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Help for small hands

 
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 819
Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:15 am    Post subject: Help for small hands Reply with quote

If you have any pupils with small hands you may like to try this way to good intonation. I have been learning the guitar and found the neck has no real landmarks as a violin does.The curve at each end of the violin neck is a guide to place your thumb. On a guitar this is not the case. To help myself I stuck a small clear plastic buffer (about 1/4 inch wide) to let me know where first position was.
Then I looked closely at my hand on the violin neck. In first position I have always felt too much stretch for my fourth finger.Using the guitar method I worked backwards from the fourth finger and settled the most comfortable position for that first.Making sure the hand felt just right and in tune I marked the neck with a pencil where my thumb had been placed. Amazingly there was almost an inch gap between the mark and the curve at the bottom of the neck .
This seems an obvious thing to notice but these problems go right back to childhood when I was ten years old.Things like that get buried and taken for granted. The cure for all the stretching comes down to a small plastic door buffer. That is it`s official name but it stops doors and drawers from banging when they close.
My whole life ,struggling for want of a plastic bump that cost pennies! Teachers may like to try this.
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miamia
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Joined: 24 Aug 2009
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What do you mean "the curve at each end of the violin neck?" Could you clarify? I'd love to know any trick for small hands.

In first position...
I thought normally you place your thumb on the opposite side of where your first finger is on the neck (B on A string). With smaller hands you would adjust where your thumb is. For example, I place mine a whole step away, on the opposite side of where the second finger goes (C# on A string). Though, even with stretched out hands from years of piano, I still have a hard time with the forth finger (E on A string).
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
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Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

miamia This is strange .I tried to describe this before somewhere and that was the first question that came up.It`s like deja vu all over again.
I was never told to put my thumb in any particular place and if I was to hold it "in a position" (as it were) I think it would cause some unnecessary tension.In fact the whole subject never really came into my head. I just assumed that the thumb should settle where the end of the neck was without giving it any attention.
You seem to have been told to put your thumb opposite your second finger.Does that mean you try to keep the hand still with your thumb opposite 2nd and THEN stretch your fourth?
It`s hard to follow the exact method you are using.That`s not to criticise you but to picture the sequence .
Let me get you to try two other things first.Play E in tune on the A string first. Then play B in tune without making the thumb do anything.Start the "positioning "with fourth finger to begin with.
Now hold the fourth still and feel where the thumb wants to be in it`s most comfortable state.Forget the official position idea for now.
If you can mark the neck with a pencil or tab of sticky tape ,see where that lands on the neck.That is where I would put the little plastic buffer.You may prefer to try something less grippy at first as they cling on like limpets.Think twice if it`s a Strad.
You could tape a small button.It`s amazing how the fingers and thumbs will sense the smallest thing.Brown parcel tape is easy to clean off.
The second thing to try is get a guitar and see how difficult it is to find the lowest fret position.( without continually looking ,I mean). Find the first fret "thumb " position The back of the neck has no landmarks to guide the thumb at all. In that situation fourth fret seems a long way up the neck.
So----Start with 4th finger on 4th fret and work back.With thumb "comfortable " stick a "marker" behind your thumb.This may need a lean back for the semitone (first fret) but will not tense up the hand.
The hand needs to become more mobile when you play a guitar.
I hope there is not an under current of oposition to anything connected with guitars.Paganini played one very well.
The fact of having a fixed point of reference on the neck will make you more accurate and also more confident.A looser stretch will not destabilise your "co-ordinates.
Ruggiero Ricci describes complicated position alterations but recommends always leaving one finger "at home" to get him back to a set position again.It doesn`t have to be the same finger every time though.That`s the best way to look at it.
On a guitar I learned to think of a stretch as ---not between first and fourth but between thumb and fourth. Try that.
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 819
Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is a u tube of a tiny Korean girl playing a guitar .That will show you what is humanly possible.I think she was 6 yrs old.The guitar is as big as she is. If you see it don`t cry!
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kel
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Joined: 20 Oct 2008
Posts: 73
Location: Asia

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaHaRUPfKok
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 819
Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kel Yes that`s the one I saw yesterday.There was another film with the same girl (I think) but she looked about 2 years younger in that and was doing all the smiles and personality bit as well. I solved the problem recently as I have been practising with a skeleton violin that I made .It`s strings are nearly 3 inches shorter so I could reach some Paganini chords.Bach Sonatas suddenly became possible.If you have short fingers,nature compensates by making sure they are thick and stubby as well.But I`m not bitter.
Of course if you have short stubby digits you also find the wrist doesn`t want to bend as far as you need to get over the curve of the violin.That accounts for the large cutaway in my skeleton fiddle.
I see some ladies with long fingers ,very bendy wrists and they have their thumbs drifting around the neck.I can`t imagine how they stay in tune.They play like people on a diet eating a chocolate biscuit.Only fingertips and teeth making contact.They`ll STILL put on weight.
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 819
Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been using this "buffer " method only a few days and realise that I am more in danger of playing sharp on the G string with fourth finger. So it really works. Try not to impose a square on position with your left hand .If your hand is small you probably find your arms are also a bit short.If you keep a straight line between elbow and knuckles the fingers will be at a tilted angle to the string. Nothing wrong with that. Playing on the pads helps to make a nice tone.
Keep a straight relaxed thumb.Don`t feel as if you have to crane your neck around to see if your fingers are still attached.
The G string is more easy to reach when your chin drops slightly this will tilt the violin to the right.
If you raise your head and turn a bit to the left the violin will come up to a more level angle which will suit bowing on the E string.
You can use that in a few years when you play the Tchaikovsky.
Head down helps left hand G string---Head left helps right hand bowing.
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