October 6, 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.

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

  • Press Start, read the assignment, practice.

  • When you are finished, press Done.

  • 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 Section-Work colors? They are in Practice Tools. 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. Official tracking starts Monday, October 19, the Monday after our first group class. 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. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 5 (RCM), parallel scales, page 8

THIS WEEK: Page 8. Accent practice at m.m. 88, then the speed ladder.

⏱ Max 6 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Polishing.

Speed building: 116 to 138.

  • Page 8 only this week. Pages 7 and 9 come off.

  • Accent practice first, no faster than m.m. 88. Same accent practice as before.

  • Then run each of the scales on page 8 up the ladder, 116 to 138.

  • Position is what got in the way at speed. Keep the hand over the keys instead of spreading it across them.

  • Soft when you go fast. Holding on to the notes is what builds tension.

  • Play on the surface of the key. It should feel light under your fingers.

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

Theory

2. 🟩 Celebrate Theory, Level 5, Unit 3 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: Complete page 51.

⏱ Max 15 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Learning.

  • Pages 42 through 49 are done.

  • Page 51 finishes the unit.

  • Press Done for the Week when page 51 is finished.

3. 🟩 Celebrate Theory, Level 5, Unit 4 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: Print Unit 4 and do all four pages.

Practice type: Learning.

  • Four pages. Do the whole unit.

  • You print it. It does not need to be in color.

  • Press Done for the Week when the unit is finished.

4. ⬛️ Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 8 (RCM)

On hold.

Musicianship

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

On hold.

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

On hold.

Repertoire

7. 🟩 Invention No. 4 in D minor, BWV 775 (Bach), mm. 1-17

THIS WEEK: Measures 1 to 17 straight through, no pauses, slow tempo.

  • No pauses. That is the whole point of this one.

  • Slow enough that you never have to stop. Slower than feels necessary.

  • The four small chunks are one assignment now.

8. 🟩 Invention No. 4 in D minor, BWV 775 (Bach), mm. 18-22

THIS WEEK: Left hand alone first, then right hand alone, then hands together very slowly.

  • Left hand first, until it is smooth. That order, every time.

  • Then right hand alone, trying different fingerings for the trills.

  • Then hands together, very slowly.

  • You do not have to keep a steady beat here. Be free with the left hand.

9. 🟩 Sonatina in F major, Anh. 5 No. 2 (Beethoven)

THIS WEEK: From the top with the metronome at m.m. 76 per eighth note.

⏱ Max 7 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Review.

  • Metronome m.m. 76 per eighth note.

  • Exactly the same assignment as last week. This is maintenance.

  • When the timer goes off, mark where you stopped and pick up there next time.

  • Three or four sessions gets you through the whole piece about twice.

  • Any note or fingering error, go back one measure and fix it, then carry on. Don't start over.

  • Playing it a lot at that slow speed is what ingrains the movements and the expression.

10. 🟩 L'Indifférente, from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin (Rameau), mm. 1-16

THIS WEEK: Measures 1 to 16, hands alone then hands together, with a focus on the trills.

Practice type: Learning.

  • Correct notes and correct fingering first.

  • Hands alone, then hands together.

  • The comma on the right is a mordent: the note, the note below, then the note.

  • The trill with a tail on the end starts on the note above and finishes on the note below.

  • Untidy on purpose in places. That is harpsichord performance practice, not sloppiness.

  • Bring out the top voice where the line is melodic.

  • The two recordings are below if you want to hear the style again.

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

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

11. ⬛️ Prelude, Op. 39 No. 19 (Kabalevsky)

On review, on hold. Don't practice this one for now.

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