Violin. training log

plan

0
days to recording · Stauffer CM peak block
due 08 Jul
03 Jun → 08 Jul · 5 weeks
The roadone dot = one day
MTWTFSS
done today still ahead
1 Foundation 03 Jun–09 Jun
2 Development 10 Jun–23 Jun
3 Refinement 24 Jun–30 Jun
4 Taper + Record 01 Jul–05 Jul
5 Final + Submit 06 Jul–08 Jul
Excerptswhere you are now → goal

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Your back comes firstthis gates everything
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Recent takesmost recent first

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Fewer reps, better — quality over volume
active · your plan to the stauffer recording (due 08-07-2026)
2026-06-cycle-1.md

Your plan to the Stauffer recording (due 08-07-2026)

A focused 5-week run-up to your recording. You start 03-06-2026 and send the recording in by 08-07-2026. The big picture: the audition is the main job, your back always comes first, and solo playing just ticks over in the background for now.

Your back comes first — always. Check in with your back each morning and again after you play, and let that steer the day. If it's sore, the plan bends, not your back: sit down, switch to mental practice, or rest. Never play Don Juan and Schumann up to speed on the same day. No deadline is worth a flare-up.

One thing we're watching: your back trouble seems to flare most from sitting in the orchestra, not from practising at home — so these home days carry a fuller technical warm-up and a short étude. Keep doing the back checks anyway — they're how we find out whether home practice affects your back at all. If the numbers stay flat, we can load more; if they climb, the plan bends as always.

How the days get scheduled: the day-to-day fit around your real week comes from your Google Calendar (on Claude Desktop). Until a week is mapped out, just pick today's kind of day from the sample week below, working around your fixed commitments and how your back feels that morning.

How to spread your practice (the part that really matters)

A few simple ideas from the research shape this whole plan:

  • Touch a few pieces each day — don't grind one piece for hours. A short go at a piece today plus another short go tomorrow beats one long cram, because your accuracy quietly settles overnight while you sleep.
  • Give the two singing excerpts (Scheherazade and Brahms) a little time on back-to-back days. That's how the in-tune, expressive playing locks in — better than one big lyrical day on its own.
  • New tricky spot? Drill it on its own first. Once it's reliable, fold it back in and play it mixed with the pieces you already know. Practising the familiar ones together (not one-at-a-time) is what makes them stick for the recording.
  • Always put the chunks back together at tempo. Breaking a passage into pieces is great — but finish by playing it joined up, or you'll hear little gaps where the pieces meet.
Week by week
Wk Dates Phase The goal
1 03-06 → 09-06 Get the map Work all 4 excerpts slowly. Sort out fingerings, bowings and tuning. Make rough first recordings and a first back check. Physio every day.
2 10-06 → 16-06 Start building Begin nudging the tempo up. Build Schumann's stamina in short bursts. Make the Don Juan leap reliable. First low-pressure mock recording.
3 17-06 → 23-06 Close to tempo Almost up to speed. Play longer stretches of Schumann unbroken. Mock-record the two singing pieces. Drill the trouble spots.
4 24-06 → 30-06 Polish At or just above tempo. Full mock sessions of all 4. Start picking your favourite takes. Give your weakest piece extra time.
5 01-07 → 08-07 Ease off, record + send Less playing, keep the sharpness. Mocks turn into real recordings, then your final take(s) → listen back → send by 08-07. Fresh hands, rested back.
Tempo goals for each excerpt (start → goal)

Each session, set the metronome to today's goal from this table (you can adjust it live during the metronome step).

Excerpt Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Goal
Don Juan (half-note) 60 66–70 74–78 80–84 84 hold 84
Schumann (♩) 96 108–116 124–134 140–150 150 hold 150
Schumann, bars in one go 4–8 bars →16 →32 full 54 full take full
Scheherazade map it in time + rubato mock polish record free but controlled
Brahms (♩) slow map phrase + bow mock polish record ~84, singing

When to speed up: add 4–6 BPM in a session only when it's clean and your back is okay. Write down the BPM you actually reached each time.

The kinds of day (and a sample week)

Lighter load, easy on the back. Every day: morning back check → physio set → warm up. Keep playing stretches to 25 minutes or less, take a quick break between each, and finish with a back check + physio.

  • Big technical day — your hardest piece, just one of Don Juan / Schumann. If your back's sore, sit down or skip it.
  • Lyrical day — Scheherazade + Brahms. Singing tone, gentle on the body.
  • Mock-recording day — a small number of real takes, keep the best (see the mock-recording guide).
  • Recovery day — little or no playing: score study, mental practice, extra physio + a walk.
  • Rest day — just physio + a walk.
Day Kind of day Main work
1 Big technical Don Juan, then a Brahms cool-down
2 Lyrical Scheherazade + Brahms
3 Big technical Schumann (short stamina bursts), then a Scheherazade cool-down
4 Recovery or Lyrical recovery/mental, or a light singing day (put it on your heaviest rehearsal day)
5 Mock recording takes rotate by week
6–7 Rest physio + a walk; one easy optional block

Your two hard days (1 and 3) sit apart with an easier day in between. Move things the moment your back check tells you to.

Sessions

Below are five ready-to-run days — pick today's from the sample week and how your back feels, then run it in focus mode. Each one opens with your morning back check and physio, then a proper warm-up — scales and arpeggios, double-stops for tuning, a left-hand drill, and a short étude tied to the day's hardest demand — and ends with a quick log + a back check. The étude and double-stops are the first things to drop if your back or time is tight. The metronome steps start at a middle-of-the-cycle tempo; set it to today's goal from the table above when you get there.

loading your progress…

today

rest your back, keep your head in the music

~40 min · 2 blocks · 0/7 done

your big technical day

~123 min 3 blocks 0/20

your endurance day

~99 min 3 blocks 0/16

Scheherazade & Brahms

~103 min 3 blocks 0/14

Mock-recording day

~37 min 3 blocks 0/12

Mozart 5 + Sibelius

~107 min 3 blocks 0/14
today ·

rest your back, keep your head in the music

~40 min 2 blocks 0/7

Notes for each week

  • Week 1: no rush on tempo, but the run-up is tight (5 weeks, not 6) — get the maps done. Get to know each excerpt — fingerings, bowings, where the tuning traps are. Make a rough recording of all 4 to look back on later. Settle into the back-check habit. Confirm Stauffer's rules on recording format and length.
  • Week 2: start nudging tempos up. Keep Schumann in short bursts to protect your back — don't chase ♩=150 yet. First gentle mock recording (one piece).
  • Week 3: getting close to tempo. Play longer stretches of Schumann unbroken. Do a full mock of the two singing pieces. If your back's trending sore, slot in a recovery day — don't push.
  • Week 4: polish, plus full mock sessions. Give your weakest piece the extra block. You'll probably want a lighter two-day stretch mid-week if the work's piling up.
  • Week 5 (easing off + record + send): cut your playing time by about a third, but keep the sharp touches. Mocks become real recordings, then your final take(s) → listen back → send by 08-07. Fresh beats drilled — space your takes across days so each recording follows a good night's sleep; a fresh morning take beats a long afternoon grind. If your back flares, lean on the takes you've already banked — don't over-record.

When to stop or ease off

  • Back check comes back sore → ease right off: less playing, no standing, switch to sitting / mental practice / rest. The deadline always yields to this.
  • A passage goes out of tune twice in a row → stop the block and play a slow recovery pass.
  • It's feeling much harder than usual this week → shorten the rest of your blocks.
  • Don Juan and Schumann up to speed on the same day → never. Split them across days with an easier day between.

Schedule notes — Jun/Jul adjustments

Specific overrides to the auto-scheduled sample week, driven by real commitments. (Times are targets; the calendar sync places blocks around her actual busy events — if a rehearsal time shifts, re-run node scripts/calendar-sync.mjs reconcile --yes.)

Conflicts resolved (practice moved around new commitments):

  • 19-06 — morning practice at 09:00 (Fontainebleau wedding rehearsal later in the day)
  • 24-06 — morning block dropped (NedPhO rehearsals fill the day); single afternoon block at 14:45
  • 25-06 — afternoon practice shifted to 14:15
  • 26-06 — one block only, 10:00 (Programma A concert that evening)

Make-up touches (missed non-recovery days, back-safe ~20 min):

  • 17-06, 12:00–12:20 — Lyrical make-up (Scheherazade + Brahms). Placed via D1 makeups table.
  • 20-06, 15:30–15:50 — Concerto make-up (Mozart 5 / Sibelius). Placed via D1 makeups table.

Days cleared (no practice):

  • 03-07 — no practice; traveling to Down The Rabbit Hole festival
  • 04-07 — no practice; full day = Wedding gig, France

Recovery context: Jun 9–12 gaps were intentional throttle/recovery days — not compensated. Recovery window Jun 13–15 stays untouched; real practice resumes Jun 16.