Evan had this problem for a while – starting from Perpetual Motion, his tone is tight and the flow is not smooth anymore.
I can tell something was wrong – and I found a problem with his violin hand. His thumb is always very tight, which indicates that his hand is very tight.
When you have a tight hand, you cannot move. Pure and simple.
I started to find possible solutions – Bandage and duct tape for the thumb, cheerio or playdoh in between the violin and thumb, nothing works.
Evan was very frustrated, so was I.
Finally, I get rid of duct tape, removed the playdoh. I use my hand to feel his thumb and told him to relax when I feel it tighten up.
He liked it.
And it works! I think after I told him several times to relax when I feel the thumb tighten up, he realized the feeling I am trying to tell him.
It helps a lot that I am still trying my best to catch up. If not because I can play a little, I cannot think of this method or tell which demand is reasonable.
Learning an instrument is a long journey. But my thought changed a lot. It is a process to learn how to learn, not just a process to learn an instrument.
Me and Evan are in this together and I enjoy the journey. I understand him much more in these 6 months.