From Messy to Clear: Fixing String Crossings
Last week, one of my students came to class feeling frustrated. She had been practicing a passage with string crossings and felt like her hands just wouldn’t coordinate. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” Lucia told me. “I’ll never be able to play this.” Her solution had been to repeat the same fragment over and over, stumbling in the same places every time — which only made her frustration grow (we’ve all been there).
I suggested we isolate the right hand only — no notes, just open strings. This allowed her to clearly feel where she was on the instrument, when to switch strings, how much weight each string needed, and how to move her arm efficiently without getting tired during spiccato. We set the metronome to a very slow tempo — less than half the actual tempo of the piece — and worked on bow movement with a lot of precision.
We broke each bar into four sections, and the first one took about ten minutes. Gradually, the exercise became more fluid. We stayed on that single line for the entire class. Even though she still had doubts because everything felt so slow, little by little we added the notes, then connected the sections until she could play a full bar — clean and controlled — by the end of the hour.
A week later, in her next lesson, Lucia played the full passage. Not only that: in her new repertoire, her sound was cleaner, and her coordination had improved. What once seemed like a waste of time turned into a huge step forward. My teacher used to call this “ant work” — carrying one tiny grain at a time (thank you for everything, Félix Petit).
Studying a passage with string crossings isn’t about repeating it endlessly “until it works.” It’s about breaking it down into layers.
1. Choose a fingering that minimizes movement
Before anything, choose a fingering that allows you to stay on the same string as long as possible. As tempting as it is to remain in the same position, in a fast passage, avoiding an unnecessary string crossing is usually smarter.
2. Start with the bow: practice the motion without notes
Work on the fragment using only open strings. Understand the bow motion first: where you are, when you switch strings, how you distribute weight, and what bow speed you need. Break the bar into small parts and practice each one at a very slow tempo. When the bow is clear, everything else becomes easier.
3. Add the notes only after the bow feels stable
Once the bow feels comfortable and you can produce a clean sound, then add the notes. That’s when the left hand enters the process. After that, you can start connecting the fragments until you can play a full bar smoothly.
That’s how you build something that once felt impossible: one grain at a time. And the best part? The more you practice in layers, the faster your body learns to solve these patterns on its own.
Video
Here’s a quick recap video in case you want to save it and revisit it later.
