Playing the violin requires not only a passion for music but also physical discipline. Building correct and healthy habits maintains long-term performance quality and prevents injury. In this article, you will learn how to make your playing easier with less body strain and risk of injuries.
Top 10 Mistakes that Violinists Make
To build correct habits you first need to understand what you’re doing wrong. Let’s review the most common mistakes that violinists make when playing.
1. Holding the Violin too Low
This mistake is typical for many beginners and even students of top conservatories. Ideally, you should keep the scroll at eye-level. Once it starts to droop, your instrument moves the bow out of position. And once you lift it up, you benefit from the gravity with easy drifting the bow back and towards. The position of your instrument makes a huge difference in terms of projection and tone quality.
2. Incorrect Shoulder Placement
Many violinists put their instrument on the shoulder, while the correct position is at the 45 degree angle between your shoulder and your chest. This prevents you from overextending your right arm and makes playing easier. Once again, it’s connected with gravity and making it work in your favour.
3. Tension in the Left Shoulder
This happens when the musician grips the instrument too hard, making one shoulder higher than the other. Fortunately, it’s easy to fix once you understand what you’re looking for.
4. Playing with Closed Eyes
Having seen it in many films and anime, you may think it’s correct and helps players focus on music; however, great violinists of all time never close their eyes. They either look at their left hand or their bow. When you keep your eyes open, you see what you do, so it helps you with intonation, bow placement, and mental focus.
5. Not Practicing for the Intended Result
For instance, when you need to refine your solos, you should definitely practice in a standing position, while when working on orchestral pieces or chamber music, you should sit down. Keeping your intended environment in mind during practice sessions helps train the same muscles that you will use during performance.
6. Too Shallow Bow Grip
Incorrect bow holding always results in shallow sound. It means you can’t hold your bow just with your fingertips — you need a deeper grip. Also, ensure you don’t keep your fingers too far apart.
7. Raised Right Shoulder
Every time you practice, pay attention whether your right shoulder is lowered. You should pull the bow downward instead of trying to play over the top of the strings. It’s especially significant when you play on the low strings. Pulling down on the strings makes your sound fuller and the process easier.
8. Locked Elbow
Your elbow should be in a position allowing you to make a full smooth bow without any windscreen wiper effect.
9. Left Hand Tension
Try not to pull back your fingers into the palm to prevent unnecessary tension that affects your intonation. Keep them in a way to make it easier for them to travel further to reach the next note. Don’t press them too much too, as it may also affect vibrato. To reduce tension, hold your violin in a relaxed way keeping your left hand straight without bending the wrist. The relaxed left-hand position allows your fingers to reach the next note easily.
10. Not Being Intentional Enough About What You Do
When you practice you should be focused on each action that you make. Otherwise, you start to build bad habits and they develop deeply in your muscle memory making them much harder to avoid in future.
Tips on Breaking Bad Violinist Habits
Here are key principles violinists should follow to prevent strain and injuries:
- Warm-Up: Do some stretches for your neck, arms, shoulders,and wrists. Start your practice sessions with playing slow scales or bowing exercises to warm up your muscles.
- Posture: Keep your back straight and relaxed. Your shoulders should be down and your neck should stay free of tension. Avoid gripping the violin tightly with the jaw.
- Keep the Balance: Avoid overplaying! Remember that long, uninterrupted sessions lead to fatigue and poor technique. Break your sessions into segments that last 25–40 minutes, combined with short rests in between. This will help you stay focused during the process. This is especially useful when you work on complex pieces. Focused segments help refine bowing technique, finger placement, and scales.
- Breathe: Violinists may sometimes hold their breath when they concentrate on their music. Ensure your breathing is steady and relaxed.
- Work on Your Body: It’s useful for violinists to do core and upper-body exercises to improve posture and reduce the risk of injuries. Try yoga, Pilates, or swimming to improve your physical condition.
- Rest: Finish your sessions before you burn out. Think about rest as a significant part of the process and progress. Sleep, relax, and do non-musical activities to refresh your strength and keep your creativity at a high level.
- Realistic Goals: Always set achievable goals. No matter if you learn a new piece, refine a particular technique, or work on your tone, specific goals help stay motivated and see your progress as you move closer to them. If you deal with larger goals, you can break them down into smaller ones to track your progress.
- Cozy Practice Place: Make sure that the room where you have your practice session is comfortable and quiet. You should not be distracted by noise and loud voices. Your practice place should be well-lit and provide proper ventilation to help you feel comfortable during extended playing sessions. You should also have everything you need at easy reach — rosin, tuner, music stand, bow case and other essentials.
Keep in mind that you should be conscious about what you do and practice your correct technique every day.
Conclusion
Your progress as a violinist depends on your technique, posture and consistency. By building healthy violin playing with a mindful posture, balanced routines, and physical awareness, you can make your practice easier and more rewarding while avoiding body tension and wrist injuries.
Are you nervous each time when you find yourself in front of the audience? Check out our tips on How to Overcome Performance Anxiety.
Feel free to explore a wide range of genuine leather sheet music notebooks and wallets to highlight your personal brand or find gifts for fellow musicians.
Reference:
10 Mistakes Violinists & VIOLISTS make everyday - Fix these BAD HABITS ❌
Rhythm and Routine: Developing Healthy Habits with the Violin
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