memorizing hands separately?

[Kristian]

hello,

If I want to memorize a piece (I can't memorize everything I play), I memorize right from the beginning and with hands together. I almost always study with hands together.
Does one need, in general, to be able to play a memorized piece with hands separately. Just wondering.

Kristian

[libervir]

Yes, it is absolutely essential that you learn, memorize, and play a piece hands seperated before you begin to play hands together. You should read this book.

https://members.aol.com/cc88m/PianoBook.html

[m1469]

I swear, it will be done  .  I have almost completely finished downloading this.  I have thus far been dragging my feet, but no more! 

Thanks,
m1469

[MarkAllison]

I swear, it will be done . I have almost completely finished downloading this. I have thus far been dragging my feet, but no more!

You won't regret it. I've read it three times in the past month or so. Awesome.

[mound]

Just remember as you do read through it, that it's not an "all or nothing" comprehensive method which you need to follow.

it's best to think of it as a large tool-box, and you learn about how each of the tools works and where they are best used, and then as you go throughout your learning of repertoir, you use certain tools, and ignore others depending on the situation at hand.

I think oftentimes people get confused thinking they need to apply everything described in Chang's book to every musical situation, in a given order, which is not the case.

-Paul

[anda]

Yes, it is absolutely essential that you learn, memorize, and play a piece hands seperated before you begin to play hands together.

always?

i.e. for a mozart sonata, will you memorize the alberti bas separately?

i say you practice hs whichever passage you feel like you need to. but memorize hs all work? why?

[joeltr888]

I don't think it's at all necessary. Techniques definitely need to be learned hands separate, but that is because they are separate entities unto themselves- you are playing two different things with each hand. When it comes to a lot of music (memorizing) you need to make sure the hands are inextricably linked at all times so that they make a complete musical whole. I find this most true for pieces where the left hand serves as accompaniment and the right carries the melody... there's no reason to learn the left hand by itself. This is because the most important part of the piece is in the right hand, and if you smudge something or miss a few beats, your left hand needs to take the cue from the music (a factor heavily influenced by your knowledge of where the piece is going harmonically and musically) and not keep plowing through what it memorized. However, in something like a bach fugue, you definitely will want to practice hands separate and often voices separate so you can break down each melody independently. If you mess up in a fugue, well, let's just hope you remember a point to revert to. Does anyone else find that fugues make for the biggest trainwrecks? 

[anda]

about practicing voices separately in a fugue - i totally agree it's great if you can memorize them (even though i never could )

[chozart]

about practicing voices separately in a fugue - i totally agree it's great if you can memorize them (even though i never could )

that's what I've always had to do with Bach's works
I'd work on each voice separately, until I could play it by heart, and hum it for the most part (obviously not always since I don't have the same voice range as a keyboard, heh).
then.. put together.. it helps a lot, because you'll have already mastered which voice needs to be emphasized when, and how to blend them well so as to unify the entire work.
I actually don't recommend memorizing hands separately for the most part in other types of works.. I really don't see a point.. but in things like fugues or passages with complex/many lyrical voices, it can be useful.