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.

Something wrong with the guide? Open the video tool, record yourself explaining it, and press Send to Dustin. It emails me a link straight away.

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.

Official tracking started Monday, October 19.

🟩 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: Speed build measures 1 to 8, hands together, from 76 up to 92.

RCM Level 3, Etude 2.

Practice type: Speed-building.

Speed building: 76 to 92.

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

Open the Speed-building tool inside this assignment. It is set from 76 to 92.
Five speeds: 76, 80, 84, 88, 92.
The clicks are eighth notes, not quarter notes.
Hands together.

2. 🟩 Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 17 (Lemoine), mm. 9-16

THIS WEEK: Measures 9 to 16, hands together, very slowly.

NFPER focus: expression, position.

Hands together.
Do not worry about keeping a steady beat.
Expression and position are the whole job here.

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

THIS WEEK: Measures 17 to 24, hands together, very slowly.

NFPER focus: expression, position.

Same instructions as measures 9 to 16.
Do not go fast at all.

Technique

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

THIS WEEK: Learn it hands alone first, then put it together.

🎥 No. 4, wrist movement https://youtube.com/shorts/pNd5NetbUuc

First practice session hands alone. Next session hands together.
Notes, fingering, position and the transitions. No steady beat yet.
Follow the shape of the notes with your wrist: low, then up and around in a small circle, then down.
Five, four, five in the right hand at the top. Five, four, five in the left hand on the way up.
The metronome starts next week.

5. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 3 (RCM), pages 10 to 12

THIS WEEK: The tonic triads on pages 10 to 12, with a lower wrist.

Pages 7, 8 and 9 are passed off.
The chord section. Pages 10, 11 and 12, the page numbers printed on the music.
Keep the wrist low and rock right to left on the way down. Not up and over.
Hold the elbow still and rotate the forearm from the elbow.
Hanon is the opposite motion. There the wrist goes up and around.
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.
It is in Newzik if you need the printout again.
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.

Listen all the way to the end before you start clapping.
A playback at this level starts on the tonic, the mediant or the dominant. Today you started on the fourth degree.
A major has three sharps: F sharp, C sharp, G sharp.
Look ahead while you clap, the same as reading.

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.

The clap-backs in the tests, not the daily sets.
Think the tune back before you clap it.

9. 🟩 Piano Adventures Sightreading Book, Level 3A (Faber), pages 18 to 23

THIS WEEK: Pages 18 to 23. One page per practice session.

Pages 14 to 17 are done.

Repertoire

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

THIS WEEK: Three random starts every practice session, and clean up the pedal.

RCM Level 3, Etude 1.

Look at the music, pick a measure, close the music, then play at least four measures from there.
Three random starts per practice session.
The pedal is late. Change it as the next note sounds.
Your changes are very fast. Slow them a little so the dampers clear the strings instead of knocking.

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

THIS WEEK: With the metronome, and check your shoulders before every ornament.

RCM Level 3, List A.

m.m. 104 per quarter note.

Your tempo gets faster as you go. The metronome is what fixes that.
Check in with your shoulders before each ornament. The right one goes up.
Drop into the first note of the trill with more weight. You have more time on it than you think.

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.

13. 🟪 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

THIS WEEK: Left hand softer in measures 17 to 23.

RCM Level 3, List C.

Left hand softer from m. 17 to m. 23.
Hold the quarter notes for their full value.
No speed building on this one.

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