Kat,

No, my wrist is fine... one of the few things I never seemed to have trouble with :) Rather, I can't get any dexerity or enough force to press the string down (which ain't much), unless the ball of left index finger (on the palm) is exerting some pressure on the side of the neck. It has nothing to do with holding the fiddle up either; I have no idea where it comes from; my hand just doesn't seem to work otherwise. My teacher is ignoring it as a personal quirk, but I'm worried about how it might affect me down the road and I'd like to break the habit.

I'm the biggest performance chicken in the world. When I was 5, I used to fake illness the day of a piano recital so I wouldn't have to go. I get major performnace anxiety playing in front of my teacher, who has heard much, much worse (some of it from me). I'll probably NEVER play fiddle in front of an audience ;)