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Maintaining Your Memorization

Elise — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:47:21 +0000

I’ve really been meaning to post on the topic of memorization lately. I think it’s funny, because a lot of piano players and musicians that are taught professionally (through school or with a private teacher) think that mastering technique is the key to perfection. While important, memorization is probably just (if not, more) important to successfully mastering the piano.

If you watched my YouTube video I uploaded yesterday, (see previous post) you can see that I was absolutely not looking up to read any sheet music. I had put the entire piece to my memory. If you ever watch a performer, you’ll see this almost 99% of the time.

We can break down memorization into two key elements.

First, you must take the time to memorize the piece initially.

Secondly, you must take the time to “maintain” that memorization, making it more permanent and really sticking it to your mind and your hands.

So, what does this mean? Well, in a piano player’s lifetime, the initial investment is almost zero or even negative. And maintenance is actually why some individuals give up memorizing their pieces. They think, “why should I memorize this if I know I’m going to forget it later anyway?” Maintenance ability can really limit the amount of repertoire because after one has memorized something like five or ten hours of music, the maintenance required for those pieces may prevent the person from memorizing anything else (depending on the individual).

Don’t worry. There are a lot of different ways to improve your repertoire knowledge beyond any limit of maintenance. Firstly, you can just forget about the already-memorized pieces and re-memorize them once again later. Pieces that have been memorized very well are MUCH easier to be polished up, very quickly, even if they have not been played for years. Think about it like riding a bike. You learn when you’re a child, but even if you haven’t ridden one in ten years, you may struggle a bit at first, but you would most likely find your balance quite quickly.

Here’s another tip: Memorize as many pieces as you possible can before you turn 20. Why? Pieces learned during earlier ages are almost NEVER forgotten. Again, even if you do forget them, you can pick them up again quickly. Pieces learned after the age of 40 actually require a lot more effort for memorization and maintenance.

Sometimes you don’t even need to memorize (although it does help almost always). If you want to learn a large number of very easy pieces, it may not be the best investment of time to memorize every single easy piece. Sight reading pieces should also never memorized. After all, it would defeat the purpose of sight reading! I used to try and memorize all my sight reading exercises for the week so that I would appear to do very well when my piano teacher chose one to test me! I would not suggest doing this. Sight reading was usually my worst area in my conservatory exams.

If you think that you’re a poor memorizer, you should try to learn an entirely new piece that you have never studied before and try to memorize it from beginning. You will most likely be surprised at how well you can pick up the memorization, if you learn it effectively. Most people think they have poor memory because their methods of learning are not quite right. It’s not your brain’s fault.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

I added a new option to my blog with the subscription. If you click “Subscribe” at the top, you now have the option of typing in your email, and I will be emailing you a summary of each post that I make, so you can always stay updated. There is still the option to subscribe via RSS feed. So, I would really love it you would subscribe to my blog! It would just make my day.

The Three W’s of Memorizing Music Learn who can memorize, what you should memorize, and when...

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The Three W’s of Memorizing Music

Elise — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:05:05 +0000

Who Can Memorize?

Anyone can memorize music if they are taught the proper ways of memorization. If you combine memorization with the initial learning activities of a composition, you can greatly reduce the time needed to learn the entire thing. It just so happens that almost all required factors for memorizing are also required for learning. If you decided to separate memorizing from learning, you would have to go through these two processes twice. This explains why people don’t try to memorize while learning a piece actually struggle with memorization later on.

What Should You Memorize?

Since memorization is the quickest way to learn, your goal should be to memorize every single piece that you play. Memorizing is like a “freebie” in the process of learning a new piece. So, when you sit down to learn a new piece, for example, looking to learn a left-handed accompaniment (bar-by-bar), you need to memorize those bars as well. And since a bar is about 6 to 12 notes usually, memorizing that should be a breeze. Then, you just need to repeat playing that 10, 100, or 1,000 times, depending on the difficulty and your skills. In general, when you are practicing this so many times… it’s hard NOT to memorize it at the same time.

When Should You Memorize?

You should incorporate memorization every time you practice. As I’ve explained, memorizing can save huge amounts of practice time. You won’t need to search for the music each time, so you can jump around between segments as much as you want. You can also concentrate on learning the technique without getting distracted from having to look back at the music each and every time. And of course because you are using repetitious practice methods, this is the best way to commit the piece to memory in a way that no other memorizing method can achieve.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Memorizing leads to something called “mental playing.” This is actually they key to absolute pitch, a higher effective IQ, reduced stress and nervousness, composing, and an ability to perform flawlessly. When you incorporate mental playing, you are able to play the entire piece in your mind, away from the piano. Mental playing is essential to become a concert level pianist. This is where all great pianists and composers begin. Almost every accomplished pianist ends up composing something. Memory, absolute pitch, and mental playing are critically important aspects for successful piano composing.

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Music and Your Memory

Elise — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:53:13 +0000

If you are somewhat of an experienced pianist, you’ve probably noticed that memorizing certain pieces and corresponding technique is a required aspect of playing piano.

But why? Why is memorization so important in piano when we can have everything right in front of us on the music sheets, in our piano books, or developed from the practice routines of technique?

Memorizing gives us a way of learning new pieces faster. You actually learn pieces that involve more technical skills a lot quicker when you memorize them, as opposed reading them straight from the sheets.

When you memorize a piece, you’re able to start playing from any section of the piece, you’re less likely to have a brain fart and mess up, and if you do, it’s more likely that you’ll be able to recover from memorization instead of identifying what sheet you’re on and which bar or notes to find.

Additionally, memorizing your pieces allows you to focus 100% of your concentration on the music. In other words, what the piece is supposed to sound like. In my last post about rhythm, I talked about the brain experiencing so much information to process during sight reading. This includes attributes like the notes, time signature, coordination of both hands, and no room left for the brain to think about what the piece should sound like when it exits the piano.

Memorization allows you to listen more carefully so you can touch the keys correctly and move your fingers, wrists, and whole body the right way for the piano the emit the right sound.

Advanced pianists must play their pieces from memory due to the high level of technical skills involved. For most pianists no matter what level, the most difficult passages are played by memory.

This is known as “hand memory.” And while some pianists might still need their sheet music in front of them to support them in a psychological manner, they still mainly play out of memory. In fact, memorization in music is an actual scientific procedure that is essential to learn and advance in playing the piano.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Here is some advice from my own piano practice routines. When I need to learn a difficult passage, I first identify all the technical skills needed to play it, such as finger placement, holds, ornaments, rests, notes, and so on. I then try to play it. If I’ve never played it before at all, I will always begin by playing each hand separately to avoid bad technique. I will play one bar at a time, over and over and over and over and over again. Start out very slowly, and after playing it a few hundred times or so (I’m kidding, of course), you’ll notice that you’ll be able to pick up speed and play it faster. You’re starting to memorize the piece. In short, the more you play it, the more you’ll submit it to memory. First identify the technical skills required to play it, then practice, practice, practice. Memorization usually comes pretty naturally to the musical mind.

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