How to maintain a repertoire?

[_nisa_]

Hi,

I'm trying to build a repertoire but i have questions to ask you (based on my own experience).
When you don't play a piece for a "long" time, you forget it. This depends of course on the player and the piece. So, basically, we are always learning new pieces and as from a certain point, we cannot play all of them, we forget some of the less played.

I would like to ask you how many pieces (or how much time of play) do you have in you current repertoire?
And how much do you practice them to be at your best, or not to forget them?

Thank you,

_Nisa_

[frank_48]

there was a thread here years ago, written by bernhard, he said something about learning one piece, not playing it for a long time, then you learn something new, then go back to that piece and not neccesarily re-learn it, but treat it as a completley new piece. by the 3rd time you would have done that it would be permanently ingrained in your memory no matter how long you didnt play that piece. perhaps someone knows the thread im talking about..?

[_nisa_]

Thank you, i will try to search and post the link as soon as i get it.

EDIT: not found, i read different interesting things but not this one... Anyway, you partially answered my question, thanks!

[doctor_ivory]

I read a excellent book called "Playing the Piano for Pleasure" by Charles Cooke and in it he recommends running through your repertoire (or part of your repertoire) every other day (or at least once a week) during your practice.  Play each piece twice (once slow and once fast) and refer to the score if you need it.
I myself have never tried to keep a repertoire until recently, and I am using Cooke's method, but it is too soon for me to conclude anything definite.  Still, it seems a reasonable way to proceed.

[birba]

Since I recently retired, I've been dedicating all my time to ME and MY repertoire.  I've decided I want to work on everything I've ever played or studied in my life.  And keep it ALL up to par.  I doubt if I will ever be able to achieve this, but I'm working at it.  I have three "stick-ups" on my piano.  The first one on the right is the stuff that I've "finished" and only play over once every two weeks.  From memory "with feeling"    The middle stick-up is what I'm currently working on.  There are 4 pieces there at the moment.  One is completely new and the other three are old repertoire I'm getting back into shape.  The stick-up on the left is a list of 3 pieces I WANT to learn in the future.  When I've finished the new one I'm working on now, I will put one of those new ones in it's place.
So far, it hasn't driven me crazy...

[dan101]

I always keep a couple of different concert programs in my fingers. In my experience, relearning pieces is a much quicker task when compared with learning from scratch. It's amazing how the human mind recalls, especially when a piece was originally learned from memory.

Good luck.

[redstar]

The best way to have a repertoire is to constantly play all of your pieces... It will be a shame if you forget how to play something that you've been learning for a very long time. So I would recommend to play at least once a week to keep it fresh in your memory.

P.S. My repertoire was composed out of 10 different beautiful pieces and now I can remember how to play just a couple, because I didn't touch the piano for many years. Sad isn't it?