🎨 Color-Focus Practice (NFPER)
At the top of your music, write NFPER using the following color system:
N – Notes – correct pitches and accidentals (🟦 Blue)
F – Fingering – consistent, effective finger choices (🟧 Orange)
P – Position – hand shape, posture, and keyboard geography (🟪 Purple)
E – Expression – phrasing, dynamics, articulation, tone, etc. (🟩 Green)
R – Rhythm – steady pulse, accurate timing, and rests (🟥 Red)
âś… If you're only recording audio, just use NER.
Step-by-Step Practice Flow
Identify a section to record
Record your section once — video is best, but audio is fine too.
Listen back with one color/goal in mind.
As you listen, mark your music using that color anywhere it needs improvement.
Repeat for each remaining color, one at a time, until all five have been addressed.
Choose a small “spot” section from your markings to fix.
“Spot” until it’s solid — meaning:
âś… 3 times in a row correctly, or
âś… 5 total correct repetitions, then move on.
Focus on one or two colors at a time while practicing that spot.
Use the troubleshooting checklist below if you're stuck.
🔧 Troubleshooting Tips
🎯 If you’ve tried to fix something three times in-a-row and it’s still not working, don’t just repeat it — troubleshoot:
Do you need to slow down?
Should you practice hands alone?
Could you make the spot even smaller?
Would technical exercises help (staccato, accents, etc.)?
Do you need to think ahead more clearly?
Do you need blocking practice?
Sonatina in G Major op 168 No. 2 Allegro moderato by Diabelli
Deux Rigaudon by Jean-Philippe Rameau
đź’šBeethoven Sonatina Anh. 5 no 2
Color-Focus Practice (NFPER)
mm. 1-27 (if this is too big, you can make the section smaller.
mm. 27-42
mm. 42-56
mm. 56-60
mm. 60-End.
If you can’t get to all sections in one practice session, rotate the sections at the next practice session until you get through all of them.
Combine sections on the next time around to make them bigger.
🟪Fantasia in E flat Major by Georg Philippine Telemann (L. 5, A)
Color-Focus Practice (NFPER)
🟪Four Star Sight-reading and Ear Tests Level 5 (tests PDF)
Prepare Review Set 2
When you do the sight-playing examples, keep in mind that Dustin does not expect you to remember
đź–¤RCM Technical Requirements Level 5 in Newzik
đź–¤Basic Rhythmic Training by Robert Starer
Prepare no. 115
Measures 1-4 - study in your mind first, then clap and ta.
Same thing for measures 5-8
Then put them together!
đź–¤Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 8
đź–¤Sight-reading: Czerny Op. 599. Left off at No. 64
BEFORE YOU BEGIN: FOCUS
Keep a pulse no matter what and no matter how slow.
Don’t fix mistakes in realtime.
Let notes go if needed and look ahead to the next landing point.
Paused:
Bartok: Mikrocosmos, No. 6
J.S. Bach, 6 Preludes, BWV 939-943, No. 4
Finished:
BĂĽrgmuller, 25 Etudes, Op. 100
đź’šSonatina in F Major, op. 168, no. 1. I. Moderato cantabile by Anton Diabelli (L. 4, B)
đź’š25 Etudes, Op. 100, No. 15, Ballade by Johann Friedrich BurgmĂĽller (L. 4, Etude)
đź’šAir in B-flat Major, HWV 471, by George Frideric Handel (L. 4, A)
đź’šClementi, Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36 No. 2: Movement III (L. 4, B)
đź’šMarch in D Major BWV Anh. 122 C. P. E. Bach (L. 4, A)
đź’šEtude in E Minor op 65 no 42 by Carl Albert Loeschhorn (L. 4 Etude)
đź’šMasquerade by Linda Niamath (L. 4, Etude)
đź’šClowns by Kabalevsky (L. 3, C)
đź’šArabesque op. 100 no. 2 by Johann Friedrich BurgmĂĽller (1806-1874) (L. 3, Etude)
đź’šLeft Alone by Joyce Grill (L. 3, Etude)
đź’šSonatina in A Minor op. 94 no. 4 (L. 3, B)
đź’šđź’šSonatina in C Major op. 36 no. 1 by Clementi (L. 3, B)
đź’šđź’śMusette in D Major BWV Anh. 126, attr. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) (L. 3, A)
đź’šđź’šMinuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114 by Christian Petzold (1677-1733) (L. 3, A)
đź’šMinuet in G Minor, BWV Anh. 115 by Christian Petzold (1677-1733) (L. 3, A)
đź’šđź’śImpertinence, HWV 494 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) (L. 2, A)
đź’šđź’šI Spy by Melody Bober (L. 2, B)
đź’šđź’šCanon in A Minor by Cornelius Gurlitt (L. 2, C)
đź’šđź’šEtude in D Minor op. 82 No. 65 by Cornelius Gurlitt (L. 2, Etude