Have you ever had a violin or orchestra student tell you that their pinky is double-jointed? Bring up the subject in class and you might even have a student tell you (with much pride) that all their fingers are double-jointed. Before you know it, you have a classroom of kids racing to get all their fingers to only bend at the top joint, with the proud winner waving their hand in the air to show everyone that the shape of their hand can resemble that of a rake.
However, being double-jointed isn't a good thing when you are trying to play the violin, viola, cello, or bass. The "L" shape of the finger is not a strong one that can sustain enough pressure to sufficiently press down a string against the fingerboard of the instrument.
For a long time, I myself was double-jointed in my left hand pinky. Although some of my violin teachers noticed, they did not know how to fix it, so I took it upon myself to come up with creative ways to accommodate this disability. I quickly became very proficient at playing the violin with my three remaining fingers, even if I had to stretch or shift my hand around more than my peers. I got so good at this that I went on to play very advanced repertoire and even gained admission into a competitive university music program.
However, while studying music at the university level, my double-jointed picky became a big hindrance. Playing double stops, octaves, and long passages at high speeds became impossible. I could hide the problem no longer.
Gratefully, it was also in university that I learned that the muscles in an properly placed and arched finger were the same muscles used during pizzicato.
Let me translate that last sentence into layman's terms: If you have a double-jointed finger, it means your finger muscles are weak, and you can solve the problem by working out your finger. And as a player of a string instrument, you can work out your finger by plucking your strings.
When a violin student has a double-jointed pinky and is struggling to press down a string with an arched finger, I tell him or her to press down the string while mentally pretending the finger is going to pluck the string. As the student keeps doing this, the finger builds strength until this mental trick is no longer needed. Teaching this to students has worked wonders in my students' playing abilities that I wish I would have known when I was younger.
By the way, I am no longer double-jointed in any of my fingers.
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