Grieg concerto - help!

[qwerty quaver]

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[avetma]

I don't have perfect pitch at all, but I memorise pieces very fast as I sight read them. I am not memorising tones of notes but certain passages and phrases or themes grouped. That's only logical way.

[qwerty quaver]

Thanks for answering!

That is what I have been doing in general but it is still very hard for me (I can't memorise like you though  ). I studied harmony for a year and there was a slight improvement but not enough...

[iumonito]

Be one with the music and fear not a memory lapse.

Practice alternating performance from memory (one time through, no matter what), with performance with the score (one time through, under tempo, no stopping no matter what).

I would say now that you know the notes and the harmonies and all that, concentrate on the emotional and aural aspect of the music.  Memory of the analysis of the piece, its harmonic functions, the names of the notes, even the visual location of things are excellent back up memories, which you should cultivate when you are learning the piece, but which are, at least for me, good to abandon when you are training yourself to perform.

All that having been said, I find I play with more freedom and imagination if I have the score in front of me.  You just keep discovering things and I feel you can take more risks if you have the score to create with.

[preludium]

I will be playing Grieg's 1st piano concerto, (only the first movement) at the end of the year

At the end of this year? Then I suppose it's a bit late to ask for advice. You mentioned that learning theory helped you, so this seems to be your way. I can encourage you if you want to go on. When playing a new piece I have it memorized after sight reading through it only twice, because I analyze the chord progression when I do so. I can't even avoid this, it's like seeing the constallations of stars at the night sky immediately once they are learned. The piano is a great instrument in that respect, since all chords have a particular shape that is easy to remember. Try to play some Jazz, just simple ballads with chords made up of four or five stacked thirds, invert these chords in a way to have the paths during the progression as short as possible. This helps a lot to find your way through pieces and to remember them. Just today I tried to recall a Schumann piece and I didn't remember all the notes, but the chord progression still was there, so I could improvise the missing things. I suppose someone who doesn't know this piece might not even have realized my memory problem.

[nicco]

Concentrate on making music. Try before playing to picture in your head the whole thing, and go through how you think it will go. Try recording yourself, and the best thing, playing for a few friends. A good tip is to try a music-minus-one recording, wich is a recording of the concerto without soloist, where you play along.

[qwerty quaver]

Thank you for all the advice!

To answer Preludium, I'll be playing around June 2007 (I was thinking in terms of end of school year, sorry  )

I suppose I have been "surviving" by using an amalgam of the advice given but I guess I ought to stick to something like "concentrating on making music" (that's what my teacher tells me nicco!). Unfortunately, I do not have enough of time in my schedule to continue harmony classes (which are different from music theory classes; by the way,  I do not really know how to label these classes as I follow the french system, therefore I know only the french terminology) so I'll have to try other techniques for improving my ear.

Well, I guess I found myself some new year's resolutions...

[nicco]

Well, I guess I found myself some new year's resolutions...

Hey Great! And good luck with the concerto, it really is a fantastic piece of music.

[arbisley]

Memorising is as much to do with being able to "hear" what you are going to play and be able to reproduce it (no need for perfect pitch) as just knowing by "finger memory" and patterns. I usually learn patterns very quickly, how one sequence leads into the other, but important is too that each individual tiny fragment is memorised without fault. It's a bit difficult to explain, but I'm sure you could learn to memorise while learning the piece, and if you're playing a concerto, you must spend a lot of time practising, therefore, time where you could be memorising it. It should really be part of the learning process, not something you do separately, and involves a lot of concentration and listening to what you are playing, not to what you are imagining in your head.

Do you live in France? I did solfege for years, and it helps in some things, like listening to harmonies of pieces as you're listening, but I found for actualy performance and sight-reading it was completely against my way of approaching a piece. I suppose I always just learnt off by heart and then practised, which is not a good way around it since I got a lot of finger memory stopping any progress I could make...

Trying to memorise after you've learnt a piece is for me like learning it a second time around. I don't know if this might help, it's quite useful for a lot of things, but if you do read it, make sure you personalise everything it says, and adapt it to your style of playing (attachment)
hope it helps

[elevateme]

why don't you play with the music?

[qwerty quaver]

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[elevateme]

no lol i mean in the concert - why dont you read from the music? a lot of great pianists use music instead of memorising things

[qwerty quaver]

oops hadn't understood that lol .
Actually I would be greatly relieved, but:
1. the director of the music school I go to would say no
2. My teacher would say no.
3. It's a matter of pride too so I'd rather work hard and overcome this thing

and boy, you don't know the orchestra I'm playing with...

[le_poete_mourant]

for chamber music and solo recitals, i think using music has become more acceptable.  As for a concerto soloist, it's still frowned down upon.  Maybe it has something to do with only having to memorize one thing.  Anyway, if you're forever checking your place in the music, it will inhibit your ability to concentrate on your playing. 

Muscle memory has a lot to do with memorization.  Part of memory skips are often nerves.  You just have to concentrate on where you need to go and how you have to play.  If you play it enough, you will have a very high chance of memorizing. 

Listen to as many recordings as you can, as many times as you can.  Heck, play them while you're sleeping.  I don't know if subliminal theory works for music, but it's worth a shot. 

Since the concerto is based around several repeating themes, you only have to memorize a few themes -- after a certain point, it repeats itself, although in a different key.  You only have to memorize one section, and then the changes, in a couple places. 

[qwerty quaver]

Thanks Le Poete Mourant for answering!

Yeah I guess I'll listen to the concerto over and over again. Listening to a piece sometimes just makes you want to go and practice hard...

[le_poete_mourant]

Murray Perahia  said something interesting once at a lecture (I believe at University of Michigan) when asked if he ever has memory slips. 

"All the time," he said; "I just don't worry about it." 

[wannabe]

My teacher has me write words to the piece.  Writing words that have meaning to you and tells a story helps you to show feeling where it belongs as well as keeping the flow.  I found this helped me a lot.

She also does a lot of things while a student is performing, for example, walking around you, making noises, tapping you on the shoulder- forcing you to keep your focus  no matter what happens.

[qwerty quaver]

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