Violin Forum/Message Board

Jack Rushing · Member Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 170

What do violinist do about the buildup of calluses on their fingers?
Is this a case of More and Harder is better, or is there a happy medium
you reach before starting to treat them. I have been playing about a year
and a half now, and mine are getting pretty thick, and sometimes feel
uncomfortable. Please give us your thoughts on this. Thanks

Gizmo · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject: Fingers

There are several references in the literature pointing out that light finger pressure is the preferred approach. I think MASTER CLASS has an online blurb on the subject.

You can imagine the difficulty of fast passages if each finger had to be "planted".
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Maggini · Senior Member Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Texas

I play VERY often. I play in two orchestras, my family trio, and every Sunday morning in my church orchestra. I also demonstrate for my students all day long at school. My callouses "recycle" themselves. I don't treat them. About every two months, the outer layer will be come loose and begin to peel. I file them smooth (very lightly) with an old emery board. When I was younger, I used to peel them off, but one time I pulled it into the live skin. That was painful for quite some time. It was during the time that I was auditioning for several orchestras, and I had to play through it. I'd advise against peeling the "dead" skin away...

This works for me, but I don't know if it's the answer for everyone.
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Amalia · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 129

I like having callouses, because I can then practice for longer periods of time without sore fingers. I do file them smooth (not off) as needed, mostly to prevent a groove or edge to the callous that can catch on the strings and totally mess up my playing.

John Cadd · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject: callouses

Ricci recommends callouses for left hand pizzicato.If you get thicker skin where the hand rubs on the neck I use a diamond nailfile to rub it away.Skin returns to a flexible state and no soreness at all.Very safe .Don`t leave this too long.

John Cadd · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:44 pm Post subject: callouses

Ricci recommends callouses for left hand pizzicato.If you get thicker skin where the hand rubs on the neck I use a diamond nailfile to rub it away.Skin returns to a flexible state and no soreness at all.Very safe .Don`t leave this too long.