Your Left Hand’s Dance Partner

You all must remember the Fred Astaire film in which he dances with a coat rack. It’s iconic in dance movie history. I just can’t recall the name of the picture.

The point is, though, if you remember that dance you will recall not only how wonderfully he danced, but how beautifully he made the coat rack move. It was an inspired piece of work.

That’s the kind of ‘repoire’ you want develop with your fingerboard. You want it feeling Alive in your hand.

Another way I’ve expressed it, in the past, is to think of messaging the fingerboard. You know, don’t just whack at it with your fingers, get sensuous with it.

Now, if your shoulder and chin have a choke-hold on the fiddle this aint a goin’ to happen any time soon.

Two emails ago I wrote about a little training exercise to help dissipate some of that – what in police lingo is known as – ‘excessive force.’ I’ve gotten a few queries on the subject so let me be a little more specific about how it’s done.

First, don’t feel compelled to throw away your shoulder rest just yet. There are plenty of wonderful fiddlers that use them, and you may be one of them. I, myself feel hemmed in by them, so no matter how much sense they make orthopedically, I aint buyin’.

Besides, I do the shoulder and neck exercises I just sent out to all you customers – trust you have received them by now. They take care of potential aches and pains just fine.

Second, to discover just how much force you grip with, and, more importantly, WHEN you use it, adjust your stand so the scroll of your violin can rest on it, parallel to the floor. If the violin bangs up and down when you play, particularly when you shift, you’re exposing an unconscious muscle reflex that needs chillin’. Don’t forget to belly breathe when you’re doing this. It’ll make you relax, pronto.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. If ‘belly breathing’ is not yet part of your playing m.o., I suggest you hop over a pick up a copy of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1 and find out how it’s going to transform your playing.