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Honorary tenured advisor
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All this did was make me feel pathetic for even complaining at all about my playing and how my hands are.... LOL!
I'm really kidding. I cannot compare myself to these incredible musicians. Their 30+ years to my 1 year, 9 months... It's simply an unrealistic comparison.
My hands are actually average and well suited to play violin. My challenge is not the size, but rather my dexterity that I have to work on, which actually is good news because dexterity is something I can improve. Physical size is not quite as easy to change.
- Pete -

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Indeed Jim, or have other issues regarding their hands. I've slim fingers, even in 4th position I got some wiggle room between semitones. Which is great I suppose. The problem is that my hands are so small that I have a hard time hitting anything higher than 6th position. No way that I would be able to play in 11th position.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

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Gordon Shumway said
Perlman has big hands though - note how he doesn't need to move his thumb, whereas I have to take mine away from the neck completely and move it around the rib by the E string to get a high F/F#, which makes me afraid I'll drop the violin.
At this point, you may need to swing your elbow much farther to the right so that your entire hand is above the upper bout. If you do that, you should be able to reach at least 9th (most likely 11th) position with your thumb still in contact with the saddle. It may take a bit of time to train the flexibility to do it; don't rush it.
My fingers are probably shorter than yours -- I've literally never met any adult with shorter fingers than mine, including people as short as 4'8". I barely reach an octave on a piano. My thumb still stays in contact with the saddle all the way up to 9th position on a viola. My thumb is not under the neck at that point, but it also isn't all the way out on the rib. Note: when you're in that position, you may have more difficulty using the 4th finger, especially if you have a short pinky. I tend to avoid 4th finger in 5th position and beyond; I either shift or extend my 3rd finger when I can.
I actually have terrible hands for any string instrument. My fingers are both wide (on violin I start having to move my fingers out of the way to play semitones in 2nd position) and extremely short.

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Mt teacher had me slightly moving my fingers to the aside as a way to not hit strings I don't want to hit. It seems to help for people who feel they have larger fingers.
Perlman is a real source of inspiration to men that they can play both well and fast.He admitted in the video that it was a bit easier for someone with smaller fingers to play some of those higher positions. He never let it stop him.
I went through a phase where I was trying to convince my teacher it was my fingers.
She never bought it lol.

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starise said
Mt teacher had me slightly moving my fingers to the aside as a way to not hit strings I don't want to hit. It seems to help for people who feel they have larger fingers.
@starise
This plagues me constantly... not the size of my fingers, but hitting other strings. It has gotten better, but I still have to deal with it. Mostly when I am reading instead of watching my fingers. I play a lot more cleanly if I look at my fingers, but I am trying to quit that habit.
Which direction do you move your fingers that is helping you avoid hitting strings?
- Pete -

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Hi Pete,
More often I'm using 4th positions as a way to occasionally avoid hitting side strings in string crossings. It is a fine art that I haven't yet mastered. The concept is simply putting sideways pressure on a string when two fingers are down. Even just a few mm shift to the side can help.I'm generally moving away from the E string since this is the one that gets me a lot. Moving them too far can bend the tone and do other things so we are talking very minute moves.
Sometimes it feels like cheating the system, but I do whatever works so long as I don't break any laws. BFF- Big fingered Folk? do whatever is necessary. My hands aren't especially big for a man but they are big for a woman whatever that means. Now a large handed woman will comment....I can't win. Ok - the most common women's hands are dainty in comparison to us would you not agree?
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