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 logs your practice for you — no comments needed.
Press Start from # whatever number it shows. It picks up where you stopped last time.
Press Start, read the assignment, practice.
Tap the kind of practice, then press Done.
Press Next practice item and go again.
Capped items count down and chime. Keep going if it's going well.
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. Technique and repertoire don't have one; those are every day.
Need the metronome, a recorder or the NFPER colors? They are in Practice Tools, right under the practice types. Tap one and it opens inside your assignment. Tap Close to put it away.
Got something to say about an assignment? Paste the line it gives you into the comments and add your note.
Log only what you actually did, on the day you did it. Five minutes is a real entry. Logging starts October 1.
🟩 on track · 🟨 needs extra attention · 🟪 didn't get to it at the lesson · 🟥 priority · ⬛️ don't practice this one
[PRACTICE TOOLS]
Take RCM Level 7? Still open.
One device only. The guide remembers where you stopped per device, so going phone one day and iPad the next loses your place. Your minutes and your chart are unaffected either way. Brick practice is the one that really needs it, because the chunks only combine on the device that finished them.
Setup
1. 🟩 Three-ring binder, print your music
THIS WEEK: print everything and get it into the binder.
Guide on the left, printed music on the right. No switching apps mid-practice.
Press Done for the Week when it is printed and filed.
Technique
2. ⬛️ RCM Technique, Level 7
Every day assignment once it starts. Not yet.
Double check your tempo markings for each of the items.
Be aware of a consistent pulse and even tempo during broken chords.
Theory
3. 🟩 Celebrate Theory, Level 6, Unit 3 (RCM), pages 41 to 45
THIS WEEK: pages 41 to 45.
This is completing measures with rests, which is exactly what we worked through today.
Watch the hierarchy rule. Strong, weak, weak in compound. You cannot tie a weak beat into a strong one.
In compound meter a group of two inside one beat needs a 2 written above it, the mirror of a triplet in simple time.
Repertoire
Lullaby, speed building, one measure at a time
Set the metronome, play the measure, use the NFPER method button with all five selected. Three correct in a row, or five correct total, then move up to the next speed and reset. Work through 54, 60, 63, 66 and 69 on each measure before you go on.
Pedal once per measure, not twice.
No caps on any of these. It is a slow, steep climb and that is the point.
4. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 1-1
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
Brick practice: combine the chunks after one round each.
Once all eight measures have had a round, the guide joins them into pairs by itself, then fours, then mm. 1-8.
5. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 2-2
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
6. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 3-3
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
7. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 4-4
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
8. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 5-5
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
9. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 6-6
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
10. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 7-7
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
11. 🟩 Lullaby, Op. 109 No. 7 (Burgmüller), mm. 8-8
THIS WEEK: m.m. 54 up to 69, three in a row or five total at each speed.
Text me when you have finished speed building all the way to mm. 1-8 and I will add 9 to 16.
Repertoire, continued
12. 🟪 Für Elise, WoO 59 (Beethoven)
THIS WEEK: same assignment as last time. Keep going.
RCM Level 7, List B
Fix the left-hand note in m. 29, circled in red.
m. 35, count correctly.
Accent practice: mm. 77-82, rotate accents in groups of three.
13. ⬛️ Four Star, Level 7
Not yet.
14. ⬛️ Listening: Invention No. 4 (Bach)
Highlight every time the subject happens, in both the treble and bass clefs.
15. ❓⬛️ Etude in G minor, Op. 24 No. 15 (Concone)
RCM Level 7, Etude
Not chosen yet.
16. ⬛️ Allemande in E-flat Major (Bach)
RCM Level 7, List A
Not started.
17. 🟧 Choose a List C
I'm bringing List C choices next lesson. Nothing for you to do on this one.
On Hold
Czerny, Op. 823 — we left off on No. 8.
Rhythm book — prepare Nos. 43-45 on page 23.
Goals
RCMCP Level 6, December 20, 5:00 pm
List A: Aria in G Major by Georg Philipp Telemann
List B: Sonatina in A Minor by Georg Anton Benda
List C: Album for the Young, Op. 39, No. 9, Waltz, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Etude 1: Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 139, No. 51, by Carl Czerny
Etude 2: Etude in E Minor, Op. 29, No. 14, by Henri Bertini
Senior project: synesthesia, guitar and piano duo, music from Portugal and Russia
Review Pieces
RCM Level 6
✅Aria in G Major by Georg Philipp Telemann (List A)
🟩Sonatina in A Minor by Georg Anton Benda (List B)
🟩Album for the Young, Op. 39, No. 9, Waltz, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (List C)
✅Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 139, No. 51, by Carl Czerny (Etude)
✅Etude in E Minor, Op. 29, No. 14, by Henri Bertini (Etude)
💚Solfeggio in D Major by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (Etude)
RCM Level 5
💚💚Little Prelude in C Major, BWV 939, by Johann Sebastian Bach (List A) 7/10
💚💚Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36, No. 3, III. Allegro, by Muzio Clementi (List B) — needs a two-week review period
💚Melancholy Reflections by Mike Schoenmehl (List C)
💚💚Harmony of the Angels, Op. 100, No. 21, by Johann Friedrich Burgmüller (Etude)
💚💚Prelude, Op. 39, No. 19, by Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) (Etude)
RCM Level 4
💚💚Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 116, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) (List A)
💚💚March in D Major, BWV Anh. 122, by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) (List A)
💚💚Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36, No. 2, II, by Muzio Clementi (List B)
💚💚Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36, No. 2, III, by Muzio Clementi (List B)
💚💚Sonatina in F Major, Op. 168, No. 1, by Anton Diabelli (1781-1858) (List B)
💚💚The Happy Farmer, Op. 68, No. 10, by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) (List C)
💚💚Old French Song, Op. 39, No. 16, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) (List C)
💚💚Barcarolle, Op. 123, No. 8, by Cécile Chaminade (List C)
💚💚Ballade in C Minor, Op. 100, No. 15, by Johann Friedrich Burgmüller (Etude)
💚💚Masquerade, from Fancy-Free, by Linda Niamath (Etude)
💚💚Etude in G Major, Op. 823, No. 53, by Carl Czerny (1791-1857) (Etude)
RCM Level 3
💚💚Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126, Anonymous (List A)
💚💚Gavotte in G Major, HWV 491, by George Frideric Handel (List A)
🟢💚Harlequinade, from Suite No. 3 in E-flat Major, by Johann Ludwig Krebs (List A)
💚💚Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36, No. 1, I, by Muzio Clementi (List B)
💚💚Clowns, Op. 39, No. 20, by Dmitri Kabalevsky (List C)
💚💚The Song of Twilight by Yoshinao Nakada (List C)
🟢💚L'Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2, by Johann Friedrich Burgmüller (Etude)
🟢💚Left Alone by Joyce Grill (Etude)
🟢💚Little Piece No. 7 by Marko Tajčević (Etude)
RCM Level 2
💚💚German Dance in B-flat Major, Hob. IX:22, No. 5, by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) (List A)
💚💚For Children, Book 1, Nos. 1 and 2, by Béla Bartók (1881-1945) (List B)
💚💚Invention in A Minor by Renée Christopher (List C)
💚💚Colored Windows by Edna-Mae Burnam (1907-2007) (Etude)
💚💚Etude in C Major, Op. 36, No. 22, by Alexander Gedike (1877-1957) (Etude)
💚💚💚The Highlands by Christopher Norton (b. 1953) (Etude)
RCM Level 1
Minuet in F Major, K. 2, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) (List A)
German Dance in D Major by Franz Joseph Haydn (List A)
Angelfish (List B)
Canon by Carleton Elliott (1928-2003) (List C)
Etude in C Major by Félix Le Couppey (Etude)
Detectives by Christine Donkin (Etude)
Ungraded
💚💚Canon in A Minor by Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901)
A Skating Waltz
Distant Chimes
🖤Czerny, Op. 823, No. 11 — passed
🖤Hanon, No. 3 in G Major