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.
When you are finished, 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 Section-Work colors? They are in Practice Tools. 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.
Log every practice session from today. The competition starts October 1, and practicing and logging now is how we get the kinks out.
🟩 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]
We are not doing RCM going forward. The plan is repertoire, transcription and some technical work you actually want to play.
You said about 45 minutes a day is realistic with school. That is what this list is built for. A little more on the weekends if you have it.
Musicianship
1. 🟪 Listening — 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100 and 18 Études de genre, Op. 109 (Burgmüller)
THIS WEEK: listen to the three below and come back with the one you want to learn.
Practice type: Learning.
Not a timed assignment.
Op. 109, No. 5
Op. 109, No. 18
Op. 100, No. 6
No. 18 is the hardest of the three and probably the one you learn the most from.
Decide next lesson, or tell me sooner if you already know.
Repertoire
2. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 9
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 9 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Brick practice: combine the chunks after one round each.
NFPER focus: notes, fingering.
Left hand alone, then right hand alone, then hands together. Three correct in a row on each.
Rhythm is 16th, 8th, 8th, 16th, 8th. The third note of the measure is the one that slipped.
Play the hands-alone work slower than you think you need to. You learn it faster that way.
Use the fingerings you wrote into your score.
No cap on any of these.
3. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 10
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 10 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process.
Left hand arpeggio: pop off the top note and land, rather than stretching to connect it. Keep the wrist up on the thumb.
4. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 11
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 11 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process.
Before you settle the end of this measure, look at where m. 12 starts. It starts on 1 and 5.
That is the rule for any spot like this: look at where you have to go before you finger the way out. You can always lift and land in a new position, but connect it if you can.
5. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 12
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 12 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process.
There is a treble clef inside the bass staff. The first note after it is G, not D. Count the ledger line off middle C.
The 8va at the end of the measure starts over the E, one octave up.
Ritardando through the end of the measure.
The first part of the right hand is the same figure repeated. Repeat it.
6. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 13
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 13 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process.
The grace note is D into C.
For the reach: start with the elbow bent on the B and let your wrist and thumb lead the elbow out. Don't open the elbow mechanically.
You can take that C with the right thumb instead, but it is often more confusing than the reach is awkward. Try the elbow first.
7. 🟩 If I Am With You, m. 14
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 14 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process.
Ritardando here too, so connecting matters less. 1 and 5 on the octave.
8. 🟪 If I Am With You, m. 15
THIS WEEK: pass off m. 15 hands together.
Practice type: Learning.
Same process. We did not get to this one, so start it from scratch.
9. 🟪 Somewhere Only We Know
THIS WEEK: nothing new. It is on the list so you can see it.
The transcription is finished apart from the last few measures. We pick it up next time.
Measures 25-32 — bass staff alternative textures. We talked through some ideas; they are not in yet.
Measures 49-53 — add some bass notes.
10. 🟪 Les Misérables, I Dreamed a Dream, mm. 23-38
THIS WEEK: only if you want it, mm. 23-24 slowly.
Bonus assignment, open ended.
Learn mm. 23-24 slowly first, then work the speed up until it runs with no pauses.
Up Next
Your Burgmüller piece, chosen from Op. 109 No. 5, Op. 109 No. 18 or Op. 100 No. 6.
Some note reading exercises, since finding the notes is slowing you down.
Review List
Mozart Sonata, No. 11 in A Major, III. Rondo: Alla Turca (recital)
Like Him (recital piece)
Mice on Venus from Minecraft, arr. Sam Hodgkinson (P. Choice)
List C: Foggy Day Blues by Mike Springer (L. 4, C)
Etude 1: Etude in E Minor, op. 65, no. 42 by Loeschhorn (L. 4, Etude)
Solitude by Joyce Grill (b. 1936) (L. 4, Etude)
RCM Exam Archive
Level 4, Practical Test: May 29, 2024
List A: Minuet in G Major by J. S. Bach
List B: Sonatina in F Major, op. 168 no. 1 "Moderato cantabile" by Anton Diabelli
List C: Foggy Day Blues by Mike Springer
Etude 1: Etude in E Minor, op. 65, no. 42 by Loeschhorn
Etude 2: Solitude by Joyce Grill
Level 3, Practical Test: June 2023 (score of 87)
List A: J. S. Bach, Polonaise in F Minor, BWV Anh. 119 (L. 3, A)
List B: Sonatina in A Minor op. 94 no. 4 by Albert Biehl (L. 3, B)
List C: Wild Mignonette, Op. 205 No. 1 by Cornelius Gurlitt (1820-1901) (L. 3, C)
Etude: Burgmuller, Op. 100 No. 2, L'Arabesque (Etude, L. 3)
Etude: Prelude VII by Barbara Arens (b. 1960) (L. 3, Etude)