October 21, 2026 (5 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 writes your practice down for you, no comments needed.

  • Tap the first assignment on your list.

  • The timer starts by itself. Read it and practice.

  • When you are finished, press Done. It saves your time and opens the next one.

  • Need to stop for a minute? Press Pause.

Lost? Press My Assignment List at the top to go back.

Log only what you actually did, on the day you did it. Five minutes is a real entry.

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.

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.

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]

Repertoire

1. 🟩 Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 17 (Lemoine), mm. 1-8

THIS WEEK: Measures 1 to 8, very slowly, with exaggerated wrist movements.

RCM Level 3, Etude 2.

🎥 Op. 37 No. 17, mm. 1-8 https://youtube.com/shorts/PpoTRaF_AjY

  • Watch the video first, then play it.

  • Very, very slowly. The exaggerated wrist movement is the whole point.

  • This one is at the top of your list now, so you reach it while you still have practice time left.

2. 🟩 Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 13 (Lemoine), mm. 17-24

THIS WEEK: Learn measures 17 to 24, hands alone.

  • New this week.

  • Hands alone while you learn the notes and the fingering.

  • Keep the fingering that is printed. Four, three, one sets your thumb up on the white key for the next move.

  • Never rest on the same finger twice if you can help it. Staying in motion is what keeps you relaxed.

3. 🟩 Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 13 (Lemoine), mm. 9-16

THIS WEEK: Refine measures 9 to 16, hands alone. No stops.

  • Your notes are right. What is missing is that the passage is not easy for you yet.

  • Correct fingering and correct notes, all the way through, with no stops.

  • Hands alone.

Technique

4. 🟩 The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises, No. 1 (Hanon)

THIS WEEK: Build up to 69 if you can, and watch your position.

⏱ Max 7 minutes per practice session.

Build up to m.m. 69 per quarter note.

  • Back straight, chest slightly forward, elbows right in front of your torso, not behind it. Scoot the bench back when your posture is good.

  • Your shoulders must not raise when your wrists raise. That is the big one this week.

  • Second finger in the left hand is still collapsing. Round and curved.

  • Three times through, all the way to the octaves, without stopping. Try it even if you cannot hold 69.

  • Send me a video of one run all the way through by Sunday. Use the video tool in the practice guide, then press Send to Dustin.

5. 🟪 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 3 (RCM), pages 7 to 9

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. The scales on pages 7, 8 and 9, the page numbers printed on the music.

  • You said yourself you need more time on this one.

  • Crawl your hand across the keys. Don't lurch in and out.

  • If your thumb is going to land on a black key, be in position for it before you get there.

  • Establish the beat before you begin.

  • Relax your shoulder and elbow. Think chicken wings.

  • Everything has to be memorized for the exam.

Theory

6. 🟪 Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 3 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: Same assignment, Unit 3. First find Unit 2 and check whether it is done.

  • If Unit 2 is not done, do Unit 2.

  • Find the printout after the lesson. It is in Newzik if you need it again.

  • A functional chord symbol is always a Roman numeral; a root-quality symbol is always a letter name plus major or minor.

  • The dominant triad is always major. In a minor key that is where the raised seventh of the harmonic minor scale comes from.

  • Even number intervals are line to space or space to line. Odd number intervals are line to line or space to space.

  • Press Done for the Week when the unit is finished.

Musicianship

7. 🟩 RCM Online Ear Training

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. Level 4 clap-backs.

⏱ Max 5 minutes per practice session.

  • Two clap-backs today: one had an extra clap on the end, one had an extra eighth note at the beginning. Listen all the way to the end before you start clapping.

  • Five minutes is a real entry, but five minutes is not much. Give it more.

8. 🟪 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 3 (Berlin and Markow)

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. Clap-backs with Mama, out of the test PDF.

  • We did not get to it, and Mama was not available for it this week.

  • The clap-backs in the tests, not the daily sets.

  • You said yourself it works better with her than on the screen.

9. 🟪 Piano Adventures Sightreading Book, Level 3A (Faber)

THIS WEEK: Pages 14 to 19. One page per practice session.

  • Only one day of it this week.

  • Keep the expression in it. That is the best part of your sight reading.

Repertoire

10. 🟩 Left Alone, No. 1 for left hand alone (Grill)

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. The singing melody in mm. 4, 7, 9, 10 and 11.

RCM Level 3, Etude 1.

  • Make the melody stronger than you think it needs to be, then come back down. That is what makes the decrescendo audible.

  • Be careful not to land on the note that is marked no accent.

  • It is fine to be strong there, but don't hammer it.

  • More variation keeps a listener's attention. Same point as your Sonatina: the dynamics are all in the middle of the range.

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

THIS WEEK: The trill. Drop-pop with two notes, then play it as written.

RCM Level 3, List A.

  • The trill is in m. 15.

  • Drop into the first note, then pop. The first note is a hook: hang on to it a little longer.

  • Don't fly off the key.

  • Tell yourself you have more time on the first note of the trill. That is what lets the rest of it go fast.

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

THIS WEEK: One focus: exaggerate every dynamic, especially the crescendos.

RCM Level 3, List B.

  • The crescendo markings in mm. 2, 4, 8 and 10, and the others like them.

  • Right now every forte sounds like it has a pillow over it and every piano is not quiet enough, so the whole piece sits in the middle of the range.

  • Tell the story with your fingers. Someone does not get their way, has a fit, stomps off, then turns around and pleads again.

  • Your technique is already there. Expression is what is left.

13. 🟩 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

THIS WEEK: Hold the quarter notes for their full value, and keep the left hand softer in mm. 17 to 23.

RCM Level 3, List C.

  • Full value in mm. 5, 6 and 7, mm. 13, 14 and 15, mm. 29, 30 and 31, and mm. 37 and 38.

  • You are clipping those quarter notes short.

  • Left hand softer from m. 17 to m. 23.

  • You do not need more speed here.

14. ⬛️ Solitude, No. 9 for right hand alone (Grill)

  • Still on deck. This is a Level 4 etude, so it waits until the Level 3 program is finished. Right hand only, same composer as Left Alone.

Setup

15. 🟧 Binder dividers

  • Dividers for your three ring binder, with a tab for technique and a tab for repertoire. I am bringing them.

RCM Level 3

Your program is complete and it is in the practice guide, under Royal Conservatory of Music. List A, List B, List C and both etudes are all assigned.

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