Currently, I'm studying pieces by Bartok and Chopin, among others, yet I cannot seem to memorize them properly. I've had trouble with memorization before as well -- it just doesn't seem up my alley -- but the pieces I'm playing (Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56, and Chopin's Prelude in Ab Major, Opus 28 No. 17) seem to be quite a bit more difficult to memorize, for some odd reason.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how should I memorize pieces? Better yet, would anyone care to tell me how they memorize their own pieces? I'd really appreciate it.

Listening to a recording of the peice helps audibly memorize it; as for muscle memory, keep practicing each hand seperately and together... over and over and over (with the music). This will also help you audibly memorize it. It's this combination of muscle and audible memorization which produces the best memorization (from my experiences, at least).

he's right. just do it over and over till your hand memorizes it. As for me, i have a good memory, so just a day or 2, could memorize a page, but it depends on how hard the piece is.

Also, chopin's prelude has a lot of sharps and flats in the middle so that might be hard to memorize.

I'd say to play along with the piece. ^_^

heh. i have a photographic/musical memory. i play it about once or twice its in my head.. if i dont playing it for the max of 6 months, i can still remember it.

DAMN!!! Thats some good skills!

Ive been blessed with a talent to at least play well.. the least i can do, is worship the one who gave them to me.

God.

Amen bother.

For those memory deficant like me:

I like to play one hand and sing the other. It's fun and it helps me understand the part I'm playing better. I usually know each hand separate before I know them together.

Another thing I use is knowing the pattern behind the chords. It could be as simple as c- f7-c or something as complicated as c-g-N-f-c. Knowing what chord of pattern comes next helps me anticipate what's coming next in the music.

Tip three, sharps and flats. If there's alot of sharp/flats, I usually think of the opposite, how many natural notes or white keys I play in the piece. For example, B major, 5 sharps. When you play the scale, the only white notes are B and E. If I have a piece in B major, I simply think what the white notes are so whenever I come to a B or an E I think white note, and everyother note is a black note. Hard to explain, but a very simple concept.

I'm a good notereader but my memorization abilities aren't so good... I consider that the problem of being dominantly left-brained. >) Anyhow, just neverending practice... that's what I do. I make sure I REALLY know the piece perfectly before even attempting memorization, then when I start memorizing I generally tackle a few lines over and over at a time... but still going over the full piece as well.

@Sondagger & Maestro: AMEN!!! Brothers! (member.php?u=2344)

1: play over and over again
2: note the similarities in some parts such as ABA form where you don't get the As mix up (really important while memorizing)
3: in my opinion i tend to hum the piece out, as if singing the piece. Think of it as a song, i mean some songs we can really remember well.
4: Memorize section by section

I guess that's all i can contribute, there arent a lot of ways to memorize. For someone like me who is good at sightreading, memorizing just needs a lot of practices.

It's funny how we (the forum) have so many members with extraordinary abilities such as photographic memory, perfect pitch, sky high IQ and whatnot.

*gets suspicious of some members*

Indeed, I have the power of foreseeing.... I will be eating in the near future. Ooooo ~(' ' ~)


Imo it's more important to know the song audibly.
Basically.. if you know how the song goes, it's gonna be easier to play and memorize physically.

Ever tried playing a piece that you've never heard before?
Not easy to memorize or even play, isn't it?

What about a song you know and listen to?
You can just sit down in front of the piano and approximate with your eyes closed, since you have the song in your mind already.


Then there's also.... awesome songs, and boring songs. We naturally remember things we like.
So.. show some passion. It helps. ^_^

@Noir: Who do you think are lying?

@Noir: Who do you think are lying?


yea whats that about.

_______________________

also i agree when uve heard a song you can play/memorize well. but one you havent heard, you cant. i havent heard the first movment of beethovens easy sonata, but i memorized what im playing in an instant (no bragging..)

I've already been trying to play the songs endlessly, but the problem is that I don't exactly want to use muscle memorization. I have trouble memorizing chord progressions, such as those within Chopin's prelude, and even the simple ones Sondagger stated. I guess there's really no "trick" to it. =/

I'd just really like to be able to memorize my Bartok and Chopin. Mozart is fine.

I'm trying to memorize a Haydn sonata, so there is a special trick I learned that helps a TON with memorization. Go to the last measure of a section and memorize it. Then memorize the measure right before it and play to the end of the section. Keep on adding one measure at a time. It works well because eventually you know where you're going.

Sometimes the length of a song inhibits that, but yeah, it's pretty useful for shorter songs that you HAVE to memorize.

If you're afraid you'll end up relying on muscle memory, try reading the music WITHOUT a piano. Look through it and recall how it sounds. Then close the book and see if you can still recall how it sounds. BTW, this works well for slower songs, where you can't rely on muscle memory. For fast songs, you have to rely on motor memory because you simply cannot recall that quickly. Generally though, this isn't a problem because if you can play it up to speed, you're probably not looking at the music anymore :P

I got my Ginastera (Sonata I, MVT. IV, Opus. 22), Chopin (Ballad in Ab Major, Opus. 47), and Hadyn (One of the Sonatas in E) memorized within four months, two months, 1 month (respectively) of learning it by playing an hour of practice every day (not much, I know >.<). Maybe the songs are just easier. I don't know. For me, I just gradually memorize the whole thing by just playing every day. I don't even realize that I've memorized them until I tried without the book. So it might be earlier than the given times.

Is Ginastera Sonata 1 Mvt 4 that really cool 123-123-12-12-12 piece?

Yes. I'm glad someone knows what I'm talking about. >.< Nice description. "123-123-12-12-12". Why do you ask? For clarification?

I loved that piece...I think it took me 2-3 weeks to memorize, but that was when I had a lot of time on my hands :P

I had to memorize my Chopin first, so the time period might've included that. It's not very difficult to memorize, just to play (in my opinion). Eh, you're a male, but did you get tired at the end? Like, around the last page or so?

I don't think so...my piano teacher placed a lot of emphasis on being able to play without fatigue, so we did a lot of work on resting the hands during playing...

I see. That's a good way to learn it like that, I suppose. I don't think I would have personally been able to do it. I can't play and then just stop in the middle of the piece.

When I say rest, I don't mean actually stopping, but rather like the way the heart rests between beats. My teacher said that fatigue comes from opposing some motion. By trying not to lock the wrists or the knuckles, you oppose less motion, and you fatigue less. Also, the fingers themselves tire easily, but the fingers assisted by the arms will last much longer.

My fingers don't tire. My lower arm tires. What do I do then?

get someone to hold them up for you, hehehe

:topic:

If your lower arm tires, you might want to adjust your bench higher.

But back to the original discussion: if you have a slow song with complex chord changes, it may help to go through and identify all of the chords to help with memorization. You don't have to actually memorize the chords themselves, but taking the time to figure out exactly what they are will help you understand the piece, and from that understanding, the piece should become easier to memorize.

For memorizing..

the obvious, take a few measures for about 2-3 days (or however it takes you to memorize them) then the next few. after a signifigant amout of measures memorized, put them together and try to learn the section of music.

next, do the same measures that you've just done, but now, pay attention to the dynamics. all the cresendos, presstissimos, fortes etc. then do this.

depending on the song, for the larger section of learning, i saw memorize the first 40-50 measures. it may seem a lot or little (like i said, depending on the song).

so in conclution:

1. Memorize a few measures for a few days.
2. Continue the first step
3. Stop at about the first 40-50 measures; memorize the music
4. Practice the same 40-50 measures; expressions.
5. Keep doing this thruout the whole song..


Now for me it's different. but if no talent comes in, this is what i do.

My way....
1. Be able to sing the song in your head perfectly
2. "Segment" the music... if possible, make a story out of it. Or just attach some sort of image to a segment.
3. Play it over and over like crazy until you can play it while your mind wanders off....

Just try this stuff: http://www.Pmemory.com

.... usually I play through it 2-4 times, then when I think I'm ready, I try without music. I memorized 2 solos, 50 measures each, a dixieland jazz song (clarinet) that was 171 measures by doing this... usually if you just keep playing through it, it gets stuck in your head...

As some others have suggested, try listening to a recording of it. That helps A LOT.

Also, just play the piece A LOT. When I'm in a cram for memorizing a piece, I listen to a recording whenever I can and play the piece through a couple of times every 30min.

To make you more comfortable with your memorized piece, try memorizing it backwards. Start with the last bar, and once you have that done, get the second last and last bar done. Just keep adding on after that.

Finally, try memorizing your piece hands seperatly! That will both help with your memorization and will make you extremely comfortable with it. It may even help you out some times. ^.^; For one of my exams, I forgot the right hand for a few bars but I just continued on with the left hand and all was good!

for me I kind of have a punishment routine that helps. When trying to memorize music as maestro said learn a few bars at a time and keep practicing but when trying to play it through I have a thing where if I make more than 1 or 2 mistakes then I have to play the song all the way from the beggining. This way everytime it comes up to that part that I may forget i know where i go wrong and what i should aim for.

after doing this for a while you soon realize that it has a natural flow to it and your hands can move wityhout you even seeing where the notes are, which then makes things like playing blindfolded not that hard

get a recording by a brilliant pianist (Geiseking, Brendel, etc.), try to imitate it when learning. makes it easier to learn.

if that doesn't work, just play the piece ad nauseum XD *punishment*

Actually, eva, thats what I do.

I just play it over and over again, until I'm sick of the song.

Actually, eva, thats what I do.

*blink*







huh?