Day 7

The weekend went as planned, and I am happy to report that my schedule is still going well, as well as the scheduled practicing involved.

Yesterday and today, for Dean Committee reasons that I cannot disclose, were quite long, and my body is sore and my brain mush. However, I must conquer! Arneis rehearsal tonight. More Beethoven 95. Good times.

There has been some recital drama over the past week but fortunately its pretty much done, thank God. The new plan is Debussy, Franck, and Bach g minor. I've worked the g minor sonata often enough, but never performed it. Still no confirmed date, but hoping to have that figured out by Wednesday. Eek.

Time to go eat. I forgot my packed dinner in the fridge at home, so its Chipotle time for me. Yum.

PS - Go Purdue and Butler! Indiana basketball is the best.

Day 4

After spending last night at Heidi's, I enjoyed a ride to BU this morning to practice after Heidi dropped off Adelaide at her own school (which is close by). With an arrival of just after 8:30, I was able to practice from 8:45-10:45 smoothly and without any problems. It felt good - was rough at first - I was so tired after not getting into bed till one and waking up before 7 (all you mothers out there I know I am a wimp when it comes to sleep) - but I survived and was somewhat more prepared for the Bach Birthday Celebration rehearsal at Emmanuel this afternoon.

March Madness has hit and I'm watching it right now while typing this and doing laundry. Watching it though has made me realize how much I miss the Olympics, even though towards the end I was getting a little bored. Eh.

Last night Arneis found out we did not make it into the next round for Fischoff. Its a long dramatic story, but the short version is we had a recording session in early February that we felt good about, but the recording engineer lost all the footage (need I remind CCE that for Fischoff it has to be a dvd? So annoying). He had all the audio but none of the visual. So we had to use stuff from November, which, lets face it - things sounded much better in February than they did in November. This is a disappointment, of course, but I am also a tiny bit relieved as it frees up some days that I wasn't counting on in early May. And we already have plenty going on from May - July.

On my way to Emmanuel today I saw a guy walking his squirrel. On a leash. This has to be one of the more bizarre things I've seen. And I will also mention that the squirrel didn't seem to be enjoying it. I'm half wondering if he captured the squirrel five minutes earlier in a nearby park and started dragging it around on the leash.

The spring weather here over the past three days doesn't fool me. I expect another snow storm next week.

Day 3

This morning was an earlier case morning - up at 7 instead of 7:30. I've been so bad with the blog lately, I'm sure many do not know that I am the graduate student representative for the College of Fine Arts Dean Search Committee here at BU.

I wish I had the willpower and need for less sleep to report that I practiced from 7:30 to 8:30 am this morning, before the meeting, but alas, I know my limits and that did NOT happen.

However, I just practiced for an hour and a half, and will be practicing tonight after teaching as well, so things are still on track.

Tomorrow morning will finally be a much needed 3-hour morning practice session. These are few and far between, but cherished and I can't wait to get some of this recital rep more figured out. I'm playing Debussy, Franck, and Prokofiev 1 sonatas for my recital (which has yet to have a date because of an Arneis schedule that is still in flux).

Speaking of Arneis, my summer is shaping up: we have been accepted to the Juilliard Quartet Seminar in NYC the third week of May, the Banff Quartet Seminar for three weeks in June, and then of course the Muir program in Utah for three weeks in July. Add all of that to the fact that I'll be moving for the first time in four years, the action for me doesn't stop until August 1st. And then a month after that begins my final year as a student attending classes.

(sigh) Life is going fast!

Day 2

Good morning to all,

While this morning does not have an early practice time, it does have an early start. I am leaving in five minutes to go downtown to have rehearsal with the one and only KM.

KM (initials for privacy) is a harpsichordist (and witch) who has invited me to partake in the Palm Sunday service at her church of employment in Reading, MA. We are playing a baroque sonata together. I mean witch in the sense of wicca.

The practicing for today, alas, has to be moved to a bit inbetween class and orchestra, and then after teaching tonight at 8 pm.

But I was up at 7:30! Day 2 so far so good.

Day 1

Today is Day 1 of my new regimen for the rest of the spring semester.

It is in three parts:

1. Be awake by 7:30 am every week day from now until April 29th (the last day of the semester).

2. On the days where my day doesn't begin till after 9 am, practice at 9 am until first scheduled event of the day.

3. If I have a less scheduled day, practice for two hours. This means if I can sleep a little more and not start practicing till 10 or 11 am, but two hours in the day must be accomplished.

There are several reasons for this:

1. Mostly because I have no other time to practice during the day and usually no time in the evenings either.

2. The older I get, the less inclined I am to practice at the end of the day, and the better and better I practice at the BEGINNING of the day.

3. I have come to realize that when my sleep schedule is consistent, and more importantly, I get up at the same time every day, I am less tired during the day.

4. If I get up at 7:30 am every day, I will actually want to sleep at 11:30 pm instead of 2 am - and then will be able to get up earlier the next day - its all obviously a cycle.

5. I have a sh**-load (pardon the language but its true) of music to learn, from my recital rep, to my orchestra rep, to my work/gig rep, and I am determined to be well prepared for all of it.

There are a rare few cases where I will need to be at a determined location BEFORE 9 am - those days obviously I will not be practicing at 9 am, which is why the regimen is in three parts.

It would be wonderful if my life was structured as such that I had a regular time all the time in which to practice, but every day is different - and my life has become busier than ever before. I am blessed to have work, but hopefully with a better scheduled practicing/sleeping regimen, I will feel less stressed and more accomplished.

I am persistent. I shall conquer!

I try so hard to get my life to be less stressful, yet I've spent the last few hours cleaning up a mess because I didn't write down a rehearsal time correctly. Its all my fault. I have no one to blame but myself, and now its creating havoc on other people's Saturday.

When does it ever end?