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(1 votes) 
I need to know if pushing my left elbow to the right is like "touching the floor" exercises. The more you do past your ideal location, the more your muscles relax and limber up.
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Muscles yes, joints probably not.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
So if the joint is the problem, then logically it would be better if the joint were in a different location and to do that one would simply break their collarbone and reset it to a better angle....people just amaze me.
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Another way to accommodate that additional reach required would be to move the neck of the violin more towards the left, allowing an easier reach under. Play it to the side more instead of in the front of yourself.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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It's all a compromise. Move it too much one way and you get one problem, too much the other way and you have a different problem. LOL
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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And how do you practice the 'right' posture if I might ask?
Do you record yourself a lot?
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Practice in front of a mirror. Practice playing different notes in different positions. Watch some of the fiddlerman videos to see where his elbow is. But yes, as you get used to it, your elbow will be more comfortable going in that direction.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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One way I found ( plus from FM's vids ) to "be aware of the left elbow position" was/is to keep an eye on the actual fingering.
What I find (and it may be just for me) is - if my fingers ( on the G, for instance ) aren't completely curved, into - oh I don't best know how to describe it - an "open-O" shape when the finger-tip is on the string - and NOT a "kind of "flattened, outstretched finger, struggling to reach" - then I learned (and still have to be conscious of this until it becomes automatic) to swing my left elbow to the right, inwards towards the body - and it is not a HUGE movement by any means - returning what would have been a horrid "flat fingered stretch" to a nice, pointed, finger-tip drop to the string.
It still does not "feel natural" to me - but it is starting to become "automatic" - sometimes I now find my left elbow move un-bidded as I move between lower and higher strings - sometimes it is un-necessary (depends which fingers are in use! ) but for sure as I move to fingers 3 and 4/pinky on-string I definitely find that swinging the elbow, even slightly, to ease, and indeed improve the fingering and get that "open-O shape", starts to make things a whole lot easier for me.
No idea if this is normal or not - works for me with shortish, stubby fingers ! LOL
Bill
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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