Start 1023

10 min - warmup
Breval run through, cold. Read the basso part, then had time for one more 1/2 run through before time was up. I want to make a recording on the 2nd part to practice against - maybe after the concert.

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 1
Reviewed the fingerings for the accident prone scale fragments at the beginning, then focused on the cello soli at reh 7. Principal suggested playing it in thumb position, but I think that's crazy. It's just an octave D# shift, and the little portamento is what makes the phrase. My biggest worry is that the bowing is going to change again and through me off balance. I don't like the way it ends up bow on a whole+ note.

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 1, 2nd half
reh 8 better fingerings
reh 10 reviewed, but didn't mark fingerings. Not critical.
reh 12 unison melody. Better fingerings. Still need to decide how to do triplet measure at the end of that phrase - ran out of time.

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 2
Agh! Still not quite enough time in a 10 min block to finish all the housekeeping in one mvmt. Chose more optimal fingerings for the broken scale fragments before reh 2 and 6 based on yesterdays discoveries. Jettisoned the upper positions and used extensions and fast 4-4 shifts. Works a charm, but I have to be careful to take quick forearm stretch breaks in the middle of the block. Need to solidify fingering at reh 15 - first 2 measures are the complicated ones. Ran out of time. Also worked bowing at reh 2 - do-own up down u-up down up is more complicated at this very fast tempo.

(End of 1st hour)

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 3
I wish I could do this kind of work early in the piece, but it seems I need to have enough rehearsal experiences before I recognize the individual problems - until it differentiates from being one big fuzzy problem. Quickly decided on optimal fingering for opening phrases. Worked the rhythm at Allegro vivace with a metronome. Deciphered the fingering puzzle for the chords at reh 4 - much easier than I thought it was. Fingering for unison before reh 6, but I don't know what bowing we'll finally settle on. No indication, and as it comes ends up backwards. Need to look again at chromatic fingerings reh 6.5 -12, then the cello soli at reh 12.

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 3, 2nd half
Decided to spend another block on the 3d mvmt, since I need a couple of cracks at the soli section before Sat am, and the 4th mvmt is short and less complicated. Alas, I didn't make it to the soli because p 12 was more complicated than I thought! Worked the section from reh 6-8 with a metronome, ei=100 to work out fingerings, up to qu=140, about tempo. Good fingerings for speed, though, and I practiced the off beats with the metronome.

10 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 3, last quarter
After a little typing and a good stretch. It might have been 12 minutes, as I forgot to set the timer. Oops. It was enough time to finish the chromatic "3 in 2" passage at reh 10 and before 12, easy after the last block. Practiced off beat transitions with mm qu=100, transition to soli, then soli at tempo. In rehearsal, it was the transition that screwed us up, then the tendency to play it at half time, probably because we were all practicing it more slowly. Used alternating Bb and E drones. A couple of reps at qu=140 and it feels pretty good.

15 min - Khatchaturian mvmt 4
Forgot the timer again, but turned it on after about 5 min. I think that's a sign of fatigue. Just enough time to work out the kinks in the 4th mvmt. The patterns weren't so hard with optimal (in this case fewest) shifts. I don't know who fingered this part before - probably just as well. mm qu=100 to 132.

End 1230
Total time: 2:07
Practice time: 85 min

I dallied less between blocks than yesterday, so squeezed one more in, plus ran slightly over the 2 hours. Didn't get to Tchaikovsky yet, but need a longer break. I'd like to get to that plus a quick look see at the quartet music before rehearsal tonight. I should probably go a little easier on the weights this afternoon than I had planned. It's a CrossFit "Linda" workout.