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.

If you pause and walk away, press Done when you come back, even if you forgot to press Resume. A run that is paused and never finished logs nothing at all.

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.

Showing up matters more than the number. Four days out of seven beats one day with a hundred minutes on it. Open the assignment, press Done or Done for the Week, and the day counts.

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.

Log every practice session from today. Official tracking starts Monday, October 19, the Monday after our first group class. 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]

Repertoire

1. 🟩 If I Am With You, from Jujutsu Kaisen (Terui), mm. 9-15

THIS WEEK: Play measures 9 to 15 as one group, hands together, at one tempo, with minimal pauses.

This is one assignment now. The separate measure assignments are done; the job is joining them.
Measure 13, left hand: let go of the note you do not need to hold. That frees the thumb to pivot and takes the twist out of the wrist.
Touch it and let go, a few times on its own, then the notes leading into it, then all of measure 13.
That idea is not just for this measure. Use it anywhere a stretch feels awkward.
Measures 11 and 12 are the hardest pair so far. Tilt the elbow slightly to the right coming up and 5 and 3 land easier.
Measure 11, last two beats: no pause in the sixteenths. When finger 2 plays the D, release the thumb and pull it over.
Hands alone first if you have been away from it a few days.

2. 🟩 If I Am With You, from Jujutsu Kaisen (Terui), mm. 16-22

THIS WEEK: Learn measures 16 to 22 hands alone. Hands together is a bonus if you get there.

Keep the hand in a closed position rather than reaching for things.
Look at where you land in measure 22. That tells you the fingering you need at the end of 21, so work backward from it.
INSERT FINGERING — the numbers we worked out came through garbled in the recording, so none are written here.

Repertoire, the new one

3. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 1-1

THIS WEEK: Measure 1. One measure at a time.

Brick practice: combine the chunks after one round each.

Eight single measures to start. They join into pairs, then fours, as you finish rounds.
Finger 2 always lands on the two sharps, F-sharp and C-sharp. That is the pattern.
Change the first note of measure 3, second system, to finger 1 and the pattern stays intact. Remember the first two notes of the piece are a pickup, not a measure.
The shape is 4-3-2, then 3-2-1 three times, then 4-3-2 again.
Ignore the printed pedal markings. Publishers added those and we will do our own.
It is Op. 109, No. 18.

4. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 2-2

THIS WEEK: Measure 2. One measure at a time.

Same fingering pattern. Finger 2 on the sharps.

5. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 3-3

THIS WEEK: Measure 3. One measure at a time.

This is the one with the finger change on the first note. Write the 1 in.

6. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 4-4

THIS WEEK: Measure 4. One measure at a time.

Watch your wrist position through the long repeated stretches.

7. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 5-5

THIS WEEK: Measure 5. One measure at a time.

Same method as measure 1.

8. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 6-6

THIS WEEK: Measure 6. One measure at a time.

Same method as measure 1.

9. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 7-7

THIS WEEK: Measure 7. One measure at a time.

Same method as measure 1.

10. 🟩 La Fileuse, Op. 109 No. 18, from 18 Études de genre (Burgmüller), mm. 8-8

THIS WEEK: Measure 8. One measure at a time.

Same method as measure 1.
If you get past measure 8, start learning the next two systems. Here is what we already worked out for them.
Fourth system is a D major scale. Cross over 3, 4, 2, 1. Then it is D major again starting on G.
Use the pedal there so you are not holding onto the arpeggio with your fingers.
For the crescendo into fast passages: play it extremely slow and exaggerate the dynamics, louder than you should and softer than you should, many times. Then speed it up gradually, keeping the wrist moving the way it will move at speed.
The first-inversion B minor triad: finger 5 on top, and let the wrist make a small circle.
The B, D, B spot: rotate the wrist to get to the top and back, even though your hand is big enough to reach without it.
The section after that is a broken G major triad the whole way through. Find the inversions and it gets easy.

Transcription

11. 🟪 Somewhere Only We Know

THIS WEEK: Nothing new. It is on the list so you can see it.

You said it is helpful to keep it in front of you, so it stays.
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.
You wanted more depth in it, from the motifs you are hearing in La Fileuse. That is exactly the right instinct and it is what fragmenting is.

Up Next

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)
Les Misérables, I Dreamed a Dream
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)