PRACTICE PLAN!
❤️FIRST PRIORITY
💛SECOND PRIORITY
💜THIRD PRIORITY
💚FOURTH PRIORITY
🎨 Color-Focus Practice (NFPER)
At the top of your music, write NFPER using the following color system:
N – Notes – correct pitches and accidentals (🟥 Red)
F – Fingering – consistent, effective finger choices (🟧 Orange)
P – Position – hand shape, posture, and keyboard geography (🟨 Yellow)
E – Expression – phrasing, dynamics, articulation, tone, etc. (🟩 Green)
R – Rhythm – steady pulse, accurate timing, and rests (🟦 Blue)
✅ If you're only recording audio, just use NER.
Step-by-Step Practice Flow
Record your section once — video is best, but audio is fine too.
Listen back with one color/goal in mind.
As you listen, mark your music using that color anywhere it needs improvement.
Repeat for each remaining color, one at a time, until all five have been addressed.
Choose a small “spot” section from your markings — just a few measures or a tricky passage.
“Spot” until it’s solid — meaning:
✅ 3 times in a row correctly, or
✅ 5 total correct repetitions, then move on.
Focus on one or two colors at a time while practicing that spot.
Use the troubleshooting checklist below if you're stuck.
🔧 Troubleshooting Tips
🎯 If you’ve tried to fix something three times in-a-row and it’s still not working, don’t just repeat it — troubleshoot:
Do you need to slow down?
Should you practice hands alone?
Could you make the spot even smaller?
Would technical exercises help (staccato, accents, etc.)?
Do you need to think ahead more clearly?
💚RCM Technical Requirements Level 03
B-flat Major: go slow enough to play perfectly - fingering and notes.
G minor, harmonic and melodic.
💚Four Star: Level 3
Prepare 03_03 (Set 3)
💚Prelude No. 4 in F Major by Elvina Pearce (L. 3, Etude)
New piece! Start learning one measure at a time, hands alone then hands together, using the color-focus practice method.
💚Arabesque, op. 100, no. 2 by Burgmuller (L. 3, Etude)
See the audio for mm. 15-18
Do the color focused practice for the entire piece.
Use close-loud technique in the LH for measures 11-16: three times each day until Wednesday.
💜💚Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114 by Christian Petzold (1677-1733) (L. 3, A)
Review
Practice starting from random measures.
💚Sonatina in G Major, Anh. 5, no. 1. II. Romanze, attr. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (L. 3, B)
Fix all colored markings! See the color-focused practice guide above.
💚THEORY_03_03 Rhythm
Prepare pages 24-28
🖤Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126, attr. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) (L. 3, A)
🖤Sonatina in G Major, Anh. 5, no. 1. Moderato, attr. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (L. 3, B)
🖤“Sight-Reading 2B”
(Approx. 3-5 min each day)
Continue from page 37 of 90 (of the PDF)
Be sure to move forward through mistakes - don’t correct them until you finish the exercise - then fix them in your MIND first before you try the entire thing again.
PRACTICE SIGHT-READING NO FASTER THAN M.M. 50 PER QUARTER NOTE.
REVIEW PIECES:
💚Bird in the Bebop by Wynn-Anne Rossi (L. 2, Etude)
O Christmas Tree
Etude in F Major, Op. 190, No. 27 by Christian Louis Heinrich Köhler (L. 2, Etude)
💚A Ditty of Yimeng Mountain (2. C)
💚Minuet in A Minor by Purcell (2, A)
💚Rhyme Time (2. B)
💚The Snake by Renée Christopher (L. 1, C)
💚Andante in G Minor by Georg Philip Telemann (L. 1, A)
💚Detectives by Christine Donkin (L. 1, Etude)
💚💜Angelfish (L. 1, B)
💚Celebration by Ann Crosby Gaudet (L. 1, Etude)
💜💚💚 The Calico Cat by Helen Marlais (b. 1966) (Prep B)
💚💚💚Freddie the Frog by Anne Crosby-Gaudet (b. 1968) (Prep B)
💚💚💚Allegro in C Major op. 1 no. 4 by Alexander Reinagle (1756-1809) (L. A)
💚💚💚A Skating Waltz by Boris Berlin (1907-2001) (L. A)
💚💚💚What’s That Noise by Martha Mier (b. 1936) L. A)
RCM LEVEL 1 EXAM: May 29th 11:01 am
List A: Andante
List B: Angelfish
List C: The Snake
Etude: Detectives
Recital May 19th: 3 pm (or 1 pm if possible)
Angelfish
Detectives
The Snake
Andante
Celebration