How to memorize piano music quickly?

There are various ways we learn to memorize music. The four principal ones are:
- motor (the fingers learn the pattern) - this is the one that sitting practising for hours on end develops
- aural - being able to "hear" what the music should sound like in our head and then play it on the keyboard
- visual - remembering the way the music looks on the page
- analytical - understanding the theory, harmony and construction of the melodic phrases as recalling these patterns and building blocks during performance.

In reality, we rely on a combination of all of these to successfully memorize music, but understand that some of them can be worked on (or practiced) away from the keyboard.

I asked the question---but let me try an answer.

1) Write down a natural fingering for each phrase,
a fingering that fits the hand. If you use an
"un-natural" fingering---it will be hard to remember.
You MUST use this fingering every time you practice.

2)If you have a good ear for music---use your ear to know which notes to play. If your ear is not as fast as your ear--then slow down as slow as you have to
--to be able to play it correctly "by-ear".


3)To remember chords--arpeggiate them (play them separately) so you can hear their individual notes--so that you can try to play them also "by-ear".

4) Do not try to play "in-rhythm". Just get the notes right--the correct rhythm will come later.

5)Practice only 1 or 2 bars at a time by memory. Then move on to another 2 bars---and play them from memory. Then try to play the 4 bars together from memory. If that is not successful---then go back and learn bars 2 and 3 together---that way you can learn to link the first 2 bars to the second 2 bars.

6) When you can play from memory disjointed segments of the piece, go back to the beginning and see how far you can go from memory---and if you hit a hitch--then look at the music to help you over the hitch. Then look at the hitch and try to figure out how to commit to memory that particular point.

Sometimes you have to actually try to remember the actual note that you are not getting---like remember that at that point the left hand plays a C (for instance). Music is typically not rote like that---but every once in a while ylu will need help from the mechanical, non-musical, side of the brain to help you along.

7) Another aid to memorizing a piece is to play a slow part faster than normal---for the fingers have a hard time remembering slow stuff. like in Debussey's "Clair de Lune" ---I play the beginning very fast---to let the fingers do the memorizing. Once the fingers know the piece---then i can slow them down gradually to the correct speed.

Good luck

that old saying practice makes perfect....ITS WRONG!!! Perfect practice makes perfect. You have to look at written music like you would reading a book or sentence. When reading a sentence you don't sound out every letter then decide what the word is. You've taught yourself to look at a word as a whole and know what it is. You do that with music. Look at an entire measure and see what its worth rhythmically and melodically. If you start looking at a piece of music in larger chunks rather than note for note, your playing will improve and so will your memory. And know this, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. Happy hunting

How one pays attention during practice and the use of good concentration is vital to your success in memorizing. Slow practice, good fingering, analyzing the piece in terms of the structure. Practice slowly
is paramount to learning the piece and make it your own. Look at the notes away from the piano as often as you do when playing it in your practice sessions using repetitions that are correct with the fingering that is consitent at all times. Sing your lines too, make every effort to look at the chords, the melody and listen carefully everything you sound at the keyboard and through you inner ear as well.
Menal play away from the piano is also useful. Take small sections and spend time with them in small practice sessions of 15 to 20 minutes hands alone and together. Take you time to be observant of all the details.

Peter Tarsio
Pianist/Teacher
www.nwcmta.com

It depends on the kind of person you are. Personally I play a little bit, then look away from the page and play it back a few times.

play it over and over again *KISS* practice makes perfect

EASY, TWO WAYS:

1) Learn a few bars by bars together atstage by stage, first right hand, then left hand (or the other way around). Then combine the hands and play the 2-8 bars you learnt. Then chuck your music away, and play those bars. Continuously do this until you have learnt.

2) (this method is how I memorized Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin) Just learn the whole piece, eventually after looking at the music over and over again. You be able to memorize!

One of the keys to practice is to have good sight reading skills to begin with so that you can work on a piece and learn the score through good finger habits and listening along with analysis of the score. Take time to practice in sections a measure a time if need be learning the difficult sections first. Also to test your memory see if you can start from various places that you have marked in the score as starting and ending points. Learn the piece in reverse by starting at the last measure working you way backwards. Sing what you play and know the key changes and follow the harmony by making a mental map of where you are harmonically and intervalically. Slow methodic pracitce with hands alone and together where you can use the counting of the beats to keep you on track. Put the score near the piano or out of sight and try to play what you learned the previous day and see if you can make it through to the end of the section or the spot that you intened to learn. Make use of tactile kinesthetic learning, aural and analytic skills to help you learn the piece. You can also make a map of what the piece is about using words to designate sections or eventhe emotional feeling that it evokes in you as a listener as that is what you do when you practice, listen to yourself which is the most difficult thing and the most important.
Peter at www.nwcmta.com

practice

You can't beat silent practice whereby you play the piece in your mind until you have learnt every note. Silent practice is something you can do anywhere - best done with your hands in your pockets though as ones' fingers tend to twitch along!

http://pianofundamentals.com/ (online version)
http://pianopractice.org/ (more up to date pdf version)

Book that teaches you how to memorize like Mozart as well as become what in todays world would be called a "prodigy" or "genius" approximately 1000 times faster than a typical student who is taught all wrong.
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