September 24, 2026 (60 min · in-person)

2026-2027 Events

  • October 17-18, 2026 — Group Classes

  • December 5-6, 2026 — Group Classes

  • January 24, 2027 — Performance Class & Guest Artist Workshop

  • February 27-28, 2027 — Group Classes

  • April 10-11, 2027 — Group Classes

  • May 22, 2027 — Student Final Recital

How to Practice

Use the Practice Guide below. It logs your practice for you — no comments needed.

  1. Press Start from # whatever number it shows. It picks up where you stopped last time.

  2. Press Start, read the assignment, practice.

  3. Tap the kind of practice, then press Done.

  4. Press Next practice item and go again.

Capped items count down and chime. Keep going if it's going well.

Some assignments finish. Those carry a Done for the Week button. Press it when the job is done and the assignment comes off your list. Technique and repertoire don't have one; those are every day.

Need the metronome, a recorder or the NFPER colors? They are in Practice Tools, right under the practice types. Tap one and it opens inside your assignment. Tap Close to put it away.

Got something to say about an assignment? Paste the line it gives you into the comments and add your note.

Log only what you actually did, on the day you did it. Five minutes is a real entry.

Log every practice session from today. The competition starts October 1 — practicing and logging now is how we get the kinks out.

🟩 on track · 🟨 needs extra attention · 🟪 didn't get to it at the lesson · 🟥 priority · ⬛️ on hold, don't practice this one · 🟧 mine, not yours

[PRACTICE TOOLS]

Technique

1. 🟩 RCM Technique, Level 5

THIS WEEK: Arpeggios again, with one round of accent practice and then the fingering and the wrist.

⏱ Max 5 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Polishing.

Three things, in this order.

  • Correct fingering. In the left hand on white-key arpeggios use finger 4, not 3. Three opens the hand more and that means more tension.

  • Wrist position. Left hand going up: wrist slightly raised, leading. Coming down: lower it. Right hand is the opposite. Don't hike it.

  • Accent practice, one round, both modes. Strong-weak all the way, then weak-strong.

Then spend the rest of the time on fingering and wrist position.

🎥 Arpeggios: wrist movement and accent practice https://youtube.com/shorts/YNCacrS3NSw

The cap went from 7 minutes to 5. You said you got through them in about three.

2. 🟧 RCM Technical Requirements, Level 5 (Newzik)

THIS WEEK: I'm printing the Level 5 technique and bringing it.

Nothing for you to do on this one.

Theory

3. 🟩 Theory 5, Unit 2

THIS WEEK: Finish Unit 2, from page 18.

⏱ Max 10 minutes per practice session.

Press Done for the Week when the unit is finished.

  • We went through your questions on compound meter, duplets, and combining rests and notes.

  • Before you write any rhythm, settle two things first: the time signature, and the shortest note value. That is what was making them come out wrong.

4. 🟩 Theory 5, Unit 3

THIS WEEK: Scales and key signatures, pages 34 to 37.

⏱ Max 10 minutes per practice session.

Press Done for the Week when you reach page 37.

  • Bonus if you want it: pages 38 to 41.

  • The whole unit runs 34 to 51. We are not doing all of it this week.

5. ⬛️ Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 8

Not this week.

Musicianship

7. ⬛️ Basic Rhythmic Training, No. 115 (Starer)

Not this week.

8. ⬛️ Sight-Reading: Czerny, Op. 599, from No. 64

Not this week.

Repertoire

9. 🟪 Prelude, Op. 39 No. 19 (Kabalevsky)

THIS WEEK: Keep it going, and make at least 3 of the 5 minutes slow practice.

⏱ Max 5 minutes per practice session.

  • You can already play it up to tempo. That is not what the five minutes is for.

  • At least 70 percent of it slow.

10. 🟩 Invention No. 4 in D minor, BWV 775 (Bach)

THIS WEEK: Write the fingering into every highlighted section, and have all of it playable.

No time cap. Whatever is left after everything above.

  • Fingering landmarks, not every note. Enough that you never have to work it out twice.

  • All of the highlighted material playable with the correct fingering: red, beige and green.

  • Work in the binder now, not the tablet.

Position

  • Stay inside the black keys. About an inch in, not way up.

  • The rule: don't come outside the block right after you have played a black key.

  • I want to see less movement than I saw today.

The fingering corrections we wrote in together are in your score.

11. 🟪 L'Indifférente (Rameau)

THIS WEEK: Listen to both recordings, on three different practice days.

Done for the week after 3 sessions.

RCM Level 6, List A. From Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin. Your new Baroque piece.

  • Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764).

  • Nothing to play yet.

  • After the third session the button appears and the assignment comes off your list.

  • Tell me next lesson whether you like it.

🎥 Isidora Kuzmanovic https://youtu.be/ftBDhpnfd88

🎥 Ingmar Lazar https://youtu.be/f6EJEIQ-xt8

Review List

Review these with your music. You don't need to get through all of them in one session.

RCM Level 5

Deux rigaudons, from Suite in E Minor, RCT 2, by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) (List A)

Fantasia in E-flat Major, TWV 33:35, 2nd Section, by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) (List A)

Sonatina in F Major, Anh. 5, No. 2, attr. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (List B)

Lyric Pieces, Book I, Op. 12, No. 2, Waltz, by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) (List C)

RCM Level 4

Air in B-flat Major, HWV 471, by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) (List A)

Sonatina in F Major, Op. 168, No. 1, I. Moderato cantabile, by Anton Diabelli (1781-1858) (List B)

Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36, No. 2, III. Allegro, by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) (List B)

Etude in E Minor, Op. 65, No. 42, by Carl Albert Loeschhorn (1819-1905) (Etude)

Masquerade, by Linda Niamath (Etude)

RCM Level 3

Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126, Anonymous, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725) (List A)

Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114, attr. Christian Petzold (1677-1733) (List A)

Minuet in G Minor, BWV Anh. 115, attr. Christian Petzold (1677-1733) (List A)

Sonatina in A Minor, Op. 94, No. 4, by Albert Biehl (List B)

Clowns, Op. 39, No. 20, from 24 Pieces for Children, by Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) (List C)

Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2, by Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller (1806-1874) (Etude)

RCM Level 2

Impertinence, HWV 494, by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) (List A)

Etude in D Minor, Op. 82, No. 65, by Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901) (Etude)

Other

Yesterday, by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Step-by-Step Practice Flow

  1. Identify a section to record.

  2. Record your section once — video is best, but audio is fine too.

  3. Listen back with one color/goal in mind.

  4. As you listen, mark your music using that color anywhere it needs improvement.

  5. Repeat for each remaining color, one at a time, until all five have been addressed.

  6. Choose a small "spot" section from your markings to fix.

  7. "Spot" until it's solid — ✅ 3 times in a row correctly, or ✅ 5 total correct repetitions, then move on.

  8. Focus on one or two colors at a time while practicing that spot.

  9. 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?