September 25, 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.

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

  2. Press Start, read the assignment, practice.

  3. Tap the kind of practice, then press Done.

  4. 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: Prepare pages 48 through 51.

⏱ Max 6 minutes per practice session.

  • Pages 48, 49, 50 and 51.

  • Identify the size of the interval first, then the quality. Think of the bottom note as the tonic of a scale.

  • Press Done for the Week when pages 48 to 51 are finished.

Musicianship

Repertoire

4. 🟥 Get a three-ring binder

THIS WEEK: Hole-punch your theory, your piano book and the Gershwin prelude, and put them in the binder.

  • Press Done for the Week when it is all in the binder.

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

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on notes and fingering, then again on position, expression and rhythm.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering.

  • Three correct in a row, or five correct in total, on each focus.

  • Notes and fingering first.

  • Then position, expression and rhythm. Those three keep the notes and fingering in them, so nothing gets dropped.

  • Go slow enough to play it perfectly. Five tries on one spot means the spot is too big. Half a measure is a perfectly good spot.

6. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 7-10

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on expression, with the pedal as your focus.

NFPER focus: expression.

  • Three correct in a row, or five correct in total.

  • Pedal exactly as it is marked.

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

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on expression, left-hand fingering correct.

NFPER focus: fingering, expression.

  • Three correct in a row, or five correct in total.

  • Left hand. Hold finger 1 down and play the written finger numbers.

  • Connect the one group to the next.

8. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, m. 22

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on expression, with the breath before the 32nds.

NFPER focus: expression.

  • Three correct in a row, or five correct in total.

  • Staccatos as marked.

  • A little breath right before the 32nd notes.

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

THIS WEEK: Three correct in a row on expression, pedaling, notes, fingering and rhythm.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, expression, rhythm.

  • Three correct in a row, or five correct in total, on each focus.

  • Watch the pedaling. Not on every eighth note.

  • Metronome for the rhythm focus: m.m. 60.

10. ⬛️ Gershwin Prelude No. 1, mm. 32-41

No assignment this week.

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

THIS WEEK: Speed build to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, position, expression, rhythm.

  • All five focuses on this one.

  • Speed build up to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

  • Watch the flats and sharps.

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

THIS WEEK: Hands together, three correct in a row, up to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, position, expression, rhythm.

  • Hands together. Where it is not hands together the music says so.

  • Fingering change in 52. Octaves in 53: 4 on the black keys, 5 on the white keys.

  • Roll the chord where it is marked.

  • Speed build up to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

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

THIS WEEK: Speed build to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, position, expression, rhythm.

  • Legato on the upper notes, hold the lower quarter notes down.

  • Speed build up to m.m. 120 per eighth note.

14. 🟩 Gershwin Prelude No. 1, m. 61

THIS WEEK: Rhythm practice: all four rotations of long long short short, then long long short short short.

Practice type: Spotting.

  • Start with long long short short. Rotate it through all four positions.

  • When those are solid, do long long short short short, and rotate that one too.

  • Then speed build as fast as you can play it cleanly.

15. 🟥 Print your Gershwin Prelude No. 2

THIS WEEK: Print it.

  • Press Done for the Week when it is printed.

Next Time

16. 🟧 Your theory pages

I am emailing Celebrate Theory, Level 6, Unit 4, pages 48 to 51 to you and your mom to print.

Up Next

We start Prelude No. 2 next lesson. Nothing to practice in it 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)