Today’s Ten Minute Technique is String Crossings! This is an exercise I started using with my students years ago that I call String-Crossing Twinkle. The focus is on variations of string crossings between any two consecutive strings. You can do this with two open strings, but using Twinkle makes it a little more like patting your head and rubbing your belly, especially as you get into the latter variations…you have to learn to multi-task and to attend to more elements at once.

I like to use this to differentiate some of the mechanical elements of string crossings and then see how the overall technique improves and becomes more fluid after more detailed and more varied exploration. Your practice can include some examples I introduce and then expand to elements of interest to you. Maybe you will come up with some novel ideas all on your own!

The important thing is to develop many ways of approaching technique through diversified practice. As you accumulate more ways of approaching a skill, you upgrade your access to more challenging repertoire just by having more options in your technique from which to choose!