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Hi,

How do I go about building up and maintaining a repertoire of pieces ?
As opposed to what I currently do, where each piece goes through a golden period where it is memorized and played well, then gradually fades out, until I am at a stage where I need to relearn it.

My teacher doesn't seem to have a lot to offer in this area and instead encourages me to 'forge ahead' with new pieces.

I like to play from memory, and would like to have a set of pieces (maybe 10) that I can play competently.

At present, if any one asks me to play for them I have to first think carefully about which piece I should play - wondering what sort of state it will be in, when it was last rehearsed, did I ever really master it ?

Any advise or experience welcome.

i keep a binder with copies of pieces learned that i enjoy playing. they are alphabetically organized by composer and i have a new binder every couple of years or so. on lazy days i go back and play thru a binder.

as your skill level increases it will be easy to go back and sight read the earlier pieces.. perhaps they will still be in your memory.

Hi Pinkerton,
I think it is helpful to keep a repertoire 3-ring binder. Collect the music you love the most and would like to include in your repertoire. Make a copy for your binder. And put the copies in page protectors.

As far as keeping music memorized, at least having the collection all together will make it easier to review.

A harpist said that each piece is a "flower in your bouquet". What I like about that description is it honors getting started. A simple piece played well is worth hearing (at least on harp it gets appreciated)...and the bigger bouquet also has its merit. I know some people will hate the analogy of your repertoire being your bouquet. (It was an elderly harpist addressing girls.) So ignore this paragraph if it is annoying!

Apple and I must have been posting about the same time.

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! Being able to perform pieces "off the top of your head" should be the goal of every performing artist. Needing to rely on music (notes) is a real handicap. Because your teacher seems not to have much experience doing this himself, you're going to have to learn and practice a technique on your own.

The secret, at least for me, is constant review, month after month, until the piece is deeply ingrained. For others, knowing the structure so well that they can write the piece out on paper, should the need arise, is the key. Or best, a combination of the two. Ideally, the memorization process you use relies heavily on understanding the piece's structure, which makes playing it after a hiatus, that much easier.

Personally, I do serious repertoire review once a week. I devote my practice energies to reviewing pieces I've learned and memorized. Some pieces only come up once a month, others, once a week.

Congratulations from me also. The fact that you're in a position to think about this means you're doing a lot of things right.

For most people with a large number of items in their repertoire, only some smaller number of them can be "current" at any one time. For example, let's say ten or so. When an old piece drops from your "current" list to your "back catalogue", you can replace it with something new. You'll have to adjust and figure out how many items are comfortable for you to juggle at once - ten may be perfect, or you may decide to change your mind.

In your cycle of constant review of repertoire items, don't forget that purposefully taking time off from a certain piece is important, especially after the first period of hard work learning it. The experience of coming back to a piece "cold" is valuable in itself to your learning process.

I'm working on building up a repertoire too, but at the moment I only have 3-4 pieces I can play off the cuff (but that's not bad for the time I've been playing, I think)..... As my pieces are short, it is easy to use them as warm up.
I like the idea of the 3-ringed binder! At the moment I have my binder, but it contains either pieces I worked on to study a technique /learn a skill and pieces I "aspire to play".

My goal is to have a few categories in my repertoire.
1. classics -17-19thC
2. sing-a-longs
3. music from the 40s 50s -sort of jazzy but not pure jazz.
Goals are good, goals are good, I keep telling myself!

Just remember if you are going to put the pieces in a sleeve in the binder get the kind that are non glossy and glary otherwise they can be very difficult to read depending on your lighting and make practicing/playing them very annoying as you have to keep moving your head to get rid of the glare.

I didn't see that suggestion. I HATE HATE HATE plastic page protectors. They glare, they make the book bulky, you can't write on them, they get old before the paper does, on and on and on.

How about, umm, actual books with real scores in them, like in the olden days? Or if you really feel you need photocopies in a binder, just punch holes and put them in.

I think the biggest challenge to building a repertoire is getting bored playing the song over and over in order to memorize it. I know I bore with repetition and much prefer the challenge of sight reading. But this does nor help one's repertoire.

Why try to memorize by playing a "song" over and over again?
Sounds like a waste of time to me.
It would be better to use one's intelligence to memorize the piece and only use repetition for specific objectives in a controlled fashion. A competent piano teacher can show you how.

Sight reading not help one's repertoire??? It sure does. Having good sight reading skills means you can learn pieces so much faster. You can also read through hundreds of them in order to find the one you really want to work on, rather than spending weeks before you realise it's not what you hoped. If more pianists had better sight reading skills we perhaps wouldn't have so many queries about "is ------- too hard for me?" They could play it through and find out!

Hi currawong,

Not wanting to quibble (there’s a word I’ve never ever used before ) but nevertheless quibbling ...

my guess as to what Infinity is trying to put over is that sight-reading (for the sake of improving) can prove a soul-destroying occupation.

But picking up on your theme of using sight-reading to sift wheat from chaff ...
my shortcut to good music is to make sure of my composer ...
Gershwin never lets me down.

Btb. Even with a great composer (and I love Gershwin too!) the arrangement can make all the difference (especially for beginners like me!)

Maybe I'm weird, but I like playing the sight-reading game (ok, I know I'm weird,...I like studying grammar too).
I find it a challenge.

As for the plastic page holders...... If the light is such that I can't cope with the glare, I just slide the pages out. It isn't a big deal.

Those who cannot read, find literature a torture.
Those who cannot sight read, find the classics in classical notation an insurmountable challenge.
Most people can be taught to read and to read well.
It does take a lot of effort and is a skill that is wise to learn young to eliminate the amount of effort required when older.
Want to read better? Read a lot.
Want to sight read better? Sight read a lot.

An old wives tale Journey,

Sight-reading gives most people a headache ... lots of sight-reading never results in the wishful thought that a nirvana can be reached to be able to read anything prima vista.

Lots of people avow to their sight-reading improving over the years ... but strangely never
reach the "happy hour"... even top accompanists like currawong (with a massive daily workload) have worked out a survival technique to miss out some of the notes.

Try to be patient chaps in working up a piece of music measure by measure ...
and memorize ... for a quality rendition.

How far your memory stretches is up to you.

Pinkerton: See the recent thread (if you haven't already) over on the ABF.

A question for the teachers:

When re-learning a previously learnt piece, and once you've got it back and playable from memory, how long do you think you should continue to practice it daily before dropping it again e.g the remainder of that week, or for several weeks, or stop practicing it as soon as you can play from memory again?

It's easy enough to buy non-glare page protectors. It's all I have used. Mainly I have used it for harp repertoire...playing for 2 hour receptions (bringing 1 or 2 binders along).

My own teacher was highly opposed to making a copy of music (or using a 3 ring binder) and she would show up for a reception with a 3 foot stack of books.To me that said "See what great effort I am making?" But IMO when you perform it should look effortless.

And when playing for a couple of hours, yes I use music...even though most is half memorized. The main thing is you need to be able to play seamlessly...play fluently without mistakes. At least for weddings and receptions no one gives a flip whether you use music or not.

I think we're discussing two separate issues here:

Working musicians need a ready repertoire of suitable music for whatever type of gig they are engaged in. Having those in binders makes perfect sense. These pieces, while read, may be so well known to the performer that they could pretty much be played from memory. They are highly polished and sound professional, as they should.

The OP, however, was referring to a memorized repertoire. Pieces you can play on command without need of notes. Often, this is art music, including some jazz and other types, but not for performance at gigs so much, but for those occasions when you pass by a piano and you want to play something. You don't want to stand there, hands in pocket, head hung low, and not be able to play anything meaningful.

Ah, that's it John. Two separate issues. And I have to admit I've been one of those who has stood there wishing I could play something. I have the same problem the OP has. I get something memorized, but I'm not putting in the work to keep it memorized. Maybe I should keep some sheet music in my purse to be ready for those occasions when I pass by a piano and want to play something (besides scales and arpeggios).

I buy high quality bound music (generally Henle) but make photocopies of the pieces I'm working on and put them in a plastic sleeve (not a binder, a zipping sleeve with folders inside), taped "accordion fold" instead of hole-punched, for several purposes:

1 - my teacher (a PhD performance student) has a folder with the photocopied / "working" versions of each of the pieces for every recital she's done going back at least as far as undergrad if not longer. These have all the scribbles and notes from all her different teachers and master class adjudicators. I just think this is really cool. She can go pull all the music from any recital she's ever done.

2 - it keeps a 'master' version of the music clean and untouched if you want to go back and re-work a piece. You have both your scribbled copy and a clean version.

3 - it keeps my books nice and not battered from being carted around. Looking used is one thing. Looking like it was carted and tossed in a backpack for years is something else.

4 - it's much less to carry. Before I got my own acoustic I had to go to the uni practice rooms to practice (I work there). Campus parking being the disaster that it is, I usually rode my bike. I was carting 3 or 4 volumes of music around like that.

5 - if it gets lost/destroyed I've lost my notes and scribbles but not expensive books.