How to Practice Shifting to Third Position
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Are you ready to get out of the beginner stages of playing the violin and move into more intermediate playing? You have to know third position in order to do so. Staying in first position just keeps you at that beginner level but if you allow yourself to move out and explore and learn new positions, it’ll be a lot easier to be expressive and move into more intermediate to advanced music. In this post, discover tips for shifting to 3rd position.
Know where 3rd position lives on the violin
Before shifting to third, you have to understand where 3rd position lives on the violin. This is really important because it’s going to be very difficult to shift to a specific position if you don’t know exactly where it lives.
Just shifting and guessing is going to have you land incorrectly most of the time; however, if you know physically where the position is that you’re shifting to, you’ll most likely shift more in tune.
Third position lives where your third finger lives in first position but we replace it with the one. A great way to understand where third position is, is to play your one on all strings so we have GC, DG, AD, and EA
Take your hand away from the violin and bring it back landing exactly in third position. You can use the violin shoulder as a guide here to help you know okay yeah that’s where third position is but you don’t leave your wrist or your hand or your palm touching the shoulder of the violin when you play in third.
3rd position posture
You do allow a bit of a space because if we play this way it’s like playing with a crutch and we need those fingers to work independently. We also need the space to vibrate and if you’re stuck up against the shoulder it’s really going to be limiting especially since you need to eventually work up even higher on the instrument.
So if you’re in third position, you’re playing against the shoulder and all of a sudden you need to shift higher it’s going to be harder so we want to already prepare for shifting up higher when we’re in third position.
So I know that this post is about shifting to third but I want to set you up for success in the in the long run and that way to make sure your hand is set up properly in third position as you learn third position.
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Once you feel like you know exactly where third position lives, it’s gonna be a lot easier to shift to it. As you saw when I played in third position just the ones, I kept my palm facing the fingerboard.
The biggest mistake I see violinists make in first position and in third position is that their Palm is facing out this way. The first finger is coming down incorrectly and the hand is hitting the neck of the violin which makes it super difficult to shift to vibrate and just to play in general a lot of tension there.
So even when you play in third position, allow yourself to keep your arm aligned. Watch the wrist isn’t pooching out, the first finger is nice on its tip, and like I mentioned before you do have a space between your hand and the shoulder of the violin, keeping the Palm facing the fingerboard. So basically how we play in first, when we shift up into third not much of a change going on here just a change of angle here between the bicep and the forearm.
Okay so when you’re playing up in third just getting those ones, take note of where the thumb lives because when we shift from first to third, your thumb needs to come along with the hand. It’s not that the fingers go, then the thumb or the thumb goes and the fingers. They work all as a unit and as a team to move up.
Different types of shifts
So there’s different types of shifts. There’s same finger shifts and different finger shifts and since this may most likely be your first time shifting outside of First Position, it’s good to understand that there are different shifts.
Same finger shifts mean that we shift on the same finger from first to third. Different Finger shifts mean we’re shifting from one finger to a different finger and with a different finger shift there are actually Different, Different Finger shifts. So we’re shifting from a lower finger to a higher finger as we shift up or we’re shifting from a higher finger to a lower finger as we shift up.
Then we think about shifting down. So many times when violinists learn shifting, it’s like okay we’ve got to shift up but then there’s complete neglect to the process of actually shifting down. So if you think about not only are you shifting to third position, we need to be shifting out of third position. That will help you be more advanced in your shifting studies to really think about okay I’m going to start here in third and shift down.
Setting your left hand up for success
If you have tension or your left hand is tight, it’s going to be like friction and will make it really difficult to shift up. If you think you may have some tension in your left hand, then check out my post, How to relieve left-hand tension.
Also before even going into the shifting exercises check out my post on shifting prep exercises.
Shifting Exercises to third position
The first shifting exercise is with the second finger. The reason why is because if we shift on our second finger you will most likely keep your hand facing the fingerboard.
So if we take our second finger in first position on the D string, which is F sharp, we’re going to stay with high two for now and shift up to a second finger and third position on the D string. That’s so you’ll be able to hear with your open A if you’re in tune as you’re shifting up. Keep in mind as you’re shifting, you need to have a relaxed left hand without any tension.
So High two on the D string for F sharp, we’re playing a same finger shift to the second finger in third position for A.
Okay so you can play this with your open A and you can hear when it totally locks in and you’re set up really nicely on the second finger and third position.
Smaller muscle groups
Relaxed thumb! Feel it polish the neck without gripping. Have your finger lightly polish the string while travelling from first to third.
As you’re shifting watch that your knuckle doesn’t go over the tip of the finger. Keep the finger nice and angled. Feel that you are shifting on the inside corner.
Practice on every string.
Practice shifting down
Start in third position and practice same finger shifts going back to first.
Be sure the thumb, the finger, the hand moves together. This is why the thumb needs to be really nice and relaxed just kind of like polishing the neck and also the finger.
Practice on every single string, just this second finger first and then I’d go into the third finger. So you can hear or third finger in first position and then our third finger in third position is going to be our first finger in first position. So I know I said that pretty quick but uh our third finger in third is our first finger in first. Now when you’re doing these exercises, if you’re not working with a book or seeing the notes on the page it’s super, super important that you visualize the notes on the staff to help you make the association of this new finger on that note.
So for this example we’re talking about B, the note B and the note B in first position is played with first finger but in third position is played with three. So if up until this point you’ve been only thinking numbers it’s gonna be super super difficult to learn a new position. You really kind of need to back up and start really associating to the pitch names A B C D E F G or Do, re, mi fa, sol, la, ti or si do depending on where you live in the world and understand that that pitch can be played with different fingers. So when you’re doing these shifting exercises if you’re doing them without notes on the page, do be sure to visualize the notes on the staff as you play it. So let’s return to this exercise, third finger same finger shift.
I’m gonna go from D G B and so D G B. [Music] Now when you shift up this third finger needs to be on its inside corner. Again not that it’s like this. Okay really important it’s on inside corner and as it’s cruising on up [Music] it stays on the inside corner. That’s super, super important. Okay so since this may be a new note for you, you can even take your left hand away, come land in third. Feel solid that you’re in third and then just check and play that note again. Okay so that’s also a good test to know that you truly know where that note is before you shift to it because if you don’t know where the note lives and you’re just shifting away 99.9 percent of the time you’ll be inaccurate. So this is a great formula for you to get started and to practice your same finger shifts in third position going from first to Third and then be sure to practice from third back down into first. I demonstrated the second and third finger but I’d like you to go ahead and do the fourth and the first finger. If you’re needing help with the notes on the page and the names of the notes I would really, really truly suggest taking a peek at my Learn Third Position online course where I walk you through super detailed exercises of learning third position and becoming fluent in Reading third position, how to incorporate third position in your daily practice sessions and with what materials with scales, arpeggios, etudes and all original exercises and compositions written by myself and learn third position online. I’ll leave a link here in the description below and also on the end screen of this video, in the lower right hand corner you can click to enroll in the course. Have fun practicing your third position. Ciao.
Happy Magical Practices,
Heather is a classically trained concert violinist residing in Bulgaria. She received her BM violin performance degree from CU-Boulder, studied with top teachers including Rachel Barton Pine. Heather has held leadership positions with multiple orchestras in the Greater Chicago-Milwaukee area. She has instructed millions of violinists globally via Youtube videos, online academies, group coaching and one on one sessions. Heather’s students have won multiple awards, concerto competitions, held concertmaster positions in orchestras and even performed in Carnegie Hall. Heather is an advocate of a holistic violin lifestyle – putting one’s mind, body and spirit as a violin journey priority.
Please share in the comments which above tips you will be implementing into your daily practices sessions.
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