November 6, 2026 (7 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.

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 from 54 up to 63.

RCM Level 3, Etude 2.

Speed building: 54 to 63.

🎥 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 54 to 63.

  • Five speeds.

  • Three in a row correct, or five correct in total, before you move up.

  • Hands together.

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

THIS WEEK: Speed build measures 9 to 16 from 54 up to 63.

Speed building: 54 to 63.

  • Five speeds.

  • Three in a row correct, or five correct in total, before you move up.

  • Hands together.

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

THIS WEEK: Speed build measures 17 to the end from 54 up to 63.

Speed building: 54 to 63.

  • Measures 17 through to the end of the piece.

  • Five speeds.

  • Three in a row correct, or five correct in total, before you move up.

  • Hands together.

Technique

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

THIS WEEK: Fix the fingering in the left hand ascending.

m.m. 66.

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

  • Left hand on the way up is five, four, five. You are playing five, four, five, three.

  • Hands together now.

  • Three times through per practice session at 66.

5. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 3 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: All of the requirements, including the scales and the chords.

  • Rotate through all of them rather than working one section at a time.

  • Check the metronome marking for each one.

Theory

6. 🟩 Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 2 (RCM), pages 11 to 14

THIS WEEK: Unit 2, pages 11 to 14.

  • The page numbers are the ones printed on the paper.

  • Unit 3 is already completed.

  • Unit 4 comes after this one.

  • 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.

  • 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 23 to 27

THIS WEEK: Pages 23 to 27. One page per practice session.

Repertoire

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

THIS WEEK: The last 2 measures. Voice the tops of the chords.

RCM Level 3, Etude 1.

  • Left hand, last 2 measures of the piece.

  • Make the two lower notes of each chord softer.

  • Lean a little more weight into the top note so it sits in the foreground.

  • The other two fingers stay firm and keep moving. Just lean.

  • This is called voicing.

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

THIS WEEK: Hands alone at 100, then hands together at 104.

RCM Level 3, List A.

m.m. 100, hands alone.

m.m. 104 per quarter note, hands together.

  • Hands alone first, with the metronome.

  • Your wrist did not drop on the last trill. Watch for that.

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

THIS WEEK: Keep the melody in focus, even where you are playing soft.

RCM Level 3, List B.

NFPER focus: expression.

  • Measures 38 and 39: keep the left hand below the melody.

  • Measures 34, 35 and 36: strong sound, but no banging and no smacking the keys. Left hand mezzo forte.

  • Once through right hand alone and once through left hand alone, every practice session.

  • Your fortissimo was a level too loud. Bring it down one.

13. 🟩 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

THIS WEEK: Speed build the whole piece from 112 up to 132.

RCM Level 3, List C.

Speed building: 112 to 132.

  • Play all the way through at each speed. Sections are fine if you need them.

  • Three in a row correct, or five correct in total, at each speed before you move up.

  • Hold the pedal through to the last sound of the piece. Do not change it on the last note. Hold, then lift.

  • Where there is a fermata, turn the metronome off for that bar and take your time.

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