Relaxed Wrist in the Bow Arm

A relaxed, or what some call 'flexible', wrist is important for many types of bow strokes on the cello.  A wrist that responds freely to other movements in the arm is vital for,

I mentioned that the wrist responds to other motions in the arm.  Most of the movements in the wrist while playing the cello are of this type referred to as passive motions.  A passive motion is a reaction to an active motion due to a lack of resistance. An active motion, on the other hand, is one that is initiated directly by voluntary effort.  

Exercises for a Relaxed Wrist

The first exercise I like to start with is imitating the forearm détaché without the bow in the hand.  Hold the right elbow up (always with a downward slope to prevent subacromial impingement), slightly pronate the forearm and hand (turn the back of the right hand to the left), do a forearm détaché movement, and allow the wrist to move.  Keep your right shoulder relaxed.  Notice I said allow it to move, not 'move your wrist'.  It's purely passive.  It's a limp rag, a dead hand, a rag doll hand.

Next, hold the right elbow up (again, not too high) and dip the forearm down and bring it back up.  The upper arm will swivel or rotate in the shoulder socket.  I had a young student call this the 'Robot Wave' and the name stuck ever since!  You don't have to make this motion large - in fact, keep it somewhat small but quick.   Now, relax the hand and let it move.  Don't make it move.  Just let go and it will move by itself.

Keep the wrist loose and free of tension.

The next step is to do the exercises above while holding a pencil in the hand like a bow.  Let the wrist move freely.  My guess is the exercise suddenly got a lot harder!  Be assured this is normal.  

Stay with me as I explain why it's difficult (it's also explained in the video).

The reason for the difficulty is because our wrist extensor muscle typically kicks in when we hold something with our fingers to prevent our wrist from moving.  What does the wrist extensor do?  Well, the wrist extensor muscle 'extends' the wrist (cocks the wrist back, lifts the hand) and will engage when we use our finger flexors. Flexing our fingers is to bend them as in making a fist.  Any time we hold something in our hand, like a baseball or a pencil or a bow, we are using our finger flexors. 

The finger flexor muscles are in the forearm and the tendons pass over the wrist joint.  As these muscles contract, the tendons that pass over the wrist would also flex the wrist along with the fingers if it weren't for the wrist extensor muscle engaging to hold the wrist still.

This is why your wrist suddenly resists movement.  And remember, a passive motion happens due to a lack of resistance.  So we have some retraining to do!

Note; be careful not to squeeze with the thumb because this will also cause the wrist to lock up.

What needs to happen is a retraining of your wrist extensor muscles to release.  Does it sound daunting?  Just be patient and practice the exercises daily.  A little bit goes a long way.  Don't try to get your wrist to move by engaging your active motions more vigorously. The key is in the release, not trying harder.

You can even practice these without your cello nearby.  All you need is your arm and a pencil.  Go back and forth between the exercises with and without the pencil.

When your wrist is beginning to let go, start practicing the exercises with your bow in hand.  Hold your bow as usual, loop your left fingers around the stick at the tip, and practice the forearm détaché and 'Robot Wave' with a relaxed wrist slightly pronated (see the video).

This is probably going to take a while.  You've been stabilizing your wrist your whole life - and most of the time it was needed! Otherwise you'd be knocking over all of your cups of coffee!  

Remember, loose thumb and relaxed shoulder.

You're going to have to get hippy about this.  Imagine all the tension in your forearm and wrist evaporating like water.  Breath in deeply and slowly exhale all of the tension in your body while doing the exercises.  Your arm is made of jello.  You are a rag doll.  Your fingers are suction cups so you only need to hold lightly.

Better yet - don't think!  Allow.

So try different imagery to help you relax your wrist.

Give it time and it will come.  Enjoy the process.

Happy practicing!

S.D.G.