I don't have a "proper" wrist either. For some it causes pain or something; I've not had issues in the 25+ years I've been playing. Sometimes I'll hold the fiddle lower, like chest-ish, and rest the scroll on my knee to stabilize it. If you're in the beginning stage, know this: the fiddle really is an odd instrument as far as holding it is concerned, it's not just you.

Find what works, however gravity always has its effect so consider that if you find your now drifting towards the ground/scroll. Mostly, I just lean the fiddle on my shoulder (with a shoulder rest, I have a long neck) but don't engage my neck or chin in holding it. I play American old time and some Irish trad.

there are many videos on YouTube that can show you the pros and cons of many different techniques for holding the fiddle, and bow. As chickenman suggests, experiment until you feel comfortable, eliminate tension, it will lead to pain over time. good luck, have fun.

I tell ya', I was lucky as heck to enjoy the majority of my fiddling days in a city with several fiddle/violin shops. Thanks in great measure to the patience and generosity of those fiddle outlets I was able to experiment with an array of chin rests (all of which, naturally, are different enough to matter). I'm also enough of a hands-on guy not to be afraid to experiment with the various spots where I might position the chin rest on the fiddle.

Bottom line, all three of my fiddles have unique chin rests that are adjusted slightly differently, and all three are as comfortable as heck.

I mostly play with lower chest position. I found pretty easy and natural, never quite sure why folks struggle or speak of wobble. 

Here's how I do it.

I just put my left arm out about10 o'clock or so, in comfortable relaxed position. The neck end, the bout sits, rests against my wrist; generally about inch or so below neck heel.

The other end, back of fiddle; generally aim the button into space around armpit. 

The only other aspect maybe why folks struggle; the left arm has to pull the back in enough to make sufficient contact in back. Not squeeze; just enough so it can rest in that position. 
 

FWIW, another option some folks use a piece of chord, or strap. There are various ones on market, 

My immediate thought came to a strap too. They can be made to suit any length, and therefore height to where the bow can come naturally across.

Here's a little video might help, that demonstrates a way I hold it.

If you look at pictures of old fiddlers from years past you will see the fiddle held in many ways. Keeping in mind that a good many of them worked hard physically but found a salvation and release from daily drudgery in their fiddle. They too had difficulties with physical discomfort. We do what our bodies allow us to do. Hopefully you will find a hold, a gadget, or something that will allow you to pursue this journey.

I've seen a few playing as if a small cello. They put the tail/butt on their knee, and saw away with like a cello bow hold.

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Originally posted by alaskafiddler

Here's a little video might help, that demonstrates a way I hold it.

 

That's amazing. I've tried this. There's no way my left hand can play the forth string, let alone that 5th. I can't reach them unless I roll the fiddle towards the fingers. 

 

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Well if you have hypermobility, I think that often means you have long arms, long fingers, etc. So if that's the case for you, you might be able to hold fiddle chest level and hang onto it by hooking your thumb just behind the nut at the top of the fingerboard, then your hand should be stabilizing the fiddle while your fingers are free to find notes. Of course I think, but don't know because hypermobility folks are super flexible, you might be mainly stuck in 1st position holding it with your thumb just nudged in there behind the nut...I don't know. My grandson is hypermobile and took violin lessons and had to quit at one point from the pain it was giving him. AFter a couple of years, they got another teacher who set his fiddle up for him in such a way that it gives him no pain...so it's also possible some classical teacher could help you find a setup that will work for you...at least until you can hold onto it without difficulty...then you could move on and play they kind of playing you want.

But as so many have said...holding a fiddle is the first challenge in playing the doggone thing. I've seen some bluegrass band not too far away from us...they used to show up at the local BG jams sometimes, and their fiddler sat in a chair and played the doggone thing like a cello...I was thinking, hmmm...easy to hold but how would something really hard to play be? Because you're basically bowing it upsidedown that way. Well just as I was thinking that, the band started up a furiously impressive Orange Blossom Special...that fiddler burned it up. I mean, whether OBS is yer thing or not...if somebody can handle that playing a fiddle like a cello...they can handle anything. So...good luck finding out what'll work for you. In my own case I ended up taking my chin rest off...it just dug into my jaw...and I don't use shoulder rests at all. But my grandson has both on his, as advised by his violin teacher. Something will work...it's just a tough thing finding out what that is.

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Originally posted by alaskafiddler

Here's a little video might help, that demonstrates a way I hold it.

 

Hey Alaska - Thanks for putting up that vid - one of the best I've seen. Only thing I might say is you seem blessed with some pretty long and flexible fingers. I'm not sure everyone will find playing in this way as easy. But for the past couple of years I seem to have just about managed it, playing pretty close to your method of holding.  Well I should say ALMOST, cuz I still can't for the life of me pull off a shift back down as easy as you make it look.  So it's not so much the shift up, but rather the shift back to first position that presents the problem for me.  When I try this the fiddle always slips down with my fingers as I go back to first position. In the vid you seem to somehow manage to prevent the fiddle from dragging back by keeping it slightly held with your wrist and lower forearm. Maybe this is something that just takes more practice.

My understanding of hypermobility is that it affects the joints and their range of motion beyond what is typical. I’ve known a couple people with this condition who played instruments.

The pain in the forearm from holding the violin is not something I would connect to hypermobility, though. Adult learners struggle with violin playing posture because it’s very difficult to rotate the forearm in that manner and hold it so that it’s tucked under the instrument as prescribed by modern violin instructors. This is why children have a distinct advantage in learning—at a young age it’s easy to develop the flexibility to hold the instrument, and as you continue to play it remains easy as you age.

I had a friend in college who was interested in taking violin lessons. He was an amazing athlete and had great overall flexibility, but, try as he might, he just couldn’t develop a violin hold.

As an adult learner, if holding in the modern posture is painful, and especially if any physical conditions add difficulty to playing, it is possible to explore other holds that allow a more relaxed posture.

I have a whole drawer, the entire drawer, filled with cast off chinrests and shoulder rests. I too started playing with the fiddle on my chest, but I was not blessed with particularly big or long hands and fingers. I had the problem most folks do when playing like that - shifting back to 1st position always resulted in bad placement. So I started searching for my perfect placement (doesn't exist). Finally I've found a chin rest that worked really well to lock in my jaw/chin, but I've tried so many now, I couldn't tell you the brand or 'type' it is. Partial over the tailpiece and the chin "hump" is actually in the wrong place for most, but works well for me. And I use a Bon Musica shoulder rest, grossly curved by me to hook over my shoulder. Altogether the fiddle is locked into position and only lite pressure of my head keeps it in place - in fact i can just use my head and keep the fiddle at 90 degrees with almost no effort. But all this took years and years to try and figure out.

So keep searching, if you're not happy with the fiddle placement. A really good classical teacher ( not just a classical player who gives lessons - I mean a real teacher) might be able to shave some time off that! Can one play off the shoulder and be really effective? Obviously some folks can, but I would wager they started playing early and are totally used to that position. Hey you can get used to anything except hanging (so we pirates say), but adults picking up fiddle and trying to play from the shoulder are going to have a rough road to it.

If you want, pay the shipping and I'll send you all the chin and shoulder rests I have! Pass it along to the next fiddler searching - eventually they will all be used!

As an aside - I played Vassar's fiddle one time. I had just won a fiddle contest the day before and Vassar was the headliner next day. The concert committee brought me backstage to meet Vassar. He hands me his fiddle, the one with the old man head on it, and says 'lets hear it son!' Well Vassar must have some long neck or some deformity because he had the tallest chinrest I've ever encountered, and a shoulder rest that was equally thick. The net result was I could barely get the thing under my chin without feeling like I was peeking over the garden gate! And of course I totally sucked, big time. Vassar just shot the concert people a look like "O Kaaaaayyyy - this guy won? ".

I had this picture of Bruce Greene, in an unusual jam session, holding the fiddle the way Alaska showed. Also a photo of the Bogtotters - Crockett Ward is holding his fiddle in a similar way, while Uncle Eck Dunfod is using a more "classical" hold. I just linked to this YouTube, where Gather Carlton is also holding his fiddle "low," though not wedged with his wrist: youtu.be/9we5tGOQs5s?feature=shared
Lastly, I think "where there's a will, there's a way." A few years ago I was playing solo fiddle at a "busking night." Across the street was a group of young fellows playing good traditional Bluegrass. After awhile an older man came over, the father of some of them, and we started talking. He had played mandolin with them, but he'd developed cancer, and the treatment made his fingertips too tender to play. So he switched to fiddle, but a conventional hold put the fiddle against the chemotherapy injection site, so he'd started using a strap of some kind. He was determined to keep making music, and I hope he still is.

Seems to me what this all distills out into is that holding the fiddle is so uniquely individual...you can get ideas from what a lot of other people do, but ultimately it's gonna be your own way...what works for how you play and what you play. Kinda like...You Gotta Walk that Lonesome Valley...lol...by yerself...I mean nobody else can do this for us. I remember starting, just about 13 years back, for real on fiddle...I had a few false starts over the decades because I never had the money to have my own instrument...but anyway, once i got one and started into it...I was thinking this is just impossible..yeah I could scratch out a few things but the awkwardness, and too much pain to practice for long...I probably still don't have a "good" hold, but I love playing the doggone thing so much.

I move my position all the time. When I get tired, I lower it all the way down to my lap almost. I'm not good at the mid or upper chest. It's either under the chin, or on my lap...lol. The cool thing about it being low is hearing more of the natural tone.

I've tried many times over the years to master some kind of low down hold, both because I get a better drive with my bow down there - until the fiddle slides down to my belt - and, more recently, because my left ear doesn't like those high, piercing, screeching tones I'm rightly famous for. I think you've got to be of that long, lean body-type to pull it off, unless maybe you started as a kid playing that way. I'm not and didn't. I'm more of the short, wide body-type, truth be told.

Also, I've always used a modified Classical hold on the fiddle itself, and I don't find the flat-palm comfortable. And I use my pinkie a lot on all of the strings, which doesn't make it any easier.

Just had to get that off my chest (yuk, yuk!).

This is why I prefer to sit down when I play...I can change my hold easily...sometimes under the chin...or all the way to the knee...laptop fiddling...sometimes I put the chin on while doing that but sometimes hold my head up all the way to listen to the cool sounds. Although my bowing seems scratchier the lower I hold the doggone thing. Is it obvious yet that nobody knows how to do this???? Lol. You might find a variety of ways and go back and forth...anything that allows you to play and enjoy playing.

I have tried the chest position several times because I like getting that fiddle away from blasting in my left ear. That ear is somewhat deafy from shotgun shooting when I was a youngster, but I don't like the blast anyway. So I find the fiddle sliding toward the front, not way out to the left side like the classical folks do it. I don't like shoulder rests -- too much gear -- and I have a perfect chinrest so the fiddle hangs there with almost no pressure from my chin. I can look around and play at the same time, no problem. 

The fiddle ends up pointing frontward and also more downward.  I've read that's a terrible idea. But it seems  to work OK for me, especially if I keep my elbows in so the bow doesn't go too kadywompus across the strings. Elbows-in always worked pretty well for me with the shotgun, also with a golf club.  

Sounds wrong, but I think it might be OK. It's what I got.

I think maybe the difference between classical violin playing and folkish fiddling styles is that you're allowed to do it the wrong way if it works for you!

Just as a curiosity, many of the old Cape Bretoners would hold their fiddles like this, although most of them were right-handed(!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1-3KUNIiVg

This is really quite astonishing. I never, ever thought of holding the fiddle like that. I do kinda lke this semi-cello approach, but it would massively confuse my arms (and my brain) if I tried it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ5S0iNZ0zw

Yeah - this thread actually inspired me to give that 'cello method' a try the other day - for about thirty seconds or so ... !

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Originally posted by Old Scratch

Just as a curiosity, many of the old Cape Bretoners would hold their fiddles like this, although most of them were right-handed(!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1-3KUNIiVg

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Are you saying right handed folks played left handed, or that they held it at this angle but on the right? I've seen US old time fiddlers do similar. One guy who holds it like that only lower on the chest and it seems like a guitar/mandolin approach.

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Originally posted by ChickenMan

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Scratch

Just as a curiosity, many of the old Cape Bretoners would hold their fiddles like this, although most of them were right-handed(!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1-3KUNIiVg

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Are you saying right handed folks played left handed, or that they held it at this angle but on the right? I've seen US old time fiddlers do similar. One guy who holds it like that only lower on the chest and it seems like a guitar/mandolin approach.

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Same way on the right - well, on the left, actually.  If you follow me.  Normal right-handed fiddling but with the fiddle held perpendicular to the floor.  And then, a lot of the old Cape Bretoners would hold the fiddle up high, as you can see Ian MacDougall do here, starting at about 00:23, when he gets going - I could never manage that for more than a minute or so:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfxIDVWvrT8