How much muscle power should you use when playing the violin?

When you play the violin you really need to use your fine motoric skills and practice using your muscles very precise. Some people think that you have to become very strong to play the violin, but in fact you need to learn how to control your muscles with your mind more than you have to train the muscles to become stronger. Of course, you do need strong fingers, but making music is not a sport. If you are playing for five hours a day for example, it shouldn’t cost you that much muscle power that you can only last an hour. You should get great results with little effort. Mostly the solution is doing less instead of doing more, particularly with adults who tend to cramp up. Your arm should be very relaxed and the muscle power you use to move your fingers should be very efficient.

To summarize all the workshops, I’ve attended about playing without pain: To play without pain you should have no tension and apply no pressure, but you should play with relaxation and use weight. This applies to all parts of your body while playing!

Is this video useful to you? Please let me know in the comments!

Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions for me on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below!