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 writes your practice down for you, no comments needed.
Tap the first assignment on your list.
The timer starts by itself. Read it and practice.
When you are finished, press Done. It saves your time and opens the next one.
Need to stop for a minute? Press Pause.
Lost? Press My Assignment List at the top to go back.
Log only what you actually did, on the day you did it. Five minutes is a real entry.
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.
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.
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. 🟩 E-flat major scale, parallel motion, one octave
THIS WEEK: Speed build from 60 to 80.
Speed building: 60 to 80.
Open Speed-building in Practice Tools. The speeds are already filled in for you.
Start at 60. When one speed feels good, go to the next. If a speed is troublesome, go back one and try again.
Always start slow, every session, however confident you feel.
You can also stop for the day and start slow again tomorrow.
Keep the wrist supported when the thumb tucks under. You have more room than you think, so bring the hand over and let go.
Left hand: fingers 5 and 4 want to flare up. Notice it, let it go, keep going. Fixing it mid-scale makes it worse.
Theory
2. 🟧 Celebrate Theory, Preparatory Level (RCM)
Mine to bring. I am printing it for the next lesson.
Same material Griffin is working through, starting from the beginning.
Musicianship
3. ⬛️ Basic Rhythmic Training (Starer)
Still on hold. Nothing to do on this one yet.
4. 🟩 Piano Adventures Sightreading Book, Level 3B (Faber), pages 10 to 15
THIS WEEK: Pages 10 to 15. One a day, plus one or two extra.
NFPER focus: expression.
Study it first. Key, time signature, how the rhythms count, the dynamics.
Then play it straight through. Keep the beat through every mistake and do not go back to correct anything.
Hands in your lap at the end. Decide what to fix, then play it again.
Third time through, expression only: dynamics, slurs, accents, staccato, the diminuendos.
One or two things at a time is the method. Reading the notes and the expression at once is what you are building toward, not what you start with.
Repertoire
5. 🟩 Bourrée in D minor (Graupner)
THIS WEEK: Choose two or three different ways to play it, commit to each one, then pick your favorite.
NFPER focus: expression.
RCM Level 1, List A.
Left Hand Legato for now. The detached, sticky sound comes later, on a different piece.
The printed dynamics are an editor's, not Graupner's, so you can choose your own.
Commit to one way, play it as if that is the way. Then do a contrasting way and commit to that. Then choose.
No ornamentation this week. Dynamics only.
The forward motion you are doing on the long notes is right. Subtle is all it needs.
6. 🟧 Please to Meet Me, piano arrangement
Mine. I am texting you the notated arrangement we worked out at the lesson.
That is the group version, kept sparse the way you play it.
We carry on with the dictation at the next lesson. The solo, more embellished version comes after you are confident on this one.
7. ⬛️ The School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 (Czerny)
Not yet. Nothing to do on this one until I say so.
Next Time
8. 🟧 Your first improvisation assignments
Still mine to bring.
Royal Conservatory, Level 1
Three pieces, one from each list, plus one etude. The Practice Guide shows the same thing at the bottom of your assignment list.
What you have
List A: Bourrée in D minor (Graupner)
What you still need
List B
List C
One etude
Goals This Year
Know your way around a key, so getting lost is recoverable.
Be able to start from any measure, not just the beginning.
One song at a time: a solo arrangement, plus the technique and theory of that same key.