November 11, 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 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: Measures 1 to 8. Play the blue pen dynamics.

RCM Level 3, Etude 2.

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

  • Feel the downbeat more. Both hands.

  • Less, more, most, then less, less, less. Climb up to the downbeat and come off it.

  • No accent. It is a crescendo and a decrescendo, so do not overdo it.

  • Your coming off the end of the slurs is already crisp. Keep that.

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

THIS WEEK: Measures 9 to 16. The written forte, and the left hand note in measure 12.

  • Measure 12: the bottom note in the left hand is A. You are playing E.

  • The forte is mostly right hand. Keep the left hand in the background.

  • Staccato where it is written.

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

THIS WEEK: Measures 17 to 24. Fix the left hand in measure 24.

  • Measure 24: the bottom G is held. You are playing it twice. It is circled with an arrow.

  • Measures 17 through to the end of the piece.

4. 🟩 Étude in D major, Op. 37 No. 17 (Lemoine), whole piece

THIS WEEK: Speed build the whole piece, measures 1 to 24, from 66 up to 80.

Speed building: 66 to 80.

  • New this week.

  • Do the three section assignments first. Do not speed build until those are fixed.

  • Hands together, all the way through at each speed.

Technique

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

THIS WEEK: Speed build from 56 up to 76 per quarter note.

Speed building: 56 to 76.

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

  • Left third finger is collapsing on almost every one. Keep it round.

  • As the speed goes up the circular motion disappears. Keep wrapping the right wrist around.

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

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. 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.

  • Think before you begin. The formula pattern fell apart at the start and was fine once you thought about it.

  • Tonic triad broken, B flat major: keep finger 5 further in so your thumb can reach the end. Play it blocked first and notice where your fingers land.

Theory

7. 🟪 Celebrate Theory, Level 4, Unit 2 (RCM), pages 11 to 14

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. Unit 2, pages 11 to 14.

  • We did not get to it. Same assignment.

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

  • Unit 3 is already completed.

  • Unit 4 comes after this one.

Musicianship

8. 🟪 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.

9. 🟩 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 3 (Berlin and Markow)

THIS WEEK: Clap-backs and playbacks with Mama, out of the test PDF. One more of each than last week.

  • These are getting better. The ones that go down, then up, then down are the ones to be careful with.

  • Do one with an anacrusis each session. That is the shape you missed.

  • Listen for the pattern, then for the bit at the start or end that is not the pattern.

10. 🟩 Piano Adventures Sightreading Book, Level 3A (Faber), pages 26 to 30

THIS WEEK: Pages 26 to 30. One page per practice session.

Repertoire

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

THIS WEEK: Voice the tops of the chords, and the whole melody in the up stems.

RCM Level 3, Etude 1.

  • Every up stem note is the melody, not just the chord tops. Start with the thumb note as forte.

  • The voicing you did in the last four chords is the sound. Thread that through the whole piece.

  • Keep your wrist in motion.

  • Before you begin, sit for five or six seconds and think about the sound you want.

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

THIS WEEK: Melody in focus above the left hand. Trills slower, with round fingers.

RCM Level 3, List A.

  • Project the melody. It has to sit clearly above the accompaniment.

  • The trills are mushy and too fast, so they come across as surface. Round fingers and slower makes them clean.

  • No extra trills. Play what is written.

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

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

RCM Level 3, List B.

NFPER focus: expression.

  • We did not get to it. Same assignment, and I will hear it first next lesson.

  • 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.

14. 🟪 The Stormy Sea (Gaudet)

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

RCM Level 3, List C.

Speed building: 112 to 132.

  • We did not get to it. Same assignment, and I will hear it first next lesson.

  • 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.

15. 🟩 Solitude, No. 9 for right hand alone (Grill)

THIS WEEK: Learn measures 1 to 8, one measure at a time. Up stems first, then down stems, then together.

  • New this week. It is in your Newzik project.

  • Treat the up stems and the down stems like two hands. Up stems mezzo forte, down stems soft.

  • One measure at a time: up stems alone, down stems alone, then put them together and keep the down stems soft.

  • Four flats. B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat. First and last measure are F minor.

  • If you are gaining ground, carry on to the end of the piece.

Setup

16. 🟧 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 exam is Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 2:25 pm.

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