Memorization question

[prometheus]

I have a question about memorisation.

I am an adult musician relatively new to the piano. I have learned J.S. Bach's C#m fugue from book I. I was able to learn the technique but only by using my muscle memory. I learned the piece by cutting it up into short passages. I have no real problem reading the music and then playing it at the piano. But not both at the same time when we talk about this complex five voice fugue.

Now how do I memorise a piece. I read some other posts and they all assume one can play something correctly without muscle memory. I know there are several ways to learn the music. I have the overal sound of the piece memorised, but not that of all individual voices. I cannot close my eyes and visualize the keyboard and see the keys being pressed. I do not have the score memorised.

I am now printing out the individual voices with the fingerings I use and I am sightreading and singing them.

Now I thought I had a good memory but learning all 48 fugues by remembering the score, the sound of the overall piece. the sound of the individual voices, the keys to press on the keyboard, muscle memory, the subjects, countersubjects etc, the harmonic progressions, seems insane to me. And then you only know those pieces.

My question is, what does one memorise, or better what do I memorise? And how do I learn a Bach fugue with my dominating muscle memory?

[TheHammer]

Hmmm... fugues are generally the most uncomfortable thing to memorize, besides 20th century atonal stuff. If you are "relatively new" to the piano, you should not be disappointed about being not able to memorize this fugue. Still, it is possible of course.

Now comes the easy part of my answer: use the search function! 
Here is one recent thread about exactly the same topic, the last answer is probably what you are looking for (?): https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,10002.0.html

If you already know that one, I fear I can't really help you much... I am not so much into fugues (btw, memorizing all 48 P&F is certainly quite insane... you are not alone with that one...still possible, because, the more you memorize in a structured way, using all facilities you have, the easier it will become).

However, somemore threads on memorisation in general:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4321.msg66112.html#msg66112
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,7859.0.html

And, as a principle: the more you know about the piece, i.e. harmonic progression, formal structure, subjects etc.  the easier the memo. Plus make "memory bridges" by associating certain passages with very special events, feelings, etc. (see second thread). Use all your memories: aural, visual, mechanical, intellectual.

Good luck

[nomis]

To prevent yourself from using muscle memory, delay going to the piano as much as possible. Bernhard (a tremendous contributor to this forum) has frequently said that 90% of the work should be done away from the piano. Memory also works best with associations; if you remember that a certain passage sounds similar to a fart, there is no doubt that you will remember it.

There are 3 types of memory: aural, visual and kinesthetic (muscle memory). Aural memory is one of the easiest to acquire. Get a recording of your piece and listen to it every day. After a week, I guarantee you will be able to play the whole piece through your mind. Visual memory comes in two forms; remembering the score and remembering the notes pressed on the keyboard. And then you have kinesthetic memory (which you know very well).

I shall now use the first form of visual memory (score) to memorise a few bars of a simple piece: https://sheetmusicarchive.net/compositions_b/pre28_4.pdf This is Chopin's 4th Prelude.

We shall start with the LH (left hand). The 1st bar is a 1st inversion E minor chord beginning on the G below middle C and is repeated 8 times during that bar. So you'll only need to remember that chord and remember that it is played 8 times. This LH is repeated later on.

Now the RH. It begins with a B which goes up an octave and is repeated. Then it moves to a C. Then back to a B again in bar 2. This is repeated 6 times in the whole piece, so now you have learnt 6 bars of the RH.

This is actually a bad piece to analyse, as it is extremely simple and contains no scales or arpeggios. However, you can already see some of the techniques I am employing. So now I shall analyse Sinfonia No.2: https://sheetmusicarchive.net/compositions_b/b3part_2.pdf

Bar 1 RH: It consists of 2 C minor arpeggios that constitute the main theme. The 1st note is a C, then G then Eb. It is with this you can see the pattern for the next arpeggio. The 1st note moves down to the closest note in the chord (G) then moves up to the unused note in the C minor chord (Eb). Arpeggio 2 goes from Eb to C to G, creating C minor. Notice that the last note of the arpeggio is repeated. The last two notes are Gs, with a leap of an octave down from the previous G.

Bar 1 LH: Notice that the rhythms are exactly the mirror image used in the RH. This will help your memory. The 1st 2 notes are 2 Cs, which are exactly an octave away from each other. Now where did you last see this interval? That's right, the last 2 notes of the RH, except this time the LH goes up instead of down (talk about mirror image). Next, there is a scale going from B natural down to D. I hear you shout, "but aren't the last 3 notes higher than the previous 3?" Yes, they are, but Bach uses octave displacement to create a leap of a 7th from G to F, a very important interval in this piece.

I shall not go any further because I am tired and this piece takes an incredibly long time to analyse this way. Most of the techniques I have used are from Leimer and Gieseking's Book "Piano Technique". Much of the book is fairly common knowledge, but analyses of scores in this way is invaluable if you aren't able to get to a piano. I urge you to get this book, and do as much silent reading as possible.

Finally some links on mental practise:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1894.msg14707.html#msg14707
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2458.msg21365.html#msg21365
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4322.msg40260.html#msg40260
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4954.msg46883.html#msg46883