Hikerchic mentioned the left hand death grip on the violin. I also have a problem with that. My wrist starts getting really sore after a while. Anyone have any tricks that have helped them loosen their grip on the neck? I’m not using a shoulder rest at the moment but plan to get one. Not sure if that might be part of the problem.
To sort of answer my question. My kids told me i was “squishing the hamster”. Their orchestra teacher told them to visualize holding a hamster in your left hand and not to squish the hamster while youre playing. So surprisingly that has been helping me with my left hand grip. Hope that helps.
Oh that’s so comical…”squishing the hamster” ?
That helpful thought will be stuck in my head when I’m playing.
I feel like we should make up a fiddle jig called, Don’t Squish That Hamster!
Thanks for the great tip. ?