Mon 2:02(1044-1246)

I have a bit of cubital tunnel syndrome acting up round my left elbow, so after 3 days off I am going with the 10 minute practice block schedule today.

10 min - E MAJ
A variety of 3 and 4 octave patterns, with special focus on shifting in the Morgenstern pattern and right elbow extension in 3 martele strokes/bow.

10 min - Haydn C exposition
Once through with mm = 60, note to note, one note per bow. A second time through with 1/8 note = 60. Time to work on the double stops, I think.

10 min - Haydn C, double stops at m40
Started with preparatory exercises: G MAJ scale. Identified my tendency to relax my hand shape as I ascended, and thus my lower fingers were out of place coming down. Drilled note to note, back and forth for awhile. Did double stop patterns, identified the need to "not try so hard," keep hand shapes supple, and use 2 and 3 together whenever 3 was being used. Productive, but hard work, and needed frequent breaks to shake out hand and arm.

10 min - Haydn C, chords at m71
Started with the preparatory exercise in the Suzuki book, which is just the passage written as chords. After reviewing the patterns in broken 2 part chords, began working from the beginning of the passage as written. Using a variety of bowings, focused on the movement from chord to chord - which fingers stay put, which move first, where to relax the hand, etc. Again, productive, but couldn't do this for more than about the 10 minutes.

10 min - Haydn C, 2nd statements
This was a just-for-fun block. Looked at the 2nd statements of: the exposition in m59, Theme 2a in m64, and Theme 2b in m102. Comparison and contrast.

30 min - Boismortier quartet in a
Three congruent 10 min blocks, working sequentially through the movements. Mostly practicing shifts, especially the many 4-4 descending patterns and the leaps or puzzle patterns to get high. Wish I had a recording to check my work against. I like the piece, though - quartet rehearsal should be fun.