Taking the Plunge: Working the Downward 4th Finger Crossing
Beginning string players almost inevitably have a difficult time making the cross between strings. First there is the matter of getting the proper angles and the confidence to play with the bow on the open strings. Then there is the task of coordinating the placement of the left hand fingers on the strings. This is typically done by focusing on a single string at a time, and them moving on to working with multiple strings, usually through the use of scales. At this point in the learning process moving the fingers between strings tends to trigger a kind of reset, as though the student completely forgets everything they’ve learned once they change a string.
There is a noticeable difference between ascending and descending changes when the student begins to work the left hand fingers on multiple strings. The ascent from a fingered note to the open string above is usually not too difficult, but the descent from an open string to any finger below is usually tricky for the student initially.
I tackle it from two different fronts. I start pizzicato with both of them, because coordinating the bow is an additional layer that complicates things. When advanced players play something like a descending scale they have no problem placing the fourth finger independently when crossing to the lower string. That is much trickier for a beginning student, but by this point they should be used to walking up and down the string with all four fingers from whatever exercises were used to work the single string. To begin I use one of the suggestions from Fingerboard Geography[1] and have the student play exercises with the first three fingers on a low string and the fourth finger on the string above. This prepares them for work on two strings and is usually easier than playing the fourth finger on the lower string. Once they are comfortable with that I will start the next step. Working on the D and A strings, I will have them play their first finger on the B, then silently set two and three on the F-sharp and G, then play the fourth finger A (Figure 1). This walks their fingers up the strings in a familiar manner. This shows them that the movements are the same, they just have to factor in the slight separation between the two strings. The first few repetitions should be done completely silently, focusing on the movement and coordination of the left hand. Once that is comfortable the student should add pizzicato – plucking the solid notes and leaving the crossed notes silent. After a few rounds of that I will have them play one, place two and three silently at the same time, then play four (Figure 2). A few rounds there and I will follow that with playing one and then placing two, three, and four together and playing the B to A without pause (Figure 3). This is usually done over a few lessons and helps to work the very common method of block fingering, which is especially useful for beginning players.
While I am doing that I also begin to work a scale. D Major is the first one I teach. I focus on the ascent for the first couple of weeks[2]. Once I start the descent I change the rhythm. I have the student play four notes per pitch on the way down (Figure 4). I tell them to let themselves go on autopilot on the first finger and use that time to creep the fourth finger over into position. Ideally they will have the fourth finger set before they are done plucking the first, but I am happy as long as it is ready to go without pause. The goal here is to take the notes slow enough so that there is no pause in the tempo. Allowing that pause (Figure 7) tends to train the student to stop at that point, which is not something we want to make into a habit. Over time I will have them speed up the tempo of the four notes as they become accustomed to the movement, eventually changing to two notes per pitch (Figure 5), and finally to one (Figure 6). This is done over the course of several lessons.
During both of these exercises I focus much more on the motion than I do the intonation. I simply want them to get the fourth finger into approximately the right spot. I find it is easier to get the tuning precise once the motion itself is solid. This isn’t to say that I let them play every one out of tune; I will usually point out any tuning issues and tell them to aim higher or lower on the next run through as necessary. Doing so focuses on ear training, but again, the motion is my main goal at this point.
I do both of these exercises at the same time because of the silence in the first one. They both help to get the motor skill, and doing them simultaneously ensures that the pause I talked about earlier (Figure 7) is not drilled too heavily into the student’s technique.
I generally work these exercises without the bow for several lessons, although there are exceptions. It is my experience that adding the bow can cause coordination issues, because the bow does not often cross exactly with the finger in the initial stages of playing. That is why it is good to work the two processes separately before attempting to put them together. The progress of each individual student should dictate when to combine the right and left hands in these instances.
Bibliography
Barber, Barbara. Fingerboard Geography: An Intonation, Note-Reading, Theory, Shifting System, Violin, Volume 1. Estes Park, Colorado: Preludio Music, Inc, 2008.
[1] (Barber 2008)
[2] You can read more about my scale system for beginners here.