So there is this one thing that has you (or a student) flummoxed. You’ve been trying and trying to crack this one difficult measure/shift/bow stroke/passage and there is a brick wall between you and successful execution. Obviously I don’t have a magic wand, and I don’t even know what your one impossible thing is. But, here are just a few thoughts:

  • It’s all about CLEVER practice. Thoughtful, pragmatic, problem-solving practice. Think outside of the box. Whatever you have been doing hasn’t been working, so try something else, and make it something smarter.
  • Try to simplify the problem to its very core. Narrow it down in every way you can think of. Is it a right hand issue or a left hand issue? What is really the problem? Is it a rhythm thing? A pitch thing? Can you narrow it down to 1 or 2 notes (or even better, the space between 2 notes?) If you can’t, that means it’s something else. Maybe it’s about string crossings. (try taking out the left hand)
  • If you are the player, pretend to be the teacher. If you are the teacher, put yourself in the player’s shoes.
  • Ask around to see what’s working for other folks. We are a vast network, and somebody somewhere has faced this same problem.
  • How ever slowly you are working, try slower.

A friend and fellow string instructor suggested this blog entry’s topic, naming a few specific things that somebody might be up against. In honor of Ms. Faidley’s idea, I will pick one of her suggested problems and propose a practice technique: “how do we help a student with a  difficult passage of double-stops?”

Here is my favorite double-stop trick. (I will begin with a nice little intro to it: practice the passage without the bow, plucking the strings. Become very aware about the left hand movements. Then, practice bowing and without the left hand, focusing only on what the bow arm will need to do. Now for the killer trick…) Isolate the double-stop passage to its very hardest part. Practice this part, VERY UNDER TEMPO, with your left hand fingers playing both notes but your bow playing only the upper or lower note at a time. Listen to one line even as you place the fingers for both, then do the other line. (This has to be slow & thoughtful work for it to be any good). Do this work, exactly as described, slowly and carefully.

I think I got that last idea from Simon Fisher’s BASICS. This little practice trick has worked tremendously for me and every friend or student I’ve ever shown it too. (It saved one friend’s tail days before an important recital which she then proceeded to rock, just by the way.)

But the bigger moral is: Work slowly and smartly. All things will become easier.