Left Hand

Articles and videos to help improve all aspects of left-hand technique, from mastering fast passages with evenness and clarity, to building finer strength and flexibility, and achieving confident chords and double stops.

Latest Left Hand

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How Bach enhances right-hand dexterity: Violinist Rebeca Nuez Suarez

2023-02-23T09:49:00+00:00

Rebeca Nuez Suarez discusses the contribution the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach can make to gaining dexterity and strength in the right hand

bow hold

9 ways to develop a flexible bow hold

2023-02-16T09:49:00+00:00

Advice for string players on avoiding tension in the bow hand and wrist from The Strad's archive

Flexibility

Flexibility

6 ways to improve left-hand flexibility

2023-02-24T09:04:00+00:00

Tips from The Strad’s archive on increasing suppleness of movement and reducing tension

Strength

Trilling

How to develop left-hand finger strength

2022-08-20T23:00:00+01:00

Up and down movement is the basis of left-hand technique and many pedagogues have invented fiendish exercises to improve it. Rok Klopčič takes a look at some of them

Warming up

Paul Neubauer - Tristan+Cook+credit

Slow practice should be used only when needed as a learning tool

2022-08-19T10:20:00+01:00By Paul Neubauer

Are you wasting your time? As musicians we should be doing more to question the standard warm-up and practice regimes, writes violist Paul Neubauer

Fast Passages

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‘Begin with some finger push-ups’ - Technique: Left-hand finger independence

2022-08-19T09:47:00+01:00

How to build strength and flexibility for a truly agile left hand with Adriana LaRosa Ransom, professor of cello and string project director at Illinois State University, US

Trills

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Trills and embellishments: exercises from Wilhelmj and Brown’s A Modern School for Violin

2021-10-05T15:00:00+01:00

Violist Misha Galaganov recommends exercises from August Wilhelmj and James Brown’s out-of-print A Modern School for Violin,  to accompany his Technique  article in the October 2021 issue

Chords and Double Stops

Rebeca_ Nadja Pollack 03

How Bach enhances right-hand dexterity: Violinist Rebeca Nuez Suarez

2023-02-23T09:49:00+00:00

Rebeca Nuez Suarez discusses the contribution the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach can make to gaining dexterity and strength in the right hand

Harmonics

Colourstrings

How harmonics and singing can help to build a sound technique

2023-01-10T12:03:00+00:00

Violin and viola pedagogue Jane Metcalfe discusses using techniques inspired by Kodály and Colourstrings methods