"Before you practise, do some real work -
Find a book that's a comfortable thickness for your head and neck. Lie on the ground with your knees up. You can lie here for up to 15 minutes if you want. To get up, roll over and stretch out. Stretch again. Rock from side to side.
As you do your shoulder rolls, keep your trunk and head steady. Shoulder rolls in the other direction.
Swing the arms. Swing each arm in turn back as far as possible.
Draw a figure of eight in the air. Track your finger with your eyes only. Your head needs to be quite still.
A puppet string's attached to the tip of your 2nd finger. It pulls your arm up into the stretch position. Open out the hand. Do it with your left hand too, trunk and head still.
Some hot potatoes, and you're ready to play."
The Alexander Technique has influenced this warm-up routine.
The book used for a headrest should be of an appropriate thickness to support the head without strain. Lying comfortably on the floor allows gravity to take your body back to a resting state. Avoid neck strain by rolling over when you want to get up.
When we rock from side to side, we transfer our weight from one foot to the other. This sideways rocking action will cause each heel to lift in turn.
When you do shoulder rolls and arm swings, keep your trunk and head steady. For single-arm swings, swing your arm diagonally across the front of your body.
Fixing your gaze can cause tightening in the body. This figure-of-eight exercise is an Educational Kinesiology exercise and develops independence of your eye movements.
The arm stretch balances the tendency in violin playing to collapse inwards and forwards. Lead this action with the 2nd finger, and open the hand wide....