This weekend was the last LSO concert of the season, so I didn't get in as much exercise and practice as I'd hoped, but here's the breakdown.
Music/Practice:
Saturday - had two students to teach and a concert to play, so I didn't practice much: about an hour and a half. about 4-5 hours of playing time, but not all practicing, mostly demonstrating and performing.
Stunday - no practicing. Had the brothers this morning and the concert and BBQ this afternoon, so i got home around 8:30. Again, played for probably 4 hours, but it was mostly demonstrating, warming up (though I did get in at least 45 min of scales and tough concerto passages in the warmup), and performing.
Exercise/Health:
Saturday - ate really well until the night, when I stopped at taco bell to get some food on the way home. did not agree with me so well. note to self: don't eat shitty food because it just makes you feel crappy. didn't really have time to exercise because i was practicing in between lessons and concert
Sunday - ate pretty well today, considering the BBQ. the worst thing i ate was probably a cookie, but i ate plenty of vegetables and two burgers, so that was ok. came home and had a little pasta.
Mental:
Still haven't started a new book yet. I think I'm going to read The Picture of Dorian Gray. I was supposed to read it in high school, but didn't even kind of read it.
WOTDs:
heirophant: A priest on ancient Greece. OR a commentator/advocate
jericho: A place out of the way; and unspecified place; a place of concealment.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Day 1
Music: It's 2:30, and I've practiced for about an hour. Bach looks manageable by summer's end. The Gigue is really notey and the Sarabande is complex, but I think I can get them learned. Read through Paganini Concerto for fun. Won't practice that much more because I teach for 2 hours and have Loudoun dress for 3 hours tonight.
Fitness/Health: Ate well today. A couple apples, propel, and 2 turkey burgers so far. Might make some coffee or get some red bull before lessons. Couldn't go running for both lack of time and lack of good weather.
Mental: An appropriate one for today.
Subfusc - Dark or dull in color; drab, dusky.
The sky is subfusc today because of all the damn rain clouds.
Fitness/Health: Ate well today. A couple apples, propel, and 2 turkey burgers so far. Might make some coffee or get some red bull before lessons. Couldn't go running for both lack of time and lack of good weather.
Mental: An appropriate one for today.
Subfusc - Dark or dull in color; drab, dusky.
The sky is subfusc today because of all the damn rain clouds.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Day -1 (that's negative 1)
Even though this challenge starts tomorrow, I figured I'd give a rundown of my last day before summer.
Musical:
Had my jury today, so even though I got in about an hour beforehand, I didn't practice after that. I figured I'd give myself a break.
Fitness/Health:
Ate leftover pizza for lunch, so I didn't do so great on the eating, but I ran my usual bike route which took me 45 min or so, and I did about 40 situps before I had to take a shower and teach.
Mental/Academic:
WOTD: Paean - A joyous song of praise, triumph, or thanksgiving. Or simply, an expression of praise or joy.
Musical:
Had my jury today, so even though I got in about an hour beforehand, I didn't practice after that. I figured I'd give myself a break.
Fitness/Health:
Ate leftover pizza for lunch, so I didn't do so great on the eating, but I ran my usual bike route which took me 45 min or so, and I did about 40 situps before I had to take a shower and teach.
Mental/Academic:
WOTD: Paean - A joyous song of praise, triumph, or thanksgiving. Or simply, an expression of praise or joy.
The purpose of this blog
...is mostly to keep myself accountable over the summer of 2008, which, for my purposes, is from May 16 to September 2. I have a couple goals that I am going to set for myself here, and I'll try and post daily (or at least a couple times a week) to give an idea of my progress or lack thereof.
I'll break my goal sets into a few different areas, in no specific order.
Musical goals:
-Practice a minimum of 28 hours per week.
This amounts to 4 hours a day if I don't miss any days. I should be able to do this without a problem until I start teaching at the two camps this summer. In May and most of June, however, this shouldn't be difficult at all, since all I'm doing is teaching my 9 violin students.
-Get the Wieniawski concerto COMPLETELY memorized.
I'd really like to play a movement or two of this for the first studio class of the semester in the fall, plus the earlier I memorize it, the better.
-Get the orchestra excerpts learned. I'll list them below.
Mozart 39 (second and third movements)
Mozart 35 "Haffner"
Strauss Don Juan
Beethoven 3 and 9
Brahms all
Mendelssohn "Midsummer Night's Dream"
Schumann Scherzo
Prokofiev "Classical" Symphony
Shostakovich 5
-Learn (memorize, maybe) the first 4 movements of Bach d minor partita. I've wanted to learn this for a long time and haven't had the opportunity until now. Move to the last movement if time permits.
-Get through a Paganini caprice every week. They won't be polished at all, but I think this will help solidify some of my technical skills.
-Practice scales EVERY SINGLE TIME I PRACTICE. So if I practice 5 days a week, I had better be going through scales 5 times per week. Preferably all 12 keys major and minor, but we'll see.
Fitness/health goals:
-Exercise at least 4 times per week for an hour. There is NO reason that I shouldn't be able to do this, even over camp. BSOC is over by the early afternoon, so I can go running after that. SPAC is going to be more difficult, but there are lots of activities that I can participate in: frisbee on the quad, sportsplex, the pool, etc. And if I have dorm duties, I can do situps, pushups, etc in my room.
-Eat well 5 days per week. I can give myself two days a week to eat awful food and drink, but I shouldn't allow myself more than that.
-Get back to my level of fitness of senior year of college. I was running all the time, eating well, and really doing well up until about the winter break of my senior year of college. My recital, grad school auditions, and graduating were all looming over my head second semester, and I really got back to old bad habits that have stuck with me for the past year. This summer, I really think I can do well at getting back to a good level of fitness.
Mental/academic goals:
-Read at least 2 books per month. This should be NO problem, especially considering that I am going to be bored at camp. I usually get at least two books put away over SPAC, so I'm not too worried about this one.
-Try and get some serious reading done about the repertoire that I'm preparing for my recital and auditions.
-Learn a new word every single day. At the very least, I can write the new word that I learned every single day in this blog.
That about wraps it up. If I think of anything else, I'll post addendums as I post on this blog as I'm getting through the summer of improvement 2008.
I'll break my goal sets into a few different areas, in no specific order.
Musical goals:
-Practice a minimum of 28 hours per week.
This amounts to 4 hours a day if I don't miss any days. I should be able to do this without a problem until I start teaching at the two camps this summer. In May and most of June, however, this shouldn't be difficult at all, since all I'm doing is teaching my 9 violin students.
-Get the Wieniawski concerto COMPLETELY memorized.
I'd really like to play a movement or two of this for the first studio class of the semester in the fall, plus the earlier I memorize it, the better.
-Get the orchestra excerpts learned. I'll list them below.
Mozart 39 (second and third movements)
Mozart 35 "Haffner"
Strauss Don Juan
Beethoven 3 and 9
Brahms all
Mendelssohn "Midsummer Night's Dream"
Schumann Scherzo
Prokofiev "Classical" Symphony
Shostakovich 5
-Learn (memorize, maybe) the first 4 movements of Bach d minor partita. I've wanted to learn this for a long time and haven't had the opportunity until now. Move to the last movement if time permits.
-Get through a Paganini caprice every week. They won't be polished at all, but I think this will help solidify some of my technical skills.
-Practice scales EVERY SINGLE TIME I PRACTICE. So if I practice 5 days a week, I had better be going through scales 5 times per week. Preferably all 12 keys major and minor, but we'll see.
Fitness/health goals:
-Exercise at least 4 times per week for an hour. There is NO reason that I shouldn't be able to do this, even over camp. BSOC is over by the early afternoon, so I can go running after that. SPAC is going to be more difficult, but there are lots of activities that I can participate in: frisbee on the quad, sportsplex, the pool, etc. And if I have dorm duties, I can do situps, pushups, etc in my room.
-Eat well 5 days per week. I can give myself two days a week to eat awful food and drink, but I shouldn't allow myself more than that.
-Get back to my level of fitness of senior year of college. I was running all the time, eating well, and really doing well up until about the winter break of my senior year of college. My recital, grad school auditions, and graduating were all looming over my head second semester, and I really got back to old bad habits that have stuck with me for the past year. This summer, I really think I can do well at getting back to a good level of fitness.
Mental/academic goals:
-Read at least 2 books per month. This should be NO problem, especially considering that I am going to be bored at camp. I usually get at least two books put away over SPAC, so I'm not too worried about this one.
-Try and get some serious reading done about the repertoire that I'm preparing for my recital and auditions.
-Learn a new word every single day. At the very least, I can write the new word that I learned every single day in this blog.
That about wraps it up. If I think of anything else, I'll post addendums as I post on this blog as I'm getting through the summer of improvement 2008.
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