Learning a Piano song without a Piano...

[adodd81802]

I have read about some pianists that claim, even without a piano in front of them, spending enough time reading the music can enable them to play the piece (to an extent) for the first time?

What are the thoughts on this? is it an advanced technique, or a case of practicing the technique?

Should it be used only for easier pieces? Does it even work?

As I understand it, muscle memory is the real in-print on learning a song here. Are there that many pianists that could from memory write down Chopin's Etudes for example, however sit in front of a piano and you "just know"?

I don't get as much of my free time to play the piano due to work times, noise vs location unfortunately, so am interested in alternative ways to "practice" pieces to make my short practical sessions more efficient.

I am post grade 8 and so have a good understanding of reading music, however my sight reading is really bad. I can read the notes perfectly at a slow piece, as I see them as physical notes and effectively sound them in my head before playing rather than reading phrases or patterns, and am concerned that if I am advised the reading a song technique that it might deter me from improving my ability to sight read.

With that in mind, also happy to pick up some sight reading tips. I have currently just taken on a new piano teacher who has advised considering the level at which I play, my rhythm is shocking when trying to sight read (fair to say!) and that I should not be looking at them as individual notes.

[josh93248]

I'm not sure if I'm all that qualified to answer your post but here are a couple things I do.

I like to completely finger all my pieces before playing them. A bit radical but it has many benefits, not least of which is it forces you to consider the exact makeup of each note and phrase before committing to practice.

I also, in the early stages, play all my pieces mostly hands separately until I can reliably play each hand well and with good rhythm independently. Then I combine, I really dislike just sight reading right off the bat as I am somewhat bad at it.

As for studying score, yeah, there's probably some value to it, but probably more value if you understand theory and composition so perhaps you should learn some of that. Might help your reading too.

[roncesvalles]

I've never learned an entire piece without a piano, but I have memorized entire sections without having played a single note.   You have to have a solid grounding in theory, especially harmony to memorize without playing.   Are you able to describe everything in the sheet music harmonically?   Can you remember the progression?   How long are the melodic phrases--two bars? four bars? longer?    Can you narrate what is going on in the music, sort of listing all information relevant to playing it?  

If this is something you want to do, I'd recommend that you start small, in 1-2 measure blocks or complete melodic phrases if you're feeling confident.   Start with something like Mozart or Bach's C major prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier (book one), with an uncomplicated texture.   Isolate in your mind the type of accompaniment (Alberti bass, arpeggio, held root with quaver alternation of higher chord tones, octaves, thirds, waltz pattern, etc.), then the specifics of the accompaniment (what chord is being played), then look at the melody, its high and low points, its structure and details of rhythm, any ornamentation, etc.   It's a lot of work initially for scant rewards, but if you travel a lot without a piano, it could be useful.  Other works that might be relatively easy to remember could be Satie's Gymnopedies or Gnossienes.

At the very worst it will teach you to look at the music in greater detail, which can give you greater insight as a performer, even if you're unable to memorize the entire piece.

 

[kawai_cs]

Learning a song without a piano is absolutely no problem. Learning a piece without a piano - it is a different story...

[dcstudio]

ok...well...  I can play lots of stuff for the first time that I've never played before--it depends--if say someone asks for...some old country tune, or a jazz standard, or a rock tune...it really doesn't matter that I haven't played it because I've heard it and I can play the melody by ear and harmonize it as I go...or if it's one of those tunes I have heard 8 billion times my ears will pretty much take over and I can play it like Marty Robbins, or Miles Davis, or Led Zeppelin...

now...if someone says the Rach 2--- I can play the opening chords by ear--and then I will just quickly move on to the C# minor prelude-- or something else I actually play...lol;D

it depends on the level of the "piece" and how ingrained it is in my brain...to play it without looking at the music...

to simply pick up a piece of music and stare at it and then play it-- without looking is also really no problem...depending on what it is...  and if I have heard it before...   also--I can remember what the music looks like...most of the time, anyway...  that tends to go blank though sometimes...so I have back-up ways of remembering too.

my head will generally analyze harmonically as I gaze over the music anyway--so I will run over the roman numeral analysis for the chord progression...then on the second pass I will name them in their jazz terms with their extensions--I listen to the  melody in my head as I read it and try to establish a "memory" of what it sounds like--just in case I forget what the music looks like, or the chord progression... 

I'm in my 46th year tho guys...   after a while none of what you play is linear muscle memory anymore...you don't have to always work stuff up...and they really can't throw for a loop with too many things that you haven't seen before...

now weird modern music that is devoid of rhythm or is overly atonal...    or has something else that I might have to work out...  might take me a few minutes--but I will play it...maybe slightly faked--but I'll get through it. 


I don't think I could stare at the Rach 2 and then play it---that's a lot to remember...lol... but like the Grieg--very easy opening to play--Tchyaik 5 --also block chords and easy...to hear and to play...  The emperor also has sections I can recall by ear...  so if I picked up the score for any of them and stared at it...  I could do a pretty good job of convincing you that I took a look at it and then played it for the first time, anyway...lol   

but I have a pretty bitchin' "play by ear" function, too...

so yes... it's totally possible and happens all the time.