Rotation of the left arm, angle of the wrist and placement of the fingers.

Let’s leave the violin aside for a second and let’s work on the rotation of the left arm this is probably the most natural position in violin playing. So we have to approach it very carefully. Relaxing left arm shake it a few times. Now hold the upper arm with your right hand and turn it to the left. So you make sure people rotate all the way from the shoulder. Think of the extra arm length you have in the shoulder blade and the color of a let’s go back and forth to the left and to the right slowly so you feel the rotation of the whole arm as you’re doing this. Check out this straight line your wrist has with the fore arm relaxed position. It should simply continue the direction of the forearm. Remember how it looks now when it’s relaxed because we want to keep the same angle when we leave the arm and when we hold the violin. Now turn the arm again to that stop there and very gradually start lifting your wrist up. That’s bringing to the level of your chin proximately if you can imagine where this should be. Again that’s related down keeping the same rotation and bring it up we are keeping the same position of the wrist as when it’s very relaxed. Now let’s rotate the arm a few times to do it one more time and then we’ll add the violent now. It’s very important to remember the order in which we do this we first rotate the arm then lift the rest up. If you do it in reverse order first most and then rotate. You will end up using only the rotation here in the forearm and that will lead to pain and tons of problems when you start playing on the lower strings or in the higher positions. So I cannot stress enough how important it is to use the rotation of the whole arm and then it. OK so the next step is to bring the violin to the position we already learned hold it with the right hand and take a moment to find the balance of your body. Think of the string that starts in the center of balance goes through these hips the curve of your spine and all the way to the crown of your head keep the shoulders relaxed and bring the violin to your body. Put the shoulder rest on the shoulder press with the right hand feel how securely it sits on the collarbone. Lift your eyes up. Move them to the left. Just as we did before. Look at just crow jaw on the chin rest tuck your chin slightly turn your left arm to the left just as we did before lift you rest up and touch the violin with the base of the index finger and the first knuckle of the thumb. If you do it correctly there will be space between the neck of the violin and you hand. In any case don’t grab it just gently touch and support the violin ever so slightly up. Even a minimal support from your left hand will distribute the weight of the violin more evenly and will prevent your neck from getting tired. OK let’s repeat these steps again. Hold the violin with the right arm. Find the balance of your body. Start in the center of your feet. Your knees are right on top. Move up to the hips and spine the spine supports the hand and the center of your hand is right above the center of balance given the shoulders relaxed. Bring the violin to your body and put the shoulder rest on the shoulder press with the right hand feel the strength of the collarbone lift your eyes up moved into the mat. Look at the escrow and put the jar resting gently on the chin rest talk to chant. Turn your left arm to the left. Lick your wrist and touch the violin with the base of the index finger and the first joint of the thumb. Support the violin ever so slightly up there to distribute the weight of the violin better and will help prevent your neck from over his. Look at a mirror to check the position of the wrist is the same as when you have the wrist relaxed next to your body. It should feel very Moloch’s go through these steps every time you pick the violin up until this sequence becomes very natural even when you advance and become more comfortable with positioning the violin. Come back and revisit this part regularly so you make sure you don’t create bad habits.