August 29, 2026 (6 of 8)

Strong Attack, Immediate Release

Repertoire

**🟩Minuet in G Minor, BWV Anh. 115, attr. Christian Petzold (1677-1733), from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (L. 3, A)**

Nice work — the fixes from last week are in place.
m. 24 LH - change the articulation to a slur. Play it legato.
Why: the RH is stagnant there, just sustaining one note. The LH suddenly takes over the movement, and it’s three stepwise motions. When one hand goes still, listen for where the motion moved to.
Right elbow - just check in with it this week. Put a post-it note on the piano that says “right elbow” if that helps. Be kind to your body, say hello to it, and we’ll keep an eye on it together.
5 minutes of hands alone practice.
3 minutes of starting from random measures - you should be able to begin anywhere in the piece. This keeps it from being only muscle memory.
Ornaments are our next step (not yet - just so you know what’s coming).

🟪Lemon Sherbet Rag by Barbara Arents (L. 3, C)

Fix m. 4 and last measure (see the audio in Newzik labeled mm. 3 and 4)
Practice with mm. 88, 96, and 104

**🟪Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126, Anonymous, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725) (L. 3, A)**

Dynamics were so good!
Make the ending sound like more of an “ending” by gradually slowing down (subtle) and increasing the dynamic.
The rhythm needs to be rock solid in the LH. Just listen for this as you play it.

🟪Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36, No. 1, first movement: Allegro, by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) (L. 3, B)

mm. 9 and 11 - RH raise wrist on repeated quarter notes.
m. 3 LH - be very careful about coming off rests.
Expressive decisions related to the hierarchy of the beat. M. 1 for example - the last two notes: which one is softer?
Keep the LH alberti bass in mm. 9, 11, 32, 34 - softer.
Next lesson increase tempo.

🟩Sonatina in A Minor, Op. 94, No. 4, first movement: Allegro moderato, by Albert Biehl (L. 3, B)

Beautiful. The expression is sounding sensitive, the ends of your phrases are shaped and a little softer, and you did exactly what the blog asked for with the eighth-note motives. Good work.
mm. 18-19 LH - connect the C to the G. Imagine a slur over those notes. Start by practicing LH alone. Small thing, means a lot.
The note to watch is the lowest left-hand note on beat 1 — the bass note that starts the measure. This applies in mm. 1-4 and mm. 9-11, and everywhere those passages come back. You are sustaining that bass note for the full measure, as though it were written as a dotted half note. It isn’t. Hold it for roughly a half note’s worth, then release it — the rest of the measure should sound without it still ringing underneath.
To be clear about what this is not: this is not about the notes above it, and it is not about the right hand. It is only the bass note you put down on beat 1.
If you aren’t sure whether you’re doing it, play a measure and listen for whether that first bass note is still sounding when you arrive at beat 3. If it is, you’re holding too long. You can also practice it LH alone, deliberately lifting the finger on beat 3.
m. 42 is the clearest example in the whole piece: you hold that left-hand A all the way through into m. 43. Don’t. The small expressive hold exists to help the bass note carry, but we shouldn’t be able to notice you doing it.
Why it matters: you may get an RCM comment that these aren’t dotted half notes.
Forte practice - mm. 34, 36, and 50. For these, the attack comes from ABOVE the keyboard, with a forward wrist. Momentum into the keys is what gives you that crisp, suddenly-a-little-angry sound - and then it’s sweet again right after.
How to practice the above: start one measure before each one (so m. 33, m. 35, m. 49). Right hand alone, 5 times correctly each. Then add the left hand. It may suddenly feel like you never practiced it once hands are together - that’s normal. If it’s hard, slow down. That’s always the number one thing to do.
Why from above here, when close-loud is from the key? Context matters. These are detached notes moving immediately to another note, so coming off the key keeps you in motion. For a single sustained note where you’re staying put, from the key is usually the better choice - it’s not as harsh.
m. 45 was beautiful.
When you’re playing through, don’t stop to fix things. Treat every play-through as a little practice performance so you’re practicing not stopping when you make a mistake. (Your fix sounded great - just save it for practice.)

🟪The Stormy Sea by Anne Crosby Gaudet (L. 3, C)

Come off with hand and foot quickly - last note of the piece.

Theory & Musicianship (move forward)

🟪Theory Level 3: Unit 7.

Complete the unit.
Self-check it first, then give it to your mom to double-check.
When you fix an error, mark where you fixed it - don’t just quietly correct it.

🟩Sight-reading 2B

Complete pages 74-78 (numbers written in the music)
Excellent work - your preparation routine is solid. Keep talking yourself through key, dynamics, meter, then notes, then rhythm.
New challenge: make expression a priority in sight-reading too. Where you played it, the forte could have been louder and the piano quieter. Go for the contrast.

🟩Four Star Level 3

Complete Set 8.
New: log into the RCM Moodle portal and work on the melody playbacks. Go to the melody section, record yourself, then listen back while looking at the answer on the page, and grade yourself.
Both steps matter - you have to actively listen to your own recording against what you see. Just looking at the answer isn’t checking.

Technique

**🟥The Virtuoso Pianist, No. 1, by Charles-Louis Hanon (1819-1900)**

Know the pattern - don’t rely on muscle memory.

Ascending: start on your first note, skip up a 3rd, then step up to the interval of a 6th above where you started, then come back down a 5th.
The descending half is a mirror of that pattern - the same shape upside down. (It is not a retrograde - retrograde would be the pattern played exactly in reverse.)
Practice starting the pattern from different notes - B, then G, then anywhere. Once you truly know the pattern, you can play it across the whole keyboard and eventually transpose it to any key. That’s the fun part.
Don’t skip the last measure. This is the number one mistake people make in Hanon. The ending doesn’t continue the pattern on G - it finishes on A instead.

Close-loud - revised to hands alone.

3 minutes right hand, 3 minutes left hand. Set a timer. Log it in your block as “Hanon - 6 minutes.”
No hands together for now. This is not about playing fast. Once you’re comfortable, we’ll go back to hands together and then move on.
The technique, step by step: fingertips never leave the key - it’s legato, always from the surface of the key, never from above. Hand in position 1. Strong attack from the key with a forward wrist. Then the instant you hear the sound start, relax - release the energy so you’re not still pushing down into the keys.
Two steps, every single note: strong attack, immediate release. If you’re focused on that for every note, you’ll stay engaged the whole time. The minute you stop focusing, close-loud becomes a waste of time.
You have to have some tension to play strongly - that’s fine. What we’re training is letting it go the instant after. That’s what builds endurance.
“Tidy attacks” means the notes sound at exactly the same moment as each other.

🟪RCM Technical Requirements: Level 3

Decide with Dustin which scales to work on (Thursday)
Write “NFPER” next to each item in Newzik. Focus on one or more at a time, and check them off as you go! Please do this as a slow tempo.
Please focus on close fingers to the keys.

⬛️Level 3 Pieces

Focus Tracker

💚💚💛💛💚💛💜❤️💚💚💜❤️💚💜❤️🖤❤️❤️💚💚💚💚💚❤️💚💚🖤🧡💚💚💚💚🧡💚❤️🧡❤️💚💚💚💚💛💚❤️

(53 points)

❤️= 4 POINTS (+ bonus = no reminders)

💚= 3 POINTS

💛= 2 POINTS

💜= 1 POINT

🖤= 0 POINTS

HERE IS THE LINK TO I SPY PRACTICE VIDEO
https://www.videoask.com/f034bc97a

REVIEW LIST

Review the pieces on this list, with your music, one time each week.

🟩Etude in D Minor, Op. 82, No. 65, by Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901) (L. 2, Etude)

🟩Écossaise in G Major, WoO 23, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (L. 2, A)

🟩I Spy by Melody Bober (b. 1955) (L. 2, B)

🟩Farewell, Op. 98, No. 4, by Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956) (L. 2, B)

💚Cranky Cat by Teresa Richert (b. 1964) (L. 1, C)

💚Far Away by Teresa Richert (b. 1964) (L. 1, Etude)

💚This Guy’s Disguised by Bradley Sowash (L. 1, B)

💚German Dance in D Major, Hob. IX:22, No. 2, by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) (L. 1, A)

💜Looking-Glass River by Nancy & Randall Faber (Prep. B)

💚Raptors by Kevin Olson (Prep. B)

💚New Shoes by Linda Niamath (Prep B)

💚The Lively Boy (Prep A)

💚Leaping the Waves with Dolphins (Prep B)

💚Curious Cat

💚Marching by Kabalevsky

🎨 Color-Focus Practice (NFPER)

At the top of your music, write NFPER using the following color system:

N – Notes – correct pitches and accidentals (🟥 Red)
F – Fingering – consistent, effective finger choices (🟨 Yellow)
P – Position – hand shape, posture, and keyboard geography (🟧 Orange)
E – Expression – phrasing, dynamics, articulation, tone, etc. (🟪 Purple)
R – Rhythm – steady pulse, accurate timing, and rests (🟦 Blue)

✅ If you’re only recording audio, just use NER.

Step-by-Step Practice Flow

Record your section once — video is best, but audio is fine too.
Listen back with one color/goal in mind.
As you listen, mark your music using that color anywhere it needs improvement.
Repeat for each remaining color, one at a time, until all five have been addressed.
Choose a small “spot” section from your markings — just a few measures or a tricky passage.
“Spot” until it’s solid — meaning ✅ 3 times in a row correctly, or ✅ 5 total correct repetitions, then move on.
Focus on one or two colors at a time while practicing that spot.
Use the troubleshooting checklist below if you’re stuck.

🔧 Troubleshooting Tips

🎯 If you’ve tried to fix something three times in-a-row and it’s still not working, don’t just repeat it — troubleshoot:

Do you need to slow down?
Should you practice hands alone?
Could you make the spot even smaller?
Would technical exercises help (staccato, accents, etc.)?
Do you need to think ahead more clearly?