October 19, 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 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. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 1 (RCM), A natural minor, right hand

THIS WEEK: A natural minor, right hand.

  • Off hold. C major is passed off, both hands.

  • Same shape as C major: two notes for every tick.

  • Elbows in front of your body, wrist up, and don't drop the wrist on the thumb.

2. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 1 (RCM), A natural minor, left hand

THIS WEEK: A natural minor, left hand.

  • Exactly the same as the right hand.

  • Watch the wrist. It flattened out on C major.

Theory

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

THIS WEEK: Pages 45 to 48.

  • Pages 41 to 44 are done.

  • A pair of eighth notes shares one beat. Each one gets half a beat.

  • They get beamed together. A flag is a beam that got ripped off, so the note stands on its own.

  • A half rest gets two beats. A whole rest gets four.

  • Be ready to tell me all about time signatures next time: what the top number means and what the bottom number means.

  • It is in your white three-ring binder.

  • Finish the pages and press Done for the Week.

Musicianship

4. 🟩 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 1 (Berlin and Markow), Set 2

THIS WEEK: One day per practice session. Something brand new every day.

  • Always read the instructions for a Four Star item. They tell you what to do.

  • Play the melodic pattern as written, which means with the right rhythm.

  • Solid blocked means all the notes at the same time. That is a triad.

  • Tap one measure of the beat first, then keep tapping while you speak.

  • Sight playing: study it first, then play it once and don't stop to correct.

  • One new one every day is the whole point. That is how reading gets faster.

  • Use the book, not Newzik. The book stays in your binder.

  • After Day 5 the set is done. Press Done for the Week.

5. 🟩 Note Reading Flashcards, Treble Clef

THIS WEEK: Pass off drills 3, 4, 5 and 6. Say the name and play it at the piano.

  • Drills 1 and 2 are passed off.

  • Scroll the video ahead to drill 3. The red bars show where each drill starts.

  • Say the letter, then play it on the keyboard.

  • Play it where it actually is. A G in the wrong place trains the wrong thing.

  • Read by landmark, then step or skip from it.

  • A skip is line to line, or space to space. Never line to space.

  • Watch the whole video every practice session.

🎥 Flash Card Video, Treble Clef https://youtu.be/ClxsPTfBH5A

6. 🟩 Note Reading Flashcards, Bass Clef

THIS WEEK: Pass off drills 2 and 3. Say the name and play it at the piano.

  • Drill 1 is passed off.

  • Start the video at drill 2.

  • Bass F is line 4. The first ledger line above the staff is middle C.

  • Left hand, and say it out loud as you play.

🎥 Flash Card Video, Bass Clef https://youtu.be/TCL1EjHcLQQ

Repertoire

7. 🟩 Andante in G minor, from Fantasia in G minor, TWV 33:17 (Telemann)

THIS WEEK: Wrist up and forward wrist in measures 5 and 6, and measures 9 and 10.

NFPER focus: position.

  • Piano Repertoire, Level 1, page 7.

  • Keep the wrist level, fingers round, and forward wrist on the last note.

  • Right hand alone in those spots first, then hands together in the same spots.

  • Check the thumb while you are in there. Keep it relaxed.

  • That is the whole practice on this one this week.

  • This is a required piece for your Royal Conservatory exam.

8. 🟪 Heavenly Blue (Gerou)

THIS WEEK: Measures 11 to 19, no pauses. You play it for me next lesson.

  • Measures 11 to 19, straight through with no pauses.

  • We did not get to it at the lesson again, so this carries over as it was.

9. 🟩 The Snake (Christopher), mm. 7-8, right hand

THIS WEEK: Right hand, measures 7 and 8, three times correctly.

  • Go slowly and look at the notes and the finger numbers.

  • Finger 4 on the C.

  • Round fingers, good position.

  • You were much better when you paused and focused first.

10. 🟩 The Snake (Christopher), mm. 8-9, left hand

THIS WEEK: Left hand, measures 8 and 9, three times correctly.

  • Don't guess a note. Read it off the page.

  • Wrist up, and a little stronger.

  • Scale technique: when the thumb crosses under, the wrist does not drop.

11. 🟩 The Snake (Christopher), mm. 1-8, hands together

THIS WEEK: Hands together, measures 1 to 8, three times correctly.

  • Page 41.

  • The four small chunks are one assignment now.

  • Read the note off the page, not off your fingers.

  • Finger 5 on the A in the left hand.

  • Change to the right fingering before you play, not after.

12. 🟩 The Snake (Christopher), mm. 9-13, hands alone

THIS WEEK: Measures 9 to 13, hands alone. That is the end of the piece.

  • New section.

  • Right hand alone, then left hand alone. Not together yet.

  • There is no repeat there.

13. ⬛️ Early One Morning (arr. Silvester)

  • On hold. Don't practice this one yet.

14. ⬛️ This Guy's Disguised (Sowash)

  • On hold. Don't practice this one yet.

How Many Times Through

  • Three full rotations of this whole list before your next lesson. Five would be better.

  • Short day? Five minutes still counts as a day. Don't skip it entirely.

  • If you only ever reach the first few assignments, you are not rotating. Move on and come back.

RCM Certificate Program

  • Goal: Level 1, May-June 2027 exam session, at the National Opera Center.

  • Andante is your List A. The Snake is your List C. Heavenly Blue is your etude.

  • Early One Morning and This Guy's Disguised are both List B pieces. One of them becomes your B.

  • Four Star is the sight reading and ear training part of the exam. That is what the tests at your lesson are.

Books on Loan

  • Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 1 (RCM)

  • Celebration Series, 6th ed., Piano Repertoire, Level 1

  • Celebration Series, 6th ed., Piano Etudes, Level 1

  • Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 1 (2015 Edition)

Four studio books. No markings, they come back. They live in Finn's Piano Binder, and they go back in the binder after every practice.