September 16, 2026 (8 of 8)

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. Logging starts October 1.

🟩 on track · 🟨 needs extra attention · 🟪 didn't get to it at the lesson · 🟥 priority · ⬛️ don't practice this one

[PRACTICE TOOLS]

This week: 539 minutes over 9 days. Almost all of it repertoire. Technical requirements got zero.

Technique

1. 🟩 The Virtuoso Pianist, No. 1 (Hanon)

⏱ Max 4 minutes per session.

  • Same sections: mm. 12-17 and the last few measures.

  • Close-loud: you have this one.

  • Alternating accents (new): accent every other note close-loud, and make the notes in between extremely soft. Then rotate the accent onto the other notes.

  • Keep good position. It got chaotic when you sped up.

  • Metronome no faster than ♩ = 88.

  • Watch the video before you practice it.

  • Mom checks: the wrist releases forward on the close-loud notes. A still wrist means tension.

🎥 Alternating accent practice https://youtu.be/Xb-E9AIoso8

[INSERT HANON ALTERNATING ACCENTS IMAGE]

2. 🟩 RCM Technique, Level 3

⏱ Max 5 minutes per session.

Rotate through every Level 3 item. Work from the table on page 4: scales, formula pattern, chromatic, tonic triads broken and solid.

Two octaves, hands together, ♩ = 80, two notes per beat.

  • 🟩 D major · 🟩 F major

  • 🟨 B-flat major

  • 🟨 B minor, D minor, G minor — harmonic and melodic

Think the scale through before you start it. Fingers close to the keys.

Theory

3. ⬛️ Theory, Level 4

Coming later. Don't start it.

Musicianship

4. 🟩 PA Sightreading, Level 2B

⏱ One page per session.

Pages 85-90. We finish the book next time.

5. 🟩 Four Star, Level 3

⏱ One day of the set per session.

Finish Set 9, then do Set 10.

6. 🟩 RCM Online Ear Training

⏱ Max 5 minutes per session.

Clap-backs only. No melody playbacks — those are solid. In the clap-backs, watch the end of the rhythm: that's where the errors are.

You don't have to do them all at once.

Repertoire

7. 🟩 Minuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115 (Petzold)

RCM Level 3, List A · from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach

Expression

Right-hand focus. The left hand is too loud whenever the right hand plays. The right hand has the melody and needs to sit above it.

Ornaments — keep mm. 8, 13, 15, 31

No more full ornament routine. Just start with the wrist at or below the level of the white keys, then drop forward. Every trill that didn't speak today had a high wrist.

Also play mm. 6-9, watching the low wrist going into the ornament. If the thumb sounds wobbly, change the hand position instead of repeating it the same way.

🟨 Starting from random measures

This one needs work. Begin anywhere in the piece, including mid-measure. And when I name a measure, start where I ask.

Practice performances

When you play something all the way through for me: no stopping, no fixing, no changing the tempo. Spotting is different — stopping is fine there.

8. 🟩 Sonatina in A minor, Op. 94 No. 4, I. Allegro moderato (Biehl)

RCM Level 3, List B

Forte sections are much stronger, and the wrist movement looks good.

  • mm. 15-16. More diminuendo. End the phrase in m. 16 quieter, with a tiny slowdown.

  • mm. 16-17. More breath between the sections. Do it because you know the phrase has ended, not because it's printed.

  • mm. 23-25. The left hand sticks in the keys on the half-note chords. Detach them slightly. In m. 25, lift off to restrike so the chord speaks.

  • Downbeat of m. 1. Be in motion. Hands in your lap, then come in already moving, or the note may not speak.

9. 🟩 Sonatina in C major, Op. 36 No. 1, I. Allegro (Clementi)

RCM Level 3, List B

In good shape, so it goes green.

Assignment: start from random measures, two minutes straight. Pick them yourself, including mid-measure.

Settle the beat in your head before you start. A touch slower than today.

10. 🟩 Left Alone (Grill)

RCM Level 3, Etude · new

Your first etude, and a contrasting piece for the set. Left hand alone, so it's easier than it looks.

Assignment: learn the notes, NFPER, in small groups.

The down-stems and up-stems are two voices in one hand. mm. 1-4: the bass notes are the melody. End of m. 4 through m. 12: the up-stems are. Write that in the book.

11. ⬛️ Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 17 (Lemoine)

RCM Level 3, Etude · from 50 Études enfantines

Your second etude, the one you picked. Don't start it yet.

12. 🟪 Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126 (Anonymous)

RCM Level 3, List A · from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach

Whole piece: no locking wrist. Loosen up the way you do for the trills.

mm. 3 and 7 — drop the wrist into the first note, like the ornaments in the Minuet. That should tidy the attacks on its own.

Start from three different random measures each session, sometimes mid-measure.

13. 🟪 Lemon Sherbet Rag (Arens)

RCM Level 3, List C

Whole piece: wrist always in motion, never locked. Same as Hanon and the Biehl.

Near the beginning there are still moments where the wrist stops. Catch those.

Metronome ♩ = 108, then 112, then 116.

14. 🟪 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

RCM Level 3, List C

Come off with hand and foot quickly on the last note.

Focus Tracker

💚💚💛💛💚💛💜❤️💚💚💜❤️💚💜❤️🖤❤️❤️💚💚💚💚💚❤️💚💚🖤🧡💚💚💚💚🧡💚❤️🧡❤️💚💚💚💚💛💚❤️
(53 points)

  • ❤️ = 4 POINTS (+ bonus = no reminders)

  • 💚 = 3 POINTS

  • 💛 = 2 POINTS

  • 💜 = 1 POINT

  • 🖤 = 0 POINTS

I Spy Practice Video

[INSERT I SPY PRACTICE VIDEO LINK]

Review List

Review these with your music, one time each week.

RCM Level 2

  • Écossaise in G Major, WoO 23, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (List A)

  • I Spy by Melody Bober (b. 1955) (List B)

  • Farewell, Op. 98, No. 4, by Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956) (List B)

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

RCM Level 1

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

  • This Guy's Disguised by Bradley Sowash (List B)

  • Cranky Cat by Teresa Richert (b. 1964) (List C)

  • Far Away by Teresa Richert (b. 1964) (Etude)

RCM Preparatory B

  • Looking-Glass River by Nancy & Randall Faber

  • New Shoes by Linda Niamath

  • Raptors by Kevin Olson

  • Leaping the Waves with Dolphins by Barbara Arens

RCM Preparatory A

  • Marching, Op. 39, No. 3, by Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)

  • Curious Cat by Teresa Richert (b. 1964)

  • The Lively Boy