Daily Practice - Auditions

Greetings,

I am taking a break from German bow for a few weeks as I prepare for some upcoming auditions.

Kalamazoo and Indianapolis are the two symphonies with-in a 200 mile radius with openings for a section player. It may seem like quite a distance, but as I've been accustomed to driving 1200 miles round trip for work in New York, 400 round trip seems like a breeze.

As for the daily practice:

Every day I take one scale and play a variety of fingerings and bowings. I've been using the Eugene Levinson "The School of Agility" as a guide. It's a book that I've had for years and didn't bother with. Today was G major, yesterday was F major, and the day before F# major. 

Playing through the various fingerings with the rhythm and bowing variations takes about an hour. Metronome click on to keep me honest, and accurate. I follow his recommended patterns: 3  quarters slurred, separate; 6 eights slurred, separate; the arpeggio; triplets slurred; sixteenths slurred; and I choose a few of the other variations depending on my mood. Two slurred/two separate (or reversed), syncopated triplets, two legato/two portato or slurred staccato.

I also like staring fresh by reading a few of the Bille art of the bow variations. 
I am playing through No. 4.
Today, I played through variations 1-22. 

Lasty, I will work on some of the excerpts for the auditions. I will focus on the least familiar and the shared repertoire. 

Meanwhile, I am also close to memorized - which I never forced myself todo - on the Allemande from the 1st Bach Cello suite.

Happy practicing!