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.

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]

Repertoire

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

THIS WEEK: Review measures 9 to 15 and double check the rhythm all the way through.

Your ear was right about the note that sounded wrong. It is C, not the B that is printed. Change it in the score.
The left hand in this chunk is badly notated, tying a weak beat across to a strong one, which makes the rhythm hard to read. That is the arrangement's fault, not yours. Do the left hand alone until the rhythm is solid.
Listen to the recording alongside it. There are a couple of small things still to find in here.
The rolled chord is good. The note after it comes out a little sooner than you are playing it.
Keep the top voice very quiet, like a little bell.

2. 🟩 If I Am With You, from Jujutsu Kaisen (Terui), mm. 16-19

THIS WEEK: Measures 16 to 19. Left hand, right hand, then together, thinking of them as four beats per measure with three parts to each beat.

It is 12/8, which is compound time. Four beats in the measure, each one split into three eighth notes.
Highlight the start of each beat in green and the pulses in between in yellow. Three pulses to a beat, one eighth note each.
The triplets are there because a triplet is how you spread something over two equal parts inside a beat that is already divided into three.
Measure 16, left hand: 1, 2, 4, then 1, 2, 5. Right hand: 5, 3, 2, 1, which sets up the 5 that follows.
The second chord there is G major.
One note is doubled between the hands. Either leave out the left hand note or play it in the right. Circle the A-B-A so you remember the register changes.
Practice this by beat rather than by measure. You already have muscle memory built in, so small units are what will fix it.
There is a recording of the left hand rhythm in your guide. Practice hands alone until you can play along with it, and slow it down if you need to.
You can also slow the Spotify recording down. There is a playback speed control on it.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.
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.
These eight measures have been on your list since October 25. I want to see real progress on them next time.

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)