Abstract
All strings teachers are familiar with the sight of young players whose finger joints collapse and lock under the pressure of bowing or of holding down a string. Although some students appear to master curved finger shaping with little trouble, others seem to find it physically impossible. In many cases, teachers will give up on reminding the students to curve the fingers, and the buckled position becomes an ingrained habit. Teacher and student will both believe that the student cannot help collapsing the joints because she or he is “double-jointed.”