Learning by heart (my biggest problem)

[paulfechner]

Hi there,
I always have problems with learning a piece by heart because of that i couldnt play any really difficult pieces until now  . do you have any tips/technics for me how to learn a piece by heart as fast as possible. >> by the way, how do YOU learn a (long) piece?

thx so much

paul

sry, i think this is a bit wrong her at teaching , i'll put it to another place too

[JLK]

Hey, well for me I find it best to learn the left hand from memory first--I know that this sounds quite tedious-but I've been doing this for quite a while now and you do get quicker at it!!  It makes you feel more secure when performing.  Also start memorising from the end of the piece so when you perform it, as you go through it you feel more confident.

I also find it quite hard memorising-I think this is one of our biggest problems as pianists-so you're not alone!!!

Goodluck

[quixoticcafe]

Hi,

This topic has been written about extensively here. Just browse. Never the less,
my best advice would be to FINGER OUT EVERY SINGLE NOTE. Why? Because
first of all you have come to grips with every note.  Secondly, once you have found the optimal fingering you continue to use that fingering consistantly, thus reinforcing finger memory. Also, in this whole process fingering generally helps solve techinical problems. Yes it seem that this is very teadious in the beginning, but it pays a lot of musical dividends.  Try it. Work out a page or two a day. You will see--it works!

Michael

[whynot]

Wow, I thought I was a lone voice crying in the wilderness for memorizing the left hand first.  I've been doing that for years.  Everyone I suggest it to says that it would be too hard, so they don't try it.  But my reasoning is that melodies are so much easier to remember, we can sing that part of our pieces after playing them only a few times.  It's the chords and their voicings and turning-around moments, typical LH things, that seem to be what we forget.  But if I learn them first, I always have that overall shape in my head, and I almost never have memory slips later on.  Or if I do, I can jump right back in because I know what chord comes next.  And I second the motion on learning the end first, because it's usually the difficult "peak" moment, and you don't want to dread the hardest part while you're playing everything else.

It's also a theory of mine that we know more than we think we do (maybe it just makes me feel better!).  What I'm getting at is, try setting the book aside sooner than you normally do, maybe even a lot sooner, and see how far you can go from memory really early on.  You might not remember everything, or even very much, but I bet it will be more than you expected.  Especially if you give yourself permission, when stuck, to jump ahead to the next thing you do remember just then.  Could be interesting...  Very best of luck.

   

[whynot]

Oops, one more thought.  When you feel like you're stuck in your memorizing, you might try doing something intuitive, like playing by ear (it can be something really simple, just a little melody), or building some chord and then playing it in every key... something where you have to feel and hear the music, and can't see it on paper.  Juggling is supposed to put people in that zone, too, but I can't do it, so...

[buddy]

Just finished memorizing 3rd movement to pathetique-I thought!  Every time I have a full run through I make a differnt mistake.  i have no idea why or how to fix it.  Anyone know what I should do?