Hmm if you are restlessly drumming the fingers of your left hand on the table, does that feel normal and do all your fingers move naturally?
The movement of fingers on violin neck is the same kind of natural motion, only with hand/forearm rotated into playing position…?

Do you play other stringed instruments like the guitar and banjo? If so, pretty much just do what you do on those other instruments. You can even be a lazy bum and rest the fiddle's neck on the hand/index finger joint with your hand turned to near horizontal. After all, this is fiddling, not Julliard.

Boy, I was about to start a new thread but I also struggle the 3rd finger dexterity. Meanwhile, I record myself and my pitch stinks. Do you ever have moments of clarity that make everything seem like it's working and other days, it just sounds like crap?? I'm sure even the sharpest of players struggle with their own standards. I've really shied away from recording, let alone posting a video. I haven't been to lessons in over a year. My latest concern is a sore neck/shoulder blade. So now I'm playing it almost in my lap. Making the 3rd finger even harder to reach...but hey, it's Friday!!

What you’re describing is a challenge every new player faces. Because of the way the tendons of the hand are structured, it’s hard to lift the third finger independently until you’ve worked on the movement and trained the muscles to develop the ability. It takes some time to get to the point where you can raise the finger on its own easily, but you can get there with practice.

In addition to the exercise you’ve described, a simple one you can use is to place the fingers on a flat surface like a table similar to the posture for playing a piano. You can then lift one finger at a time going from 1-4 and 4-1, or you can vary the progression (1,3,2,4, or 1,4,2,3, etc) as you wish, just making sure that you’re intentionally lifting fingers at a specific time. This may feel very difficult at first but will become easy over time. You don’t need an instrument to do this exercise, so you can practice it almost anywhere.

It sounds like you’re doing some good things to improve left hand and finger posture, so those things should help for dexterity and accuracy. I’d add that it’s important to make sure the left elbow is tucked well enough under the violin. Getting the elbow into position will reduce strain on the hand and will make finger placement far easier.

There are a number of movements and positions that are unnatural for the body in violin playing. It takes conscious effort to develop them, which is done for the sake of optimizing tone, but with time and effort those movements and positions will become second nature to you.

Rich, when you say “What you’re describing is a challenge every new player faces” is in itself very helpful. So I know it’s just not something particular to my finger’s abilities. I’m realizing I need better control of my fingers if I want to have better sound.

Do a quick internet search on finger tendon anatomy and you will get a good explanation, The ring finger is not as independent as the other fingers, connected by tendons, especially problematic with aging hands.

I remember trying to tuck my sausage fingers into half step shapes and just staring at them frozen in space and thinking "I will never, ever be able to do this - my fingers just won't do this" Eventually, slowly they began to move, a twitch at a time. It's just small muscle yoga. The mind/brain connection is an amazing thing. One thing that helps is to establish an anchor finger.

...be sure your left elbow is tucked well under the fiddle...

that 3rd finger is stubborn for a lot of people. one thing that may help is placing the other fingers down and just lifting the ring finger slightly, even if it barely moves. over time it improves.  brat generator

Hmm was thinking/examining this some more...
...so, are you keeping your fingers curved and relaxed, hovering over/near fingerboard?
Then, use of third finger feels like just letting your finger drop onto the fingerboard...it's not an effortful motion at all.
If you are holding the neck in left hand and you just drum your fingers on the fingerboard restlessly like you're waiting to see somebody...
it shouldn't feel more effortful than that.

* experienced player, but not a teacher! so have no idea if what I'm saying is helpful...hopefully it's not harmful! *

Thanks for the thoughts. Mobob’s suggestion of looking up “hand anatomy” was very helpful and sheds light on the ring and pinky finger being tied into one another. I’ve been doing some strength exercises and that seems to help along with some finger tapping exercises. All this has me also paying more attention to my left hand positioning. Trying to relax my hand at the same time. Lots going on here to get everything in sync.

"Trying to relax my hand at the same time. Lots going on here to get everything in sync."

Here are my thoughts as a developing fiddle player, not as an expert player or teacher:

I find that relaxation is the key to every aspect of playing the fiddle. Not just the hands. Any part of your body that's tense will translate down to your fingers, the bow and strings, and your sound.

Once you achieve relaxation (like Nirvana :-), your string fingers and bow hand have a chance to do nimbly and accurately what all those hours of practicing tunes have trained them to do. They will also more easily adjust on the fly to correct intonation.

Keeping both shoulders back, elbow tucked comfortably under fiddle but elevated off torso, breathing naturally, both thumbs soft and quiescent but flexible, internalizing the tactile clues that signal the optimal left hand frame and fingerboard position for correct intonation, those are some key factors for me.

In math terms, solve for relaxation!