November 5, 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]

Technique

1. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 4 (RCM), two octave scales, pages 7 to 9

THIS WEEK: The two octave scales, pages 7, 8 and 9. Close-loud once, then final tempo with the metronome.

⏱ Max 5 minutes.

  • Two ways to practice them, and that is the whole assignment.

  • Before each one, sit for five or six seconds and picture the position, the notes and the fingering. Then play it. That is how you build first time correct.

2. 🟩 Technical Requirements for Piano, Level 4 (RCM), tonic triads, broken and solid, pages 11 to 14

THIS WEEK: Tonic triads, broken and solid, pages 11 to 14. Fix the fingering and keep the left wrist from riding high.

⏱ Max 5 minutes.

  • On the way down is where the fingering slips. Left hand, finger 2 where you have been playing 3.

  • Crawl into the next position instead of shifting in and out.

  • For the exam the goal is first time through with no note or fingering errors, and even sound and tempo.

Theory

3. 🟨 Celebrate Theory, Level 5, Unit 2 (RCM)

THIS WEEK: Check pages 22, 23 and 24 for the pink pen corrections. Then finish the unit.

⏱ Max 7 minutes per practice session.

  • Add the missing bar lines, and a double bar line at the end.

  • Where you are unsure of a time signature, label the beats underneath first. That is what the corrections are about.

  • There are a few pages left.

Musicianship

4. 🟩 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 4 (Berlin and Markow), ear test playbacks

THIS WEEK: Melody playbacks out of the tests, with Mama. And clap backs.

5. 🟪 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 4 (Berlin and Markow), Set 10

THIS WEEK: Same assignment. Set 10, one day of the set per practice session.

  • We did not get to it. Same assignment.

  • Sets 8 and 9 are done.

  • 6/8 is compound meter. Two beats in the bar, three eighth notes inside each beat, three plus three.

  • Press Done for the Week when the set is done.

6. 🟩 Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests, Level 4 (Berlin and Markow), Set 1

THIS WEEK: Redo Set 1. One day of the set per practice session.

  • You did this one a long time ago, so treat it as new.

7. 🟩 Piano Adventures Sightreading Book, Level 3A (Faber), pages 87 to 95

THIS WEEK: Pages 87 to 95. One page or more a day.

Repertoire

8. 🟩 Ballade in C minor, Op. 100 No. 15, from 25 Études faciles et progressives (Burgmüller), mm. 31-57

THIS WEEK: Fix all the purple pen related to tempo and expression. Practice starting from 5 random measures, each practice session.

RCM Level 4, Etude 1.

9. 🟩 Minuet in D minor, BWV Anh. 132 (Anonymous)

THIS WEEK: Hands alone at m.m. 88, still focusing on sticky staccato. Then hands alone without the metronome, thinking about the tempo.

RCM Level 4, List A.

10. 🟩 Masquerade, from Fancy-Free (Niamath)

THIS WEEK: Count in your mind at least two measures before you begin. Listen for a steady tone in your arpeggios, and smooth out the bumps. Practice from 5 random spots each practice session.

RCM Level 4, Etude 2.

11. 🟩 Sonatina in G major, Op. 36 No. 2, III. Allegro (Clementi)

THIS WEEK: See the purple pen in measures 72 and 74. Accent practice on sections like measures 65 to 70, alternating the accent every other note, hands together.

RCM Level 4, List B.

12. 🟪 Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit zurückkehrend (The Happy Farmer), Op. 68 No. 10 (Schumann)

THIS WEEK: Hands together, with extreme expression.

RCM Level 4, List C · from Album für die Jugend.

m.m. 54 per quarter note.

  • Hands alone is done. Hands together now.

  • Right hand softer than it needs to be, left hand louder than it needs to be.

  • Bring everything up a level and down a level.

13. 🟪 Joyous Etude (Bober), mm. 14-16

THIS WEEK: Measures 14, 15 and 16. The dynamics and the pedal markings in pencil.

RCM Level 5, Etude.

🎥 Joyous Etude, mm. 13-17 https://youtube.com/shorts/8DfFQK03W6s

  • I wrote the dynamics in. Follow what is on the page.

  • Start piano, then come up.

  • Hold the pedal for the first two beats only, not the whole measure.

  • Keep playing along with the video.

14. 🟩 Prelude, Op. 39 No. 19 (Kabalevsky)

THIS WEEK: Same as last week, plus close-loud on the last two systems, and review the first three systems with exaggerated movement and expression.

RCM Level 5, Etude.

m.m. 46 per quarter note.

🎥 Prelude, Op. 39 No. 19 https://youtube.com/shorts/rSf4RxRNgJY

  • The last two systems, very slowly, with exaggerated wrist movement and exaggerated dynamics.

  • Watch the video again, closely. What it shows is the exaggerated wrist movement and the exaggerated dynamics at a very slow tempo.

  • The last two measures are the ones to fix.

  • Shape the phrase to a peak instead of staying flat.

  • Very slow tempo. Fixing this once it is already fast is painful.

Setup

15. 🟧 Binder dividers

  • Dividers for your three ring binder. I am bringing them.

16. 🟧 Practice technique cards

  • Cards for your cup, one practice tool per card. I am making more of these.

Level 4 Exam Program

Your program is in the practice guide, under Royal Conservatory of Music.

Exam session: November 28 to December 10.

Go through your whole guide and memorize the names of your composers. An examiner may ask to hear the Clementi by name.

Joyous Etude and the Kabalevsky Prelude are Level 5 etudes, so they stay out of the Level 4 program and out of that list.

When You First Sit Down

Close your eyes, put your hands across the keyboard, and feel your way from one end to the other. Two black keys, three black keys, two, three. Flatten your hand out so you can feel the groups instead of one key at a time.

Do that before you practice this week. It is how the keyboard gets into your hands as well as your eyes.

Review Pieces

Level 2

List A: Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114, attr. Christian Petzold (1677-1733), from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach

List B: Sonatina in G Major, Anh. 5, No. 1, II. Romanze, attr. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

List C: Play by Béla Bartók (1881-1945), from Mikrokosmos

Etude 1: Prelude No. 4 in F Major by Elvina Pearce

Etude 2: L'Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2, by Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller (1806-1874)

💚Bird in the Bebop by Wynn-Anne Rossi (L. 2, Etude)

Etude in F Major, Op. 190, No. 27, by Christian Louis Heinrich Köhler (1820-1886) (L. 2, Etude)

💚A Ditty of Yimeng Mountain (L. 2, C)

💚Minuet in A Minor by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) (L. 2, A)

💚Rhyme Time (L. 2, B)

Level 1 and Preparatory

💚The Snake by Renée Christopher (L. 1, C)

💚Andante in G Minor by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) (L. 1, A)

💚Detectives by Christine Donkin (L. 1, Etude)

💚💜Angelfish (L. 1, B)

💚Celebration by Anne Crosby Gaudet (b. 1968) (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)

Seasonal

💚The First Noel, Traditional, arr. Edwin McLean

O Christmas Tree, Traditional

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 — ✅ 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?