Posted on May 27, 2008 by Christine Baker in Left Hand Agility/Articulation - Left Hand/Arm
I’m sure most everyone is already familiar with the Cossman exercise. I wanted to share a couple of different practice techniques and variations of the exercise that I have used, but before I do, for anyone who isn’t familiar with the basics of the exercise…Starting in 4th position on the A string, play...
1434 (E, G, F sharp, G)- 4 times
1424- 4 times
1323- 4 times
1234- 4 times
4321- 4 times
Repeat the same pattern with a first finger backwards extension (E flat, G, F sharp, G), then close the extension and repeat the pattern again, so that now you have shifted back to upper 3rd position (E flat, F sharp, F, F sharp). Proceed all the way down the A string by extending and closing the extensions, repeating the complete fingering pattern in each position.
When I first learned this exercise (from Hans Jensen), I always did it with slurred bows. Since the goal of this exercise is to develop velocity of the LH, I always used the metronome to start slow and then build up speed. I advise my students to keep the fingers close to the fingerboard and to practice without pressing the string all the way down to the fingerboard (this sounds terrible) to get in the habit of having very light, relaxed fingers. More recently, I have also begun asking my students to practice this with various rhythms, with separate bows and separate/slurred bowing patterns, and with string crossings. The string crossings are good brainteasers, as they sound rather strange at first. Do the exact same fingering pattern, but vary what string the finger is on. For example, for each 4-note group play the first note on A, two notes on D, and back to A for the fourth note. Once the student can play this quite quickly, choose some other pattern of string crossings.
I feel that this is a very useful exercise because it can be varied in any number of ways depending on the technical goal. Though I’ve never tried it, I suppose it would also work quite well in thumb position to practice the different spacing of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers.