Today
Thu
04-06-2026 — Week 1 · Foundation
34 days to recording · due jul 8
Don Juan — your big technical day
About 80–95 minutes of playing. Just this one hard piece. **Tempo is in the half-note (alla breve):** the metronome click is the half-note pulse, so `half-note = 74` means ♩≈148 — set your own metronome the same way, or you'll practise at half speed. If your back's sore this week, do the segments sitting, or cut to two of the four — don't drill standing.
- **Morning back check** — give your back a score and note anything bothering it
- Physio set — scorpion, hip bridge, prone extension, deadlift 5–10kg (2×10)
- Warm up — open strings, slow bows, G-major scale over 3 octaves at ♩=60 8m
- Ease into the hard part — slow arpeggios, then the opening leap at half speed, 3 clean times before you speed up 4m
- **Segment 1 — opening → A.** The upward leap and high arrival: **intonation** and a clean, confident attack, no scoop. Half-note pulse; nudge up 4–6 BPM only when clean and the back's okay ♩=74
- Quick break — stand up, reset your posture, 5 slow breaths 3m
- **Segment 2 — A → 3 before B.** Evenness of the fast figures under bravura energy — **don't rush** ♩=74
- Quick break 3m
- **Segment 3 — 3 before B → C.** Dotted rhythms **crisp, not triplet-ised**; string crossings clean at speed ♩=74
- Quick break 3m
- **Segment 4 — C → 13 after C.** Bow distribution so the big phrases sustain without crushing; right arm and **back stay relaxed** — this is the back-risk stretch ♩=74
- Quick break 3m
- **Put it back together** — opening through 13 after C in one go, about 10% under tempo. The whole point is the segments reconnect: listen for any little pause where they join ♩=66
- Brahms cool-down — sustained, singing tone, easy on the body 12m
- **Log today's session** — what you worked on, how long, how hard it felt (1–10), how your back is
- Save your best Don Juan pass of the day — the BPM you reached and how it went
- **Back check after playing**
Coming up
Fri
Run-through — mock takesSat
Audition — excerpt workSun
Audition — excerpt workMon
Audition — excerpt workTue
Technique — scales + études