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.
Tap the kind of practice, then 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 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]

This year I want a bigger sound out of you. You have the weight, the muscles and the technique for it. Use the wrist and come from above the keyboard.

Technique

1. ⬛️ The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises, No. 2 in A major (Hanon)

On hold. Leave it alone until I say otherwise.

Theory

2. 🟪 Celebrate Theory, Level 6, Unit 4 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: Fix page 51, then do pages 52 and 53.

Fix the purple pen on page 51.
Pages 52 and 53. Identify size first. Think of the bottom note as the tonic of a scale, then identify quality.

Musicianship

3. 🟪 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100 (Burgmüller)

THIS WEEK: Continue on from No. 8.

Sight-reading. Continue on from No. 8.

4. 🟪 Mikrokosmos, Book II (Bartók)

THIS WEEK: Continue on from No. 52.

Sight-reading. Stopped at No. 52.

Repertoire

5. 🟩 Three Preludes, No. 1 in B-flat major (Gershwin) — print and file

THIS WEEK: Print the Gershwin and put it in your red binder.

Print the Gershwin and put it in your red binder. You will be working from the blog now, so you want the music open beside it.

6. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 19-21

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on the pause between 19 and 20. Once a day is enough.

Spotting. Three correct in a row. Pick your focus in the panel first.

The pause between 19 and 20 is the thing. Once a day is enough.

7. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 7-10

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row: pedal exactly as marked, accents clear.

Spotting. Three correct in a row.

Pedal exactly as it is marked in red pen.
Accents clear in the right hand.
No pedal on the first one. Pedal on the downbeat.

8. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 11-12

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on the left-hand fingering, no pedal.

Spotting. Three correct in a row.

Left hand articulation and fingering: 1 on the note after the grace note, then change the 2 to finger 5 so the octave connects.
No pedal at all in 11 and 12.

9. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, m. 22

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on the staccatos and the breath before the 32nds.

Spotting. Three correct in a row. Three things to watch:

Right hand staccato.
Left hand staccato on the G, accented, no pedal.
A little breath right before the 32nd notes.

Erase the pink circle and mark a staccato over the accent and over the upper G.

10. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 26-31

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row, focused on the expression.

Spotting. Three correct in a row. Focus on the expression.

11. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 32-41

THIS WEEK: Five times through right, left, together, very slowly.

Learning, not spotting. Very slowly, no metronome needed.

Right hand alone, left hand alone, hands together. Five times through that cycle in one practice session.

12. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 42-49

THIS WEEK: Speed build up to m.m. 116 per eighth note.

Speed build. Work up to m.m. 116 per eighth note.

Smaller sections if you need them — two measures at a time, right, left, together.

13. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 52-53

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on the fingering change and the octaves.

Spotting. Three correct in a row.

Fingering change in 52.
Octaves in 53. General rule for octaves: 4 on the black keys, 5 on the white keys.

14. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 54-56

THIS WEEK: Legato on the upper notes, wrist down on beats one and two.

Legato on the upper notes, hold the lower down-stem quarter notes.

Wrist throws down on beats one and two, and pops up on the half beats. Start with a low wrist and come up gradually at the end of the phrase.

15. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, m. 61

THIS WEEK: Accent practice: three times each hand, then three times hands together.

Accent practice. Every other note accented, then the opposite.

Three times each hand, then three times hands together. This is what buys you the finger independence, and next time we speed it up.

Up Next

Prelude No. 2, once these are done. Not an assignment yet.

Review List

Rotate these each week.

Level 6

💚River City Blues (Mier) (Etude)

Level 5

💚💚💚Sunset in Rio (Springer, b. 1968) (List C)

Etude 1: Prelude in G minor, Op. 39 No. 19 (Kabalevsky) (Etude)

Etude 2: Harmony of the Angels, Op. 100 No. 21 (Burgmüller) (Etude)

Level 4

💚💚💜Air in B-flat major (Handel) (List A)

💚💚💚Sonatina in G major, Op. 36 No. 2, II (Clementi) (List B)

💚💚💚Sonatina in G major, Op. 36 No. 2, III (Clementi) (List B)

💚💚💚Dream Catcher (Crosby Gaudet) (List C)

💚💚💜Cool Cat Waltz (Pine) (List C)

💚💚💚Ballade in C minor, Op. 100 No. 15 (Burgmüller) (Etude)

💚💚💚Masquerade, from Fancy-Free (Niamath, b. 1939) (Etude)

💚💚💚Solitude, No. 9 for right hand alone (Grill) (Etude)

💚💚💚The Somersault King (Etude)

Level 3

💚💚💚Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126 (Anonymous) (List A)

💚💚💚Sonatina in C major, Op. 36 No. 1, all three movements (Clementi) (List B)

💚💚 💚Sonatina in C major, Op. 36 No. 1, III (Clementi) (List B)

💚💚💚Funny Puppy (Crosby Gaudet) (List C)

💚💚💚L'Arabesque, Op. 100 No. 2 (Burgmüller) (Etude)

💚💚💚Little Piece No. 7 (Tajčević) (Etude)

Ungraded

Linus & Lucy

Für Elise, WoO 59 (Beethoven)

💚Waltz in A minor, Op. posth., B. 150 (Chopin)

RCMCP Exams

Level 4: June 2, 2023, 11:26 am

Masquerade by Linda Niamath (b. 1939) (L. 4, Etude)
Solitude by Joyce Grill? (L. 4 Etude)
Air in B-flat Major by Handel (L. 4, A)
Sonatina Op. 36 No. 2, Movement 3 (L. 4, B)
Cool Cat Waltz by Katya Pine (L. 4, C)