relearning a piece

[doublesharp]

last september i learned a piece (chopin op. 39) which took me about 6 months to learn at about 1-1.5 hours a day and memorize and play at a performance

i havent played it at all since march (about 8 months ago) but am thinking about relearning it for another upcoming recital

the recital is in about 4 months and since i have a lot of other pieces to learn right now i will only have a bout 30 minutes a day to spend on it

i thought at first it may be too much to try to do it even though i had heard that you learn a piece more securely if your forget and relearn it

when i tried for the first time to sightread through it yesterday i was surprised at some of the stuff that i could still play (albeit very very roughly)

i was just wondering if this might be an attatinable goal

also, in general how much faster could a person rely on learning a piece a second or third time around

[zheer]

Its the best way to learn music. I relearn thing i learnt ten years ago.

[rc]

Learning the first time you had to figure out all the motions and interpretive problems. The second time, you already know how to handle these problems and you're just kind of reminding yourself and clarifying it in your head.

Another aspect is that you'll be bringing more insight and experience to the piece when you re-learn it. You will have been progressing as the piece has been fading from your mind, and when you revive it you'll bring it to your new level of playing. When I learn a piece I take comfort in the fact that when I brush it up for performance in the future, it will come out better and better.

I'm told each time you revive a particular piece, it gets easier and takes less time. Familiarity.

[alzado]

If I learned a piece fairly well, I find I can relearn it very quickly.  Even if I have not played it in a year or more.

The first time through it is full of mistakes, but in as little as 20 minutes it starts sounding quite good again.