September 30, 2026 (2 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.

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

  • Press Start, read the assignment, practice.

  • When you are finished, 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 Section-Work colors? They are in Practice Tools. 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. 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. 🟩 The Virtuoso Pianist, No. 1 (Hanon)

THIS WEEK: Rhythm practice on mm. 12-17. Two longs, then three shorts, and rotate the pattern.

⏱ Max 8 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Polishing.

  • Same section: mm. 12-17.

  • New this week: two longs and three shorts. Last week was two and two.

  • The longs are close-louds. The shorts as fast, as light and as soft as you can.

  • Rotate the pattern so every note takes its turn being the long one.

  • Metronome no faster than ♩ = 88.

  • Your shoulders creep up on the fast notes. Breathe out on the shorts and let them drop. Wrist active, shoulders down.

  • A little tired right here in the forearm is right. If you feel it in your hand, your position is off.

  • Next: sprints, then the Speed-building tool to get it fast hands together.

🎥 Rhythm practice https://youtube.com/shorts/my1ow7rycLo

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

[INSERT HANON RHYTHM PATTERNS IMAGE]

[INSERT HANON ALTERNATING ACCENTS IMAGE]

2. 🟩 RCM Technique, Level 3

THIS WEEK: Rotate through all the required items. Pick up where you left off last time.

⏱ Max 4 minutes per practice session.

  • Every item twice: once close-loud at a slow tempo, then once at the final tempo as indicated. C major close-loud, C major final tempo, then G major, and on down the list.

  • When the four minutes are up, stop. Next session picks up from there.

  • You have been through all of Level 3 now, so this is maintenance.

  • Untidy attacks are the one thing an examiner would name. Totally focused, you can play these clean.

  • Everything has to be memorized for the exam.

Theory

3. 🟩 Theory 4, Unit 1

THIS WEEK: The whole of Unit 1, Getting Started. Press Done for the Week when the unit is finished.

⏱ Max 5 minutes per practice session.

Practice type: Learning.

  • Celebrate Theory, Level 4. It is in your binder now.

  • Not a long unit, and it is a review of all of Level 3.

  • Complete the whole thing.

Musicianship

4. 🟨 RCM Online Ear Training

THIS WEEK: Clap-backs only. Watch the end of the rhythm.

⏱ Max 5 minutes per practice session.

  • Clap-backs only. No melody playbacks; those are solid.

  • Be a pattern detective. First hearing, ask where the pattern is. Second hearing, lock into it.

  • If you can't find a pattern, memorize the shape of the melody instead.

  • If the examiner says 3/4, four measures, picture the grid: twelve beats, four measures of three, before they play.

  • Start clapping the moment I stop. The gap is where it escapes you.

  • You clapped half of the hardest one back perfectly. You can do the rest.

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

5. 🟨 Four Star, Level 3

THIS WEEK: Set 10, then press Done for the Week.

  • Finish Set 10. There is no Set 11.

  • One day of the set per practice session.

  • We did the clap-backs out of this book today and that was the hard part.

6. 🟩 PA Sightreading, Level 3A

THIS WEEK: Pages 6 to 11.

Practice type: Learning.

  • Level 2B is finished. This is the new book.

  • One page per practice session.

Repertoire

7. 🟩 Left Alone (Grill), mm. 13 to the end

THIS WEEK: Notes, fingering and position from m. 13 to the end.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, position.

Practice type: Learning.

  • No brick practice on this piece any more. You have made good progress on it.

  • Use the Section-Work tool for this if you want it.

  • Lots of big twists in this last section. Let go of the note, the pedal is holding it. Don't try to twist and hold at the same time.

  • Don't hang on to the F and then play. Let it go, then play the chord. That is not a half note at the bottom.

  • The low C is two ledger lines down. See how fast you can find it.

  • 8va below the note means an octave lower.

  • Let the end die away.

8. 🟩 Left Alone (Grill), mm. 1-12

THIS WEEK: Expression. Accompaniment soft, melody stronger than you think it should be.

NFPER focus: notes, fingering, position, expression.

  • Accompaniment soft. The melody a mezzo forte kind of sound, stronger than you think it needs to be.

  • mm. 4-12: any single up-stem note is the melody. No chords, just the single up-stem notes.

  • mm. 1-3: the down-stem notes are the melody.

  • Everything that is not the melody sits underneath, soft.

  • This is a dramatic piece, somebody crying. Keeping everything else soft is what lets it get really quiet at the end.

  • After m. 12 there are two ways to do it. Have an opinion ready for next lesson. Not this week.

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

THIS WEEK: Expressive practice on every orange pen marking in your music.

RCM Level 3, List A

Practice type: Polishing.

  • The orange pen markings are the expression to look at, add or fix.

  • You are fine tuning and maintaining this one. It is your List A piece.

  • The crescendo: the biggest point is the largest point. Don't just get quieter the whole way through.

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

THIS WEEK: Start from random measures, and fix the three orange pen markings.

RCM Level 3, List B

  • Practice starting from random measures. Pick them yourself, including mid-measure.

  • Then the orange pen: expressive practice on each of the three markings.

  • Poco means little. The slowdown you are doing is too much.

11. 🟩 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

THIS WEEK: mm. 17-23 with alternating accents, both modes. Then start from three random measures.

RCM Level 3, List C

Practice type: Polishing.

  • mm. 17-23. Accent every other note, then switch and do the other one.

  • This is about independence between your fingers, so the sound can stay smooth. It needs a wave feel.

  • Then start from three random measures per practice session.

  • You speed up in there. Watch it. Tempo and rhythm are what make it sound messy rather than free.

12. ⬛️ Solitude (Grill)

  • Your new piece. Don't start it yet; we start it next lesson.

  • Level 4 Celebration Series etude, right hand only, same composer as Left Alone.

  • The challenge is bringing the melody out from inside a chord. It looks easier than it is.

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

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

Setup

14. 🟧 Binder dividers

  • Dividers for your three ring binder. I'm bringing them next lesson.

RCM Level 3

Your program was settled in the lesson on September 30. It is in the practice guide, under Royal Conservatory of Music. The three pieces we did not choose are on the review list.

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.

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 3

Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126, Anonymous, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (List A)

Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36, No. 1, I. Allegro, by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) (List B)

Lemon Sherbet Rag by Barbara Arens (List C)

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