Today

Sibelius carries four deliverables (NKO, Rotterdam, Dallas, Aspen), so it gets the most care: one section from memory each time, for Dallas. Mozart 5: NKO and Aspen want it without cadenza, **Rotterdam's Round 1 wants it with**, so the cadenza is back. Sit if you need to; blocks stay under 25 minutes.

• Morning back check — give your back a score and note anything bothering it
• Physio set — your set + the next reconditioning step (clear it with your physio first)
• Warm up — open strings, slow full bows, long tones; relaxed, back-aware i 6m
• Scales & arpeggios — 3 octaves in D minor and A major with a rhythm/bowing variant; then slow double-stops (thirds, sixths, octaves) i 8m
• Left-hand drill — Schradieck or Ševčík op.1, even and relaxed i 4m
• Étude — a Rode caprice in a concerto key for register and shifting. Skip if the back or time is tight i 6m
• Ease into the hard part — slow scales in each concerto's key, listening to the register i 4m
• Sibelius, mvt I — exposition and the 2nd-theme high arrivals; the coda / last pages (fast figuration + octaves) get a slice every time. Set to today's goal ♩=92
• Sibelius from memory (Dallas) — Dallas wants the whole of mvt I from memory, cadenza included, in one unedited take. One section per day without the score, then check it against the score and mark anything that drifted. Rotate so the whole movement (cadenza too) is covered every week; target = complete from memory by 22-11, before the auditions take over 6m
• Sibelius — the cadenza: double-stops and pacing, arriving at the re-entry with sound left. In Aspen's cut, and panels sometimes ask for it. Rubato, no click 6m
• Quick break — stand up, reset your posture, 5 slow breaths 3m
• Mozart 5, mvt I — exposition through to the cadenza point: clean articulation, intonation traps, bow lanes. Allegro aperto; set to today's goal (perf ~♩=126–132) ♩=104
• Mozart 5 — the cadenza (Rotterdam Round 1): double-stops and the re-entry, clean and in style. Rubato, no click 6m
• Quick break 3m
• Sight-reading — one short unseen page (an orchestral part or a Classical quartet you don't know), once through at a steady tempo without stopping. NKO may ask for a prima vista 5m
• Put it back together — a joined-up run of whichever concerto passage you worked hardest, ~10% under tempo ♩=84
• Log today's session — what you worked on, how long, how hard it felt (1–10), how your back is
• Save your best pass of the day — the BPM you reached and how it went
• Back check after playing

or just log it →