Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Memorization vs Sight reading

I agree. There are many patterns, like stride, walking bass, arpeggios, breaking up the chord within the octave in a rhythmic pattern, which can be easily transferred from song to song. They of course have to be memorized within several keys (theoretically, that is, in order to transpose and since some songs sound better in some keys than others) and perfected technically and that takes some time and practice, but not nearly as much as memorizing a piece from scratch each time without a repertoire of moving parts to draw on. And once you have the moving parts down, you can concentrate on the more subtle variations and accent embellishments that a song needs to retain its individuality.



I think a lot of professional musicians would disagree with you on which is more important. I've heard more than one say that they'd rather be able to play by ear than read music. And looking at your hands is definitely not a bad thing in any sense, except as it relates to acquiring sight reading skills. It helps you focus more on technique and develops hand-ear coordination. But if you are only interested in playing from scores written and arranged by other people, then reading is a valuable skill. However, IMO, it is one that to be useful in playing unfamiliar music of any sophistication, takes a lot more time and effort to develop than PLMS's method does.

I'm not a great reader and I memorize everything but I don't find it all that difficult - it seems to be about seeing the piece in blocks/sections that have an underlying chord or scale (I've played the guitar for many years so this is how my brain works). Oddly, I found Bach's prelude No 1 (relatively simple) harder to memorize than Chopin's Nocture Op 9 No 2 - just seemed harder to spot the "structure". It's different for everyone I suspect.

I think this pretty much sums it up.

If you can play a piece while following along with the notation that gives you a comfort level that you don't have if you play from memory.

Usually, when beginners memorize music it is because it allows them to look at the keyboard while they play it. However, after awhile you can only hold so many memorized pieces in YOUR MEMORY at a time and you begin to lose them. That is where playing from notation works better.

I used to memorize everything because it allowed me to play things that were difficult sooner. It is hard to play things while looking at the notation. But in the long run, I think it gives the best result.

I think it's useful to be able to play without looking at the keyboard. Some things will require a glance, such as a large leap. But developing a sense of where your hands and the keys are without looking gives you that much more flexibility. Among other reasons, you can't always realistically keep both hands in view.

Hmm, interesting. It works differently for me. I find that as I learned to read music more fluently, learning new pieces became much faster and easier. But I play more expressively when I have the music memorized.

This is what I do too, with the only difference being that I learn the melody first, and then the chords second.
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I started to memorize all the music I play last year. It was an investment that has paid off. Being able to sit and play an hour or two, without sheet music, is very rewarding. You can directly play, wherever there is a piano available. In a music shop, school, friends house, etc..
I have 40 years. I think age is not such an important factor. Or maybe it's a matter of trust.
So I advise you start to memorize right now. The more you memorize, the faster your progress. That's been my experience.

I guess I didn't express myself quite right. I mean't to say it allowed me to play things that were difficult to play while reading music. That was because the skill of playing while reading music takes longer initially than playing while looking at the keys.

However, you are exactly right in that once that skill has been learned, then learning new pieces becomes much faster and easier. That is why I have decided to invest the time in attaining that skill.

I did all three last night.

For most of the pieces I am practicing, I am reading them. Memorization takes an extra effort on my part, so I don't apply that to most of what I work on.

Then I sight-read Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 2, to get a sense of how it goes. Obviously this is not a perfected performance, but it allowed me to get a taste of the music.

Then I worked on Satie's First Gymnopédie and memorized the final phrase; now I have the whole thing memorized. I'm still at the "thinking hard about each chord" phase of this piece. It will be a while before it's comfortable enough that I can focus on the subtler interpretation aspects, though I think it's time to start pushing myself in that direction.

I agree.

Being able to sit down and play anywhere at any time is a must for any player. People who know you can play will always ask you, spur-of-the-moment, to play something. If you don't have something to play right then, they always think "they must not be THAT good." This is funny but, I always try and have the most impressive thing I can play ready for just that occasion.

Its like, I know the are going to ask me to play something, so I might as well have something ready to show off..... lol

Does anyone else do this?

I agree with the value of having at least one or a few pieces memorized, but I have a different motivation.

I had memorized the Petzold Minuet in G last spring, as an exercise in trying to memorize. Then I let it lapse. Then I had a brief opportunity to play a harpsichord and a clavichord, and had nothing I could play . That motivated me to bring the Minuet back into memory. I've now taken it for a spin on a digital at the local music store, and am hopeful that I'll get a chance with it on a fortepiano soon .

I also have two Satie pieces memorized now. I'm slowly aiming for 10 pieces memorized, but not putting any great pressure on myself to reach that goal, just slow and steady as a piece feels right for taking on the task of memorization.

My memorized pieces probably won't be the hardest things I'm working on; that's OK, I think people are happy just hearing piano music, and I feel just playing at all is impressive enough.

This is a very timely thread for me. In the past I could not play anything without the music in front of me. In some ways, I don't think I ever thoroughly learned anything. If I was out somewhere and saw an available piano, there was no way I could just sit down and play something. I started really focusing on memorizing more complex pieces in the last six months, and the experience has been very interesting for me. I used to think that I had a very poor memory because I would have lapses when I tried to play a piece without the score. For me though, it seemed to be a lack of focus. I have started trying to memorize as I learn each chunk, when I start a new piece. That seems to work. By the time I can play a section at speed, it is already memorized. I also seem to be able to play with more expression when I have a piece memorized as well. That could be because I am more confident, in that I know what is coming next. Another factor for better or worse, I watch my hands when I play from memory, and I think the visual cues reinforce the memory. I am still experimenting, but I seem to play a piece better if I have it committed to memory.

Well, that's strange for me... I can read/play a sheet two or three times and then my hands just go to the keys. I supose memorization is kind of natural for me so I never had to "focusing in memorization".

For example: I'm working on an Eunadi piece and after about 2 hours I realized I have memorized half the piece just because I reached the third page (in a total of five pages). And I still can play by memory my first ABF recital submission recorded in November 2010 as all the pieces I learned/recorded so far.

I'd love to see a study comparing the effortless memorizers with those for whom memorization is harder.

Carlos this is very impressive, particularly given the relatively short amount of time you've been playing. I don't know if you saw my post in the skill acceleration thread, but it probably is more germane to this subject:


So, that said, I'm wondering if you are actually able to do this because of an ability to play by ear, where looking at the music has you organizing all the theoretical information, progressions and their arrangement, and coordinating them with aural and tactile sensations. A second possibility is that you have a photographic memory and can see the sheet music in your mind's eye as you play. Which one do you think is closer to the truth, if either?

Prelude: I studied piano for around 8 or 10 years between age 6 and 18, but I really came away with nothing aside from an understanding of how to read music and the circle of fifths. Only 1/2 of one recital piece stuck with me. I am currently 45. I began self-teaching myself piano 22 months ago ...



I memorize all my music, and that is my goal. At this time I have 21 pieces solidly memorized, but none are perfect in execution. I am working on 25 pieces daily, 4 aren't memorized, and adding a new one every month. None of my current pieces are longer than around 80 bars of music... I think. They are a mix of bagatelles, pop songs, anime music, classics, and older hits spanning from circa 1750 to 2011.

When I began playing again, though knowing how to read music, I had to write down all the letter of the notes on the music. I'd then try to play from sight while relying on the letters. Now, almost 2 years on, I have stopped using letters and am reading off the music as I play. It is slow, though, at first.

I play each memorized piece at least once a day. The ones I am learning are played 3+ times a day. It takes 3 hours in the morning, but I spend a lot of time goofing around between pieces after the first 50 minutes to play the initial 21 pieces.

Each new piece is broken down into 8-bar (or around there) segments which I tackle weekly and then add on and on and on. Some songs are divided out further into sections which repeat or divide clearly from the next sections, and I will learn parts of those before then getting a whole section smooth and moving on (think of Moonlight II as a piece with these kinds of sections, or any famous ragtime). USUALLY I will memorize an 8-bar section after a couple weeks of practice, and I overlap studies to keep progressing. At the moment I am learning "As Time Goes By" and have the intro down after 2 weeks, the main 8-bar is almost memorized, the last 8-bar section is struggling to become memorized, and when done they need to be tied together and smoothed to make the final piece within me: memorized and flawlessly recalled.

In 2013 I am set to memorize a few longer classical pieces by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin. I plan to memorize 46 pieces by summer 2014. It's just my goal and the way I go with the studies.

Keep repeating and repeating. The stuff gets memorized as a set of conjoined motor reflexes. One of my biggest problems is that if I get derailed WITHIN a piece, I am playing by reflex and have to stumble around to find where I was before I can continue. My oldest pieces are a bit better off and I can go again within 3 bars of where I broke.

My sight reading is way better, now. By summer 2014 I expect that I can rather quickly read and play from music, while at the moment it is tedious to read and play but I do it. All things improve with effort and repetition.

Some pieces are utter heck to memorize. I have had the hardest time getting down MOONLIGHT I because it was SO boring... I would drift off in the middle. Also "Piano Bar" by Yoko Kanno is whooping my butt. I play the first 1/4 3x every morning since November and it is STILL not memorized, but it is close... that's a jazz improv piece, though, and it is probably above my present skill level.

Why be discouraged? That's self-indulgence. Yoda says "Do or do not, there is no try", and Jesus preached about Satan speaking through your heart as despair to sift you from all the good and Godly. So just forget that crap and play again and again and again, and use your head to figure it out. It falls into place... now, maybe in a few months, or years, or by age 60 or 70, but it will get there.

This afternoon, I played the LH (ground bass) in a Purcell piece I'm doing many, many times, without looking at the music. Part of the reason was to memorise, and part was that the RH variations are written in such a way that they were encouraging me to not treat each round of the LH ground bass exactly the same, no consistent fingering. So I wanted to hammer it in with consistent fingering that would not vary regardless of start point/variation.

When I went back to HT with the music in front of me, the whole piece was immediately so much better, much more fluid and certain, suddenly no hesitations or mistakes. (And that after feeling I hadn't made any progress for a couple of days.)

I don't find memorising easy, but as far as my playing is concerned, it is helping me to improve my playing - even when I'm looking at the music!

Just a quick answer (I'll read carfeully your interesting note to do a proper answer).
To be honest, I think I don't have a phopographic memory, but I don't know... I just "listen" the music in my mind and I realize I'm pressing the right keys. I do some previous work regarding with strucure and dynamics, not on piano, but taking notes and doing signs directly in the music sheet. I also listen some times the piece I want to learn before puting hands on it.

I thought that memorizing was "easy" or natural for everyone until I realized, through PW foruns, that it wasn't. I don't know what is "improving my memorization ability".

btw: during my busy work day I'm always "singing" piano pieces in my mind

Thanks, Carlos, for your thoughtful response. I would very much appreciate hearing more on what your process is once you've had the time to reflect on it a little more.

I think it might help a lot of us, too, because whatever it is you are doing unconsciously or semi-consciously,we might be able to develop our ability to do with more information.

I do memorize off the sheet sometimes and am a lot quicker at it now that I can apply theoretical analysis and ear training, but I'm not as fast as you, and I think few people are who haven't been playing a very long time. What a gift!

BTW -- you might test your ability to play by ear sometime by learning to play a song you like from just a recording and lead sheet. The latter will give you all the important structural information you need and you can still makes notes on dynamics and phrasing from the listening to the recording. If you have a good ear, it should do the rest.

That'll do it!

The other advantage of memorising (as an earlier post mentioned playing anywhere there was a piano) is that you can play anywhere, piano or no.
Studies have shown that the neural connections form in the brain just by imagining playing the right keys. The technique is frequently used in training athletes.