Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Survey Says, How many?

I would like to take a quick survey of how many songs you may have at the ready that you could sit down anywhere and play for others and feel confident about doing so. I don't mean in your living room for family but rather for people who have never heard you play, perhaps in a public place or even for a group of people, relatives, friends who know you but have never heard you play. I'm interested in how long you have been playing, or taking lessons, do you play them by memory of sight-reading, and if you are so daring, the age at which you started taking piano. Here's mine: started at age 57, playing for 3 years, about 15 songs, from memory.

started age 31, playing for four years, about 10 from memory (about 20 using sheet music)

Cpl of years as child, restarted at 49 (21 years ago), usually around 40 pieces (pop and dance) at any time, with a well of about 40 more. In gigs I play from memory.

Zero or one at any given time.
Memory just isn't what it used to be.

Tending to use music as a prompt, and also to keep me on the straight and narrow, about 2 hours at the moment. Semi passable.. . .probably around 60 or so. When you play regular somewhere, this fogure increases rapidly. It has to. . . playing totally without, about 30 or 40.
Ive been playing a lot longer than most here.

I started at age 54 three years ago (with a teacher). A big development for me in the past twelve months is the ability to retain pieces in memory with only a minimal up keep. Previous to that anything that was not played daily or every two days would disintegrate in a very awkward "I used to know this so well" death by a thousand brain cells.

I have around eight solid pieces I could play by memory and and a few more that could be a bit shaky.

I'm 36 and started slightly over a year ago but I would not play anything in public. Even at piano stores I'm hesitant to try out the pianos because I'm nervous about other people hearing my playing. I know I have to work on that. I don't attach much importance to keeping my pieces in memory. I work on 4 or 5 pieces at any given moment but will not hesitate to let them go and move on to something else.

At the moment I'd say none. I could play one or two pieces from memory, with just a few memory lapses. If I needed to, I think I could probably prepare about 3 pieces within a week, but I would still not necessarily feel very confident



I've been at it for about 4,5 years (taking regular lessons), would perform only from memory, started at 45.

One of my goals for this year is to keep more pieces in repertoire. Once they are learned I tend to let them go with the result that there is very little I can just sit down and play.

My base answer is the same as Outo's - zero properly, a couple with some lapses. About 3-5 within a week.
But with a bit of work on bringing things back and them keeping them refreshed I think this should be more like 10-15.

I could do about 100 badly, does that count?

After my last exam (RCM 10), I was burnt out from practicing and have been taking a break from it, but I semi-learn plenty of songs because I teach. There are probably only a couple I could play well, having not attempted them for six months. That depressing thought makes me feel motivated to practice again!

Ordinarily zero, although I recently memorized 3 pieces to play at an informal piano party and have not yet forgotten them. Oh, I'm in my 8th year of lessons and in my 60's.

I do play regularly -- but not well -- for a private club. I have 22 numbers in the book, and always play with the chart up, even though most of it is in memory. Most ain't close enough. (Skipping entire numbers is the most common mistake if I don't have the charts.) I've been self teaching off and on for six years. I'll be 68 next month.

usually and right now: zero from memory, one with score, other one getting close but not yet ready. On rare occasionss, two from memory.

I do not maintain any pieces after I learned them. Takes too much time.

None.
I've played various keys on and off (mostly off) since the mid 70's @ the age of around 25.
I don't have to perform so I do what I myself find interesting.
E.g. studying new material and overcoming technical difficulties.
When I've become thoroughly familiar with one technical study, have it analyzed, and have it more or less memorized in short term memory then I move onto the next.

About a half dozen real piano tunes strictly from memory. I use chord and lyric sheets for another 50 tunes otherwise for gigs. But I'm not beneath trying a two or three chord tune if I know the words. Since June 2013.No lessons, thanks. Like I said by ear or chord/lyric sheet. While I'm new to piano, I play a bunch of other instruments, including fiddle/violin.
I started at 50.

Hi there!

Started at 31, been playing for 1 yr and 3 months, none, from score.

I am always working on the next song, and once I got a pass on a song, I stopped practicing it and quickly lost the ability to play it. My goal this year is to memorize 1 piece so that I can play at request anywhere. I notice a contrast between me and my 4.5 yr daughter. She jumped into every opportunity to showcase her music to guests who came to our house, regardless whether they asked for it or not. She has 2 favorite songs that she played from memory and she gladly played it regardless whether she can play it perfectly or not. I want to be more like her. (Btw, the 2 songs contains about 10 notes each, so not complicated)

Playing for several years, none in memory. Memorizing has never been a priority for some reason, probably due to a short attention span and the constant desire to play/explore something new.