Memorization for those who are truly awful at it!

[bernadette60614]

I'm playing pieces at the level 8 on up, and my amazing teacher wants me to do the RCM exams starting a level 5.

My piano instruction prior to her was spotty, so there is a ton missing in my understanding of theory, e.g.

She wants me to memorize my pieces for the RCM and honestly, that is my worst skill..in fact, it is not even a skill.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[ignomike]

I have lots to say here so hopefully there's something useful!

To memorize anything you need to get it into your short-term memory by chunking it down into small pieces that can fit and then repeat it enough that your brain gets the message to put it into long-term storage. It's most efficient to repeat it as few times as necessary so wait until it's close to fading before you repeat it. With time you'll get a better grasp of how long to wait and how large of a chunk you can deal with. Some pieces I'll memorize hands together and some separately, it depends on context.

You need to get used to looking down when you play. You're aiming to memorize the pattern of the keys not the notes on the page. Play 1 bar looking at the music. Play it again looking at the keys and repeat until you reckon you could play it after a short break. Do something else. Come back to it and test yourself. Repeat again on bar 2 but also test yourself on bar 1 waiting as long as you dare. Repeat for bar 3 testing when necessary any other bar. Obviously don't bite off more than you can chew if this is new to you. You should find each break can be put off longer and longer.

You also have muscle memory and aural memory. Muscle memory is best left to do it's own thing. You can repeat a bar 50/100 times to develop it but it's almost always better to work visually and let it develop in the background. Aural memory is very strong but unless you have the skills to convert it into notes then it's primary purpose is to support your other methods. Sing the piece, listen to the piece. This is so quick and useful it should be done first but I doubt this is news.

Personally I don't find it fun to memorize a piece from the start and it usually doesn't make sense to. I would recommend to start with singing/listening and learning the first 1/3 or so to a good level before returning to the start and memorizing as your muscle memory will have kicked in a little and everything will be easier. You will also be much less likely to memorize an incorrect note/fingering.

[lelle]

I'm a pretty good memorizer. In my experience, good memorization is based on a wide variety of subskills that you rely on, so that if one aspect of memorization fails, you can fall back on the other ones.

Here are some of the different "memories" you can learn to develop:
* Muscle memory - the most basic and unreliable one IMO. Comes with repeating your piece over and over until playing the notes is automatic.
* Aural memory - remembering how the piece goes, helping you know or at least make an educated guess on what key to press based on what sounds are supposed to come next. Improves as your ear training improves. Easier if you have perfect pitch.
* Visual memory - a big one for me. Involves remembering how it looks when my hands are playing the right chords or passages. You kind of look at the keyboard and know where and how to place your hands next.
* Sheet music memory - remembering how the score looks so that you can recall the score, read and play it from your mind, so to speak.
* Music theory memory - this one is huge and can get quite advanced. Even if you just start getting into the basics it can help you a lot. Involves a number of subskills such as
** Basic chords and scales - remembering everything you plays in terms of what basic chords and scales are used, and any deviations therefrom. Helps you remember big chunks of music because a bar suddenly becomes "A c major scale in sixteenths for three beats" rather than 12 individual keys presses to remember, or "an A flat major arpeggio with a B natural thrown in along the way".
** Harmonic functions and common chord progressions - helps you remember longer sequences or make educated guesses on what to play next because you know all the common patterns and have identified which one is being used at a given moment. So even if you have forgotten the exact notes, if you know that "here comes the dominant followed by the tonic in A flat major" you can play something that's reasonable and at least continue playing without interruption if you forget the exact notes. And knowing that "this is this common chord progression realized in this particular way" helps a lot with remembering a passage because you have a logical structure to connect what you are doing to. Everything that helps me understand something as a part of a larger pattern helps me remember it.
** Voice leading - again helps you understand and make educated guesses on why particular notes were chosen by the composer to come next in many cases.

[ranjit]

I find that one of the best ways for me to solidify memory is to play the entire piece through in my head. I'm too lazy to do this a lot of the time because it takes a lot of concentration and mental effort but it's very effective.

Another strategy I've found useful is to learn the piece in sections of 1-4 measures, stopping on the downbeat of the successive measure.

[quantum]

IMO memorization is the successful integration of the many different perspectives we can view music.  Lelle has put together a good list. 

Here are some of the different "memories" you can learn to develop:
* Muscle memory - the most basic and unreliable one IMO. Comes with repeating your piece over and over until playing the notes is automatic.
* Aural memory - remembering how the piece goes, helping you know or at least make an educated guess on what key to press based on what sounds are supposed to come next. Improves as your ear training improves. Easier if you have perfect pitch.
* Visual memory - a big one for me. Involves remembering how it looks when my hands are playing the right chords or passages. You kind of look at the keyboard and know where and how to place your hands next.
* Sheet music memory - remembering how the score looks so that you can recall the score, read and play it from your mind, so to speak.
* Music theory memory - this one is huge and can get quite advanced. Even if you just start getting into the basics it can help you a lot. Involves a number of subskills such as
** Basic chords and scales - remembering everything you plays in terms of what basic chords and scales are used, and any deviations therefrom. Helps you remember big chunks of music because a bar suddenly becomes "A c major scale in sixteenths for three beats" rather than 12 individual keys presses to remember, or "an A flat major arpeggio with a B natural thrown in along the way".
** Harmonic functions and common chord progressions - helps you remember longer sequences or make educated guesses on what to play next because you know all the common patterns and have identified which one is being used at a given moment. So even if you have forgotten the exact notes, if you know that "here comes the dominant followed by the tonic in A flat major" you can play something that's reasonable and at least continue playing without interruption if you forget the exact notes. And knowing that "this is this common chord progression realized in this particular way" helps a lot with remembering a passage because you have a logical structure to connect what you are doing to. Everything that helps me understand something as a part of a larger pattern helps me remember it.
** Voice leading - again helps you understand and make educated guesses on why particular notes were chosen by the composer to come next in many cases.

Memorization isn't a simple data dump, and trying to cram information into one's head.  Such is a path to a very frustrating and taxing experience into memorizing a piece of music.  Rather, memorization is understanding the various perspectives in music,  and applying this knowledge to the piece one is studying. 

To take an example, try to memorize a paragraph of text in a foreign language one does not speak.  One might end up stringing together a bunch of characters to do the task, difficult and laborious.  Compare that to memorizing a paragraph of text in a language one does speak.  In that case one can piece together words, sentences, subjects, ideas, etc.  One understands the paragraph from many different perspectives, which aids memorization. 

***

To memorize music better, engage with the music with the aim of gaining deeper understanding.  Think about what the music looks like at the keyboard, what it feels like to touch the keys, what it sounds like.  Think about how the harmony is moving, how rhythm grooves. 

Practice memory recall.  Start playing from random parts in the middle of the piece, not always from beginning to end.  Don't be afraid of failure or memory lapses, practice them!  Practice getting lost, and trying to get back up on your feet without referring to the score.  Know where you want to go, at all times. 
Practice improvising your way out of a memory lapse. 

In your practice session, create an environment of focus and mindfulness.  Eliminate all sources of distraction.  Healthy memory workflows, which are resilient to the stressors of performance, are ones that embody disciplined focus, a persistent sense of awareness of where one is and where one wants to go, and the agile ability to adapt and shut out all forms distraction which attempt to derail the focus of the task.  Work on getting to know the music at a deeper level rather than stuffing a bunch of data in your head.  Take joy in the process of discovering more about the music you are studying, rather than stressing about the amount of data that needs to be remembered. 

[lelle]

@quantum I think you make several good points. I especially like what you say about memorizing something in a foreign vs a known language, and about knowing and understanding the music vs stuffing your mind with data for its own sake. I find that I naturally remember things much more easily if it's something I am genuinely interested in and care about understanding, because I'll be engaging in all of these processes naturally in those cases, versus when I just have to force myself to memorize stuff - which I hate haha.

[brogers70]

A kind of parallel to memorizing music is memorizing chess positions. From what I've read, chess masters are often remarkably good at looking at a position from a game and remembering the locations of all the pieces, even after just a quick look, whereas ordinary amateurs and non-chess players, find it nearly impossible. However, the huge difference between masters and non-masters disappears if you ask them to look quickly at a random arrangement of chess pieces that did not arise in a real game. It looks like the masters are not remembering individual piece locations but patterns that arise commonly in play - just like a good memorizer on the piano remembers larger structures than individual notes.

[lostinidlewonder]

There should be three factors working together to achieve efficient memory of a passage. Conscious, muscular and sound observations, isolating them sets you up for more repetitive work, combining them limits the amount of repeats required.

You must be able to hear what it should sound like without the need to physically play it, the sound in your minds eye must capture all the notes and expect to hear it, any errors would be corrected by your ear or understood as being wrong because it is not what you expect to hear. You must also be able to hear the music in slow motion as well and hear each detail when you play slower while practicing.

You must also be able to feel what it is like in your hands to play that passage. This means being able to coordinate your hands and play the passage comfortably with all the correct fingerings and controlled movements. You should be able to play the passage without any error multiple times in a row.

You must also have conscious statements which allow you to think about the notes that you will play, statements which allow you to recall not one note at a time but a larger combinations of them. Patterns in the fingering, notes, positional changes, coordination etc all should be used if necessary to help you remember what to do.

If you are a strong sight reader consider photocopying your works and getting scissors to cut it up. You can also colour in your sheet music to highlight all pattern observations and mark any logical statements which help you memorise the passage, highlight repeated ideas both in the notes and fingerings. You can stick post it notes on the sheet music to cover parts and only flip them if you need to remember what to do.

It would be better to post a specific passage to focus on and I'm sure we can give some good advice. Talking in generalisations can be rather confusing if there is not actual context to work with.

[ranjit]

You must be able to hear what it should sound like without the need to physically play it, the sound in your minds eye must capture all the notes and expect to hear it, any errors would be corrected by your ear or understood as being wrong because it is not what you expect to hear.

I think this is a tough ask! I find myself failing at this a lot, I can't play the entire piece in my head. How do you train this and is it necessary?

[lostinidlewonder]

You don't need to play the entire piece every single note in your head, but you of course should have the overall general idea in the head.

 What I meant is that when practicing to memorise a particualr passage you should be able to hear and anticipate every single detail. So this can be determined while practicing, formulating the entire sound picture in your head, and at different speeds of course.

This is building up the memory for the piece in terms of sound memory. Of course not all memory components will  always be at maximum strength immediately (if it is you will memorise the passage very fast, something that is easily noticeable with very easy works) that is why we push to have them all working together to form the memory.

[zheer]

Do what I do, don't memorize, besides professional pianists are starting to appear with the music score on stage. I'd like to do what Glenn Gould did, become the first pianist that never walked on stage without the score and wearing casual close.