Beginner with double joints

[fcleff]

I have a 6th grade beginning student with double jointed thumbs on both hands. Sometimes, when he bows, his thumb (the joint near the carpal bone) pops 'in' toward the stick of the bow. It also causes him some pain, but only occasionally. I have never had a student with this phenomena. It really causes him some grief with regards to his bow hold. Any suggestions?

[reedo35]

is he playing french or German?

[Don Higdon]

Sounds like French. German would be easier.

[fcleff]

Yes, he plays french. I'll switch him to german and see how that goes. Thanks. Any other input is welcome. :Cool:

[ToR-Tu-Ra]

Funny... My left thumb is double jointed and it's never been a problem, I got good control over it, it doesn't bend the "wrong" side if I don't want it to. But I can imagine it being a real nightmare if you have no control over it bending the other way.

It's a cool thing to show off while getting drunk with others, at parties and the like

[LaurenBell]

I had a similar problem. The only way I could conquer it was by slowly building up the muscle in my fingers so that finally I could control what was going on. It just takes lots of slow practice. Scales of course are always good, and I still play french bow. It's not really necessary to switch if it's working for the student. It just takes time.

[Kam]

I've been told that double jointed musicians are more prone to repetetive stress injuries due to the fact that they have to work harder to keep the joint in position which can create tension...

My teacher once told me a story of how when he was at Eastman, some group was doing a study to determine if double jointed musicians played better! I think the results were negligible..

[fcleff]

Based on the fact that his thumb hurts sometime (even when he is not playing) and the position the thumb needs to be in to play german, I am still going to switch him. In my experience, most students know pretty quickly if it is for them or not.

I bet he could slap like crazy.