Day one of planned practice: reasonably successful. I discovered that when practicing is broken into manageable chunks, not only is it more focused, but it goes by much more quickly and easily. For the first time in a LONG time, three hours flew by like nothing. I'd try it again tomorrow, but I have a videotape to make, and some specific problems to fix before I do so - tomorrow morning's going to be a living hell, but hopefully when it's over, I'll have a video ready to take to my mom's school, where apparently there is DVD burning software that I can use, but the person who knows the equipment is only there tomorrow, and needs the video camera back by Friday . . . talk about a crunch. I may need to settle for some half-assed excerpts. At least there's no application fee for the place that wants this tape, so I don't have anything to lose.
So tonight's orchestra rehearsal was exciting. Pinchas Zuckerman is guest conducting, and during the break came up to me and said he'd been watching me for the past several rehearsals, was really impressed by what I was doing, and invited me to come to some festival in Ottowa this summer. I'm not sure this place is up my alley, but I was really flattered, to say the least. He gave me some very interesting advice about getting a bow custom built, and said I should consider experimenting with a redesigned bridge as well. He spent a good bit of time working with a violinist at Curtis with only one arm who plays with a prosthetic, so I guess he's no stranger to figuring things of this sort out. Either way, it was exciting, to say the least.