Had my first lesson with Vardi today in a long while (it's been about two months). We spent probably half the lesson talking about my impressions of teachers, and about what prospects look like at various schools. It was nice to hear his take on things. He then suggested that every evening I draw up a practicing plan for the following day. I was telling him about how lost and unfocused I always get when I have auditions coming up, especially now when I have so much to work on, so he suggested that I write down all of my work for the next day specifically, with notes on what to practice, how to practice it, and for how long. I'm normally against any sorts of guidelines, but he said the trick is to follow the plan precisely, and then at the end of the day analyze what I accomplished, and with that in mind draw up a plan for the next day, and so on. I think I'm gonna give it a try. I'm sure it will help me practice more, and hopefully with a lot more focus. As I was telling Vardi today, I'll often get started working on an excerpt, and then suddenly think, ohmygawd this one passage in Elgar is still kinda shaky better go work on it, and then five minutes later I'm back to the excerpt, because I wasn't quite done. So I hope this little project works out. I'm cautiously optimistic.