hi, im playing Saint-Saens cello concerto no. 1 in A minor...and whenever i get to this certain part my third finger is double jointed and locks up and then when i shift again i cant play unless i kind of shake it out....ahk its so frustrating, not to mention impossible to play at a fast tempo.

for anyone who has this piece its measures 12-13. After shifting from the high c to the b, then the BAG#ABAG# and then im shifting down to G natural second finger. the problem is when i try to go G second finger to E fourth finger, my locked up third finger gets in the way and i cant play 4th finger.

any practice techniques to get rid of this problem/positioning of the left hand that might help? has this happened to anyone else before?

thank you,

kellie

You make it sound like your playing several notes at the same time and criss-crossing your fingers? Well what ever you are doing, take the music slower at first. The only time my hands (mainly the muscle in between my thumb and my index finger) hurt when I play is when I press down on the strings hard and usually play fast. Usually playing slower music before hand helps.

Hi, I too am a double jointed cellist.
Unfortunately I`ve found that the only way to get over that problem is to do a lot of finger strengthening exercises, for instance, putting an elastic band round all your fingers and then pushing it apart. Can be done easily.
Then I think it`s a case of just practicing that passage slowly until it works.
Dan

You should do finger strengthening excercises and work on making sure your third finger is nice and round. Usually fingers tend to lock up when there is a great deal of tension and the finger plays straight. I played this piece for my college auditions, so i know exactly what you are talking about, but i really feel that your problem has nothing to do with this piece in general, its all about the strength of the finer. set your hand up on the d string in 4th position and play 1213 with your left hand..sart as quarter notes then subdivide them to go faster and make sure that your 3rd finger is curved and not straight and see if that helps. Good Luck!