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.
Official tracking started Monday, October 19.
🟩 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 104 to 144.
Speed building: 104 to 144.
Start at 104. When one speed feels good, go to the next. If a speed is troublesome, drop back one and try it again.
The faster you go, the more tense you are likely to be. So when you play faster, think softer. Think lighter.
That is what loosens it. Tension at speed feels like grabbing, and thinking light is the fix.
Always start slow, every session, however confident you feel.
Theory
2. 🟩 Celebrate Theory, Level 1, Unit 5 (RCM), pages 48 to 51
THIS WEEK: Unit 5, pages 48 to 51, with Griffin.
These are the same four pages Griffin has, so you can learn it together.
Scan Units 2 and 3 first. If something is not clear and easy, do it. If it is, move on.
Skip Unit 4. It is the listening unit and we do not need it right now.
The scale pattern is what I will ask you about. Anything in bold I might quiz you on.
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 13 to 18
THIS WEEK: Pages 13 to 18. 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: Experiment with different dynamics - Louds, softs, crescendo, decrescendo.
NFPER focus: expression.
RCM Level 1, List A.
The printed dynamics are most likely the editor's, not Graupner's. Forget about them and put in your own.
One shape: the first line all nice and strong, then suddenly softer on the second line.
The other: crescendo all the way through the first line to the end, then start the second line soft.
Keep those wrist movements going. If you want to play really soft you have to stay in motion, or you are just creating tension.
6. 🟩 German Dance in D major, Hob. IX:22 No. 2 (Haydn)
THIS WEEK: Start learning it. Four measures at a time, right hand, left hand, then hands together.
Same way you started the Bourrée. Small chunks, hands alone first.
Really slowly. Speed is not the job this week.
Any questions, reach out. You can send me a video of a section, just tell me the measure number.
7. 🟧 Please to Meet Me, piano arrangement
Mine. We carry on with the dictation at the next lesson.
That is the group version, kept sparse the way you play it. The solo, more embellished version comes after you are confident on this one.
8. ⬛️ The School of Velocity, Op. 299 No. 3 (Czerny)
Not yet. Nothing to do on this one until I say so.
Next Time
9. 🟧 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.