everything.

[@madbadtrad7746]

I find that so many of Professor Fitzpatrick's videos have at least one - and usually more - mind-blowing bit of pedagogic wisdom.

[@Alexandra_Stone]

I'm glad of this video. I always thought I was doing it "wrong". In fact my hands are so small there is no way I could do it the other way; the fingers just wouldn't reach.

[@virtualsheetmusic]

Glad you liked it! If you need any more help, please, don't hesitate to ask Prof. Fitzpatrick on his page on VSM: www.virtualsheetmusic.com/experts/william/

[@hindisikhnewaalaa]

Cher professeur Fitzpatrick, maître estimé, I will write in English on the off-chance that a wider audience may benefit from this one humble reaction to your illuminating discussion of wrist and finger position, grip, efficient fingering, and wave-flattening vibrato. My first guide in music was a Be-Bop jazz guitarist. Neither the production of vibrato nor even of bends was as important, under that erudite gentleman's lights, as efficiency and agility. I therefore learned early on to hold guitars and mandolins in such a way that each playing finger should remain at ready and as close to the strings as every other one. The independence of each finger was considered paramount, and hours of arduous labour were devoted to exercises meant to prevent the movement of fingers in groups, the very thing you wish to have your students do more swiftly and naturally! Thanks to your discussions on line, I have made bold to take up the violin, which I cannot hold as you do at all. I have no choice but to play it (or whatever I am doing) like a kemantché, upright. I wish to say that even in this utterly different position, your teaching about the 'wrist set-up' spells the difference between an appealing, mellow, scrollward (flattening) vibrato and a rushed, nerve-wracking wobble (which you have gently burlesqued in another video). The former, I obtained almost immediately upon making the proposed change in wrist angle, while the second was the best I could ever get with standing fingers and straight or slightly curled-in wrist. Perhaps your Parisian students had come to the violin from large fretted instruments? Maître Fitzgerald, you might have taught Pa Kua or Tai Chi! Qu'il me soit permis de vous dire par ce texte trop long toute ma reconnaissance, et vous souhaiter à vous et votre épouse bien aimée longue vie avec prospérité sur tous les plans -et surtout, encore et encore d'autres possibilités de partager votre invraisemblable richesse.

[@afroblue9427]

Many, many thanks! I can certainly identify with depression, and validation issues that come up with violin! The reason I enjoyed this video and came across it was my unrelenting and depressing search for wrist positions and finger placing in the highest positions, simply put the arpeggios and scales Paganini number 5! I have seen so many hand positions and wrist positions on videos by violinists, that there seems to be no direct form that is universal except that the wrist is not contorted the fingers especially 4 3 are flexible, and many of the artists seem to extend more so than shift! Help! A suffering violinist please! Many thanks, I am not even sure whether you will see this comment! Larry

[@virtualsheetmusic]

Thank you for sharing your experience here! Please, post your questions or Prof. Fitzpatrick on VSM, otherwise he won't see it here: www.virtualsheetmusic.com/experts/william/left-hand-setup/

[@bjwmorgan]

interesting... personally i would say, to quote a quote, "Theres a time and place for everything", the only rule is "There are no rules" ounce again, thanks for the interesting perspective.