SUMMARY: If you’re having trouble relaxing your left thumb while playing violin, it might just be responding to tension somewhere else in your hand or arm.
Every good violin teacher encourages their students to keep a relaxed left thumb, which gently counter-balances the action of the fingers. And every good violin student takes this to heart, trying to keep it relaxed. But what if it won’t give up its grip? What if it takes all of your attention to get it to relax ... but as soon as you focus elsewhere it clamps down again? The answer might lie in the other part of your hand: your fingers.
The Usual Approach
Ivan Galamian (1903-1981) was the revered teacher of great solists such as Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, and great quartet players like Donald Weilerstein and Arnold Steinhardt. He also taught many of the greatest current and recent performer-teachers, including the late Dorothy DeLay along with my own teachers, Charles Castleman and Gregory Fulkerson. His influence on modern violin technique is impossible to overstate. And he wrote in his authoritative book Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching:
“The thumb needs very special attention. It is the member of the hand which is most often responsible for excessive pressure and for the clutching of the neck of the instrument. This constriction is one of the most common and most serous of faults. Clutching contributes more than anything else to the paralyzing of the functioning of the left hand.”
That last sentence summarizes the main problem that so many developing violinists face in their left hands. Thumb tension can interfere with vibrato, intonation, shifting, double stops, speed ... literally everything you do with your left hand on the violin.
For many violinists, simply giving “very special attention” to their thumb is enough. If the origin of the tension is in their thumb, and it hasn’t spread, they learn how to keep it supple, gently counterbalancing the fingers. And then they move on to other matters.
But some violinists need to broaden their search in the quest to loosen up their thumb.
Maybe Your Thumb’s Not to Blame
Tension has a way of spreading. It can spread through our muscles and connective tissues. It can also spread as one muscle seeks to counterbalance another muscle. This means that tension doesn’t necessarily originate in the place where you notice it. Or in other words, it might not be your thumb’s fault.
Here’s Where to Look
The first place to look is on the other side of the violin neck: your fingers. We call it an “opposable” thumb for a reason. It’s built to “oppose” your fingers. So excess pressure in your fingers might be triggering your thumb to do what it does: counterbalance that excess finger pressure.
Are you using more finger pressure than necessary? (More on this topic here)
Are you squeezing the pinky side of your hand, in an effort to force it to stay close to the neck?
Are you squeezing the pinky side of your hand as a substitute for actual finger strength or accuracy?
Or maybe the issue is widespread throughout your left hand.
Is your whole hand on tension lockdown, in an effort to control your motions?
Or perhaps tension is an entrenched, layered habit.
Have you been squeezing your thumb for so long that your fingers are now in the habit of squeezing back, in turn encouraging your thumb to squeeze even more ... creating a tension feedback loop?
Or maybe the tension is centered in your palm. The bones (and tendons) of your fingers and thumb connect directly through your palm into your wrist. So it can help to think of them extending all the way down to your wrist.
Is tension in the finger part of your palm leading to tension in the thumb part of your palm?
OK, so his violin technique has room for improvement … but you can see how the line of his fingers continues through what would be his palm and into his wrist.
But it might be coming from your forearm, where the muscles that move your fingers are located.
Is your forearm tight?
Can you relax part or all of your forearm and still play just as well? (Or likely, better)
Are you prone to pain or tendinitis in your elbow?
If you’re rooting out more subtle tension in your thumb, you might find that tension from farther away is keeping you from completely loosening your grip.
Is tension in your upper arm, shoulders, or torso preventing you from letting go in your thumb?
Peeling Back Layers of Tension
One final thing to keep in mind. If you find some other tension that’s contributing to your squeeze-happy thumb, it’s very possible that your progress will come in rounds or layers. Relaxing the other tension will allow you to relax your thumb more, which in turn will allow you to relax the other tension even more, which in turn will make it possible to release your thumb even more ... and on and on until you have a happy, well-adjusted thumb.
Here’s a post that goes more in-depth on tension in violin playing.
This post dives deeper into finger pressure.
Ivan Galamian’s book, Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching (in print, lowest price: SharMusic; but also available in print and digital formats at Amazon)
Do you have a burning question about violin technique, repertoire, or gear? Send me a note, and I might make it the subject of a future post.
I’m a violinist and private teacher in the Chicago area, and in a previous musical life I was in a professional string quartet. Teaching violin and chamber music are dear to my heart. Send me a note or leave a comment on a post — I’d love to hear from you.
