Memory Work

[raintree]

I am finding this to be a real challenge - memorizing my pieces. Does any one have any suggestions re: memory work?

[ongaku_oniko]

what type of memorization are you talking about? How the score looks like? What the dynamics are?

Or simply muscle memory of the notes?
Cuz I find it hard NOT to memorize just the notes... I don't understand how you can not memorize the notes... with op. 10 no.5 even though I can't even play the third page at 1/10th of the speed, I know exactly where are the notes are when I'm at the piano

(I can't write them out to you though, I need a piano so that my hands can remember. My brain doesn't remember)

If you're talking about brain memory, I guess try to analyze the piece more, and try to feel the piece. What does it sound like? What do you want it to sound like? Just think about it. Play it slowly, get the dynamics and rhythm into your hands.


I don't really know, though.

[ramseytheii]

This is really such a huge topic that I find your question inadequate.  Memory operates on fundamental levels: aural memory, visual memory, physical memory, intellectual memory, and has been known since the days of Simonides, spatial memory, which seems to me to be distinct from the other categories.  (I left out other levels of memory irrelevant to remembering music).

One cannot really complain about having trouble memorizing, unless one has really addressed all these areas, and found weaknesses.  You might ask, what is a technique to use visual memory to memorize?  Or, you might say you find this or that form of memory unreliable, and how can it be improved?  But as it stands, the possibilities are so vast there is no way to address your question.

Walter Ramsey

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

I agree with what everyone says here, there are many types of memorization.

But what I found really helps me memorize is something my teacher told me to do. I'm not sure what type of memory this would be, but:

1) Play through a piece you are quite familiar with once, looking at the score, trying to be conscious of the patterns and different sections of the piece.
2) Close the book, put it on the floor or somewhere a few metres away from the piano, and start playing from memory.
3) When you forget, get your book, look at the notes. Then walk back to the piano, and try to play the part you forgot, from memory again.
4) If you still can't remember, play from the book once, look at the notes once, then close the book and play it from memory.

 And I memorize the notes along with the dynamics and pedal in the beginning, otherwise its confusing. For stuff like fugues, or pieces with confusing rhythms, or pieces that are just plain confusing, my teacher also makes me memorize hands and /or voices separately. I don't know, but it works well for me.

[bleicher]

A couple of useful tricks if you're having trouble memorising the notes of a piece:

1. Without looking at the music or at the piano keyboard and without moving your fingers, say out loud the note names of the passage that you need to remember.

2. As above, but instead say the fingerings out loud

It's useful because you have to use a different part of your memory; you can't rely on aural or muscle memory so it makes the memorisation more secure.

[fleetfingers]

Break it up into sections, even measures if that is all you can do at a time.

Yes, there are different types of memory and the more of them that you integrate together, the better you'll really know the piece. There are some pieces that I know only based on muscle memory. I have played them so many times, my fingers move automatically while my mind is completely unaware of the notes I'm playing. Muscle memory is insufficient on its own though because if your fingers slip you are lost and don't know what to play next without going back to the beginning or some other starting point.

When you choose a measure or section that you're going to memorize, think about committing to memory these things:

1. The way it sounds (be able to sing it to yourself without looking at the music)
2. What the notes are and what they look like on the page
3. What your fingers look like as they play it on the piano (do this once you know the notes...look down at your fingers and remember the patterns and what keys they're playing)
4. The muscle memory will come as you repeatly play the passage. For instance, take 2 measures and loop them, playing them several times until your fingers start to move almost automatically.

I hope some of that helps!

[ongaku_oniko]

fleetfingers:

Just so you know, muscle memory doesn't fail for everyone;

Like me. I only have muscle memory. But when I play a wrong note, I can still continue on. Because as I'm learning a piece, I often play wrong notes. Those are somewhat rememberd by my muscles too, so if I played a wrong note, my muscles just pick it up from there

I always thought muscle memory was something that's bad... I can't turn it off. Just play through anything three or four times, and I pretty much remember the notes. (I never really look at the dynamics and other things; I play those by feel). But if I made a mistake reading the sheet, there's a problem, because after something is in my muscle memory, I find it HARD to play by the sheet. In fact, almost impossible. My mind starts wandering away from the sheet, my eyes back to the keybaord, and I start playing by memory again...


well that's the end of my little... rantish thing.

But I don't think there are any tricks to memorization, other than looks of thinking and practising, and analysis. But you gotta put work into it, there's no magic to make you memorize it like that.

[electrodoc]

On Memorising.

Many of us find memorising music quite difficult. I don't mean finger or muscle memory which, if it goes wrong, can leave us adrift, but thorough memorisation of a work. This has been a personal difficulty for me although I find sight-reading fairly easy. I think that easy sight-reading can lead to some degree of laziness when it comes to memorising . Anyway, here are some ideas that may help. If you are serious about memorising, treat it as a skill to be mastered like any skill. Start with a fairly short and easy piece and gradually build up to longer and more difficult works.

Play through the piece two or three times, slowly and with the music . What is the form: A, B, A; A, B; rondo, etc?, Note the key signature and the time signature.

Now take a short section that makes sense - a short phrase and without looking at the music play the left-hand alone, looking at the hands and paying attention to detail. Check that everything is accurate – correct notes, time values, rests, tied or held notes.

Repeat for the right-hand.

Now put their hands together at a slow tempo – half speed or less. Keep fingering consistent. Watch all details of note values and rests. Keep strict time.

If the chosen unit is too large then break it down into smaller units until you find an easy manageable length. At the next practice session choose a different unit to learn. At this stage do not try to join units together. That can wait until you can play all of the units that make up the whole piece. When you have completely mastered each unit then start to join them together.

Method 2
This one is a pig but very good! Again, start with hands separate. With this method some familiarity with the work is assumed.

Start at the end of the piece and take a retainable unit – never more than two bars. For example, take the last two bars. Play these two bars (or less) very slowly from memory keeping complete accuracy. Then add the bar before the penultimate bar… etc.

On the second practice session DO NOT repeat the first session. Start with a completely fresh unit. Take care to pace yourself by trying not to cover too much in one session. (A little learned well will be retained, a lot learned poorly will get forgotten.)

Aim to start the whole process again within a week. In other words, repeat the whole process in week two. When you have gained some degree of fluency and confidence try starting at any given bar and gradually increase the units: 2 bars, 4 bars, 8 bars, etc.

This method does not need to be used for everything. It is best used when in particular difficulty. It is not always necessary to start at the end of the whole police but perhaps at the end of a particularly difficult section.

Methods 3
This is perhaps the most disciplined method of all. Choose a section to be memorised. Place the music on a stand or table on the other side of the room – not on the music stand of the piano.

Now go to the music and really study the left-hand of a small section (one bar or less). Note pitch, rhythm, note values, fingering. When you think that you have absorbed everything then close your eyes (no cheating!) and call out the name of the notes, the time values, and the fingering. Open your eyes and check whether you were completely correct. If not study the section again (or choose a smaller unit) and try again. When completely correct go to the piano and play keeping in strict time and with accurate fingering.

Repeat the above for the right-hand.

Finally put the hands together at a very slow speed.

Methods 2 and 3 combined are very effective but do require much patience and discipline. For general advice I would recommend when learning a new piece to start at the end (the last phrase) and gradually worked forward. Many amateur pianists, when playing start well and get worse as the piece progresses. This is very often because we keep starting at the beginning. By working backwards we should get better as the piece progresses which, especially when playing to an audience, should give us confidence.

I hope that these notes will be of help to you and to others.

Best of luck!

electrodoc

[uthacalthing]

For a long time I didn’t own a piano, and had to make the most of practicing on other people’s pianos or in practice rooms, hence developed my own memorization routine away from the piano. Fleetfinger’s description sums it up quite well. After I know what the piece sounds like, an important step for me is figuring out the larger arm movements first, ie. skips, changes, accents etc and memorize these. “Grouping” seems to work best if I can think of a specific movement that ties a section together, and this makes memorising easier IMHO.

[jimbo320]

Play and sing the song in your head as your fingers do the walking....