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So as I was recording for the recital (Mendelssohn 30.3), I realized that I had practiced this piece enough times that it was completely memorized. The funny thing is this is what I'm trying to avoid - memorizing - as I find I start not looking at the sheet music as much. (As I aside I'm working on intentionally memorizing the Bach Prelude in C to just have it for when I come across a random piano, but that's a different topic).

Well, now that it's memorized, should I make every effort to follow along with the sheet music or just not bother? I still find it really hard to play without looking down at my hands, and find myself almost unable to read along with the score on this piece as it's totally superfluous at this point. Maybe I should chalk this one up to repertoire, and continue my sheet reading improvement with the next piece.

Thoughts?

Looking at the score is only necessary if you think you might forget what comes next.

If you can play without looking at the score .... fine.

The only reason for looking at the score as you play is because it helps you remember what comes next.

Over time you will find that you will "forget" how to play some of the tunes that you "memorized".

Then you may wish to look at the score as you play because it might help you play it without having to memorize it again.

Generally you should try to maintain the skill (and it is a skill) of looking at the score as you play because eventually will not be able to maintain a repertoire of memorized tunes. At least not very many.

If you evolve into simple memorizing a tune and playing without looking at the score as you play .... you will lose that skill.

Good Luck to you

But I would say that playing from memory is also a skill of its own, which is useful to have. It's not just auto-pilot. I realize I usually need some mental "hooks"--if I rely just on finger memory, it will eventually let me down and I'll get stuck.

I have never understood the point to memorise music. I always use the score. None of my three teachers over the years mentioned memorising. My music scores are covered with dynamics, phrasing, fingers etc. Any mistakes I make, I put the note in the circle, if i make it again and again double circles and then if that still doesnt work massive stars - that normally works ! My teacher also adds to the score ever lesson. Music is much more than knowing the notes on the score and I dont see the point to waste time memorising unless you are a concert pianist and need to do so.

Yes, I notate the scores also, with fingering and dynamics, sometimes with chord names if it's not obvious (eg spread across octaves, with inversions), etc. In this case, though, I was not intentionally memorizing it;it just happened! Btw the dynamics are memorized also (not to say I can play it perfectly, just that I know how I should be playing it).

It seems that there is a benefit in memorization (can play without the score),and similarly a benefit to continuing with the score (dynamics are marked, notes, improved reading skills). I think I need to just keep playing pieces I am less familiar to avoid memorizing; these will be for my sheet reading skills, and play pieces I've memorized to improve this skill. I guess they're complimentary.

I was just wondering if people tend to just set the score aside once it's well memorized, or if they fight this temptation, trying to keep their eyes on the score even if memorized.

Hi Moo

I do agree that music is much more than the notes on the score.... and I memorize some of my music because I can pay more attention to the ‘much more than the notes’ when the score is memorized. Everything about how I play is better memorized, as I can concentrate on the nuances. That being said, I do not attempt to memorize everything..... I don’t have time.

The other thing for me is that I want to have a few pieces that I can play anywhere, anytime..... and I do play them in public anytime that I can, unashamedly

I try to keep a balance between the memorizing And not memorizing.

i think there are risks in playing without a score. if you just try memorise the problem is you can learn and then memorise it wrong. particularly if you try to learn too quickly. it may be ok if you play simple pieces or classical or baroque era which is follows harmonic rules. however particularly in chordal pieces, very fast pieces or ones where the composer does odd dissonant chords it would be a mare. if you dont have a score, you may learn incorrect fingering and incorrect notes. this is hard to undo. you may play mistakes and there arent circles or stars to remind you. unintentionally learnt piece, i would still use the score as it reminds fingering and dynamics etc which really add to the piece.

ok fair enough if you want to play them in public but i have not found when i have learnt a piece that i play better without the score. i normally pay less attention to the score when i know a piece but normally i like the score as i write on it to remind me of these nuances.

I set it aside once it's memorized. But it's always good to revisit it once in a while because there are some details that one can forget or little mistakes that persist.



When I was a child, I was taught piano in the system (in the former Soviet Union) where it was expected to play from memory at every exam at least twice a year. Even with kids, it was unthinkable to play from the score in any more or less formal setting. When I returned to piano as an adult in the US, I wasn't asked to memorize and after a while I thought I lost that ability. My current teacher, who is from Russia, encourages (but doesn't require) me to memorize my pieces. Of course, as with cmb13, most of the time it just happens, but certain parts take an effort to retain. But when I don't feel comfortable playing from memory, I use the score, of course. I just feel it's a different relationship to the piece. It's not just about notes (and by the time the piece settles in your memory, you have usually already worked out the wrong notes, dynamics, etc.--whatever you have on your score). When you're forced to memorize, you start noticing things you might have not noticed before (for example, some repetitions or variations of the same theme, etc.). Also I feel more absorbed in a piece when I play it comfortably from memory, it's more internalized, as it were. Finally, from a practical viewpoint, you can play your piece anywhere, even when you don't have the music with you. But there's nothing wrong with playing from the score, of course, either. For me the danger is that I usually accidentally memorize big chunks and then, even if I play from the score, I sometimes don't really see where I am, just staring at the notes. So, it requires some concentration, too. Both practices have their advantages and challenges I think.

I don't memorize any piece which I don't intend to perform and which I don't want to keep in my rep.

When I was a student, I never needed to memorize at all - certainly not for the grade exam pieces. There were only one or two pieces that I kept playing long enough such that they eventually got ingrained into my memory. My teachers kept me moving on to learn new rep and new skills. Memorizing pieces would just slow down progress; after all, they would be discarded once I was done with them.

My advice would be that students should only memorize pieces they really love and want to keep playing - especially if they want to have a few pieces that they can play when they come across a piano.

I agree. I play some longer pieces that I find challenging and I know I'm never going to perform them, even for friends, but they are important for my learning process and for developing certain skills. I don't worry about memorizing those.

I strive to do both - play from memory and from the music. I can play something when I have no music and a piano presents itself - which I have done on more than one occasion. And I have to play from memory in the recitals at school. But its great to be able to just sit down and read from the music, either something new or something I am working on. And sight reading is also important - I have an intermediate student this semester and I played some stuff for her while we were looking for pieces for her to play - that was fun (lots of mistakes, but fun).

The complete pianist can do it all. But it has taken me a very long time (8, 9, 10 years? I've lost track) to get to the point where I can do a little of everything.

Sam

I do find memorization is more difficult in my 60's than when I was a kid. When I restarted lessons several years ago I'd pretty much decided that I would not memorize anything.

However, in the last year or so I've found when there are leaps, fast tempos, and the reading just doesn't happen fast enough, memorizing sections is really helpful. And then there are some pieces with a very clear and predictable structure and they commit to memory more smoothly.

So I have only several pieces that are memorized from beginning to end but quite a few with memorized sections. I figure I won't fight memorizing or reading. I need to do both and hope to do better with both as time goes by.

Please !!!!! Stop worrying about inadvertently memorizing a piece of music.

There is absolutely nothing (I repeat ... nothing) wrong with memorizing a piece of music.

You do not need special tactics to purposely avoid memorizing something.

If it gets memorized just keep looking at the score as you play it and it will be just that much easier to play it.

The important thing is to keep using the score to guide you as you play.

Make that your focus. Forget about memorizing or not memorizing.

If you become a good reader you will often just have the music in front of you and you will just be paying attention to where you are in the music because you do have it memorized. That is perfect. Aim for that.

Good Luck to you

You are (in my estimation) doing exactly the right things.

Memorizing sections of the music where you need to look down at the keyboard for whatever reason is smart.

Along with that, you then must know exactly where you are in the score when you look back up so you can continue on smoothly without hesitations.

Perfect.

Congratulations.

You have reached the promised land for piano players.

And ... it took more than a lot of years .... It took a lot of dedication and work.

Well done

I totally understand the feeling that having memorized parts of a piece (intentionally or otherwise) can lead to straying your eyes from the score. It's an uncertain feeling to be sure, and takes additional effort to keep your eyes on the page, especially if you stop following the line for a bit then reach a part that's less well memorized and suddenly need to find your place again.

The only way out is through: complete memorizing the piece, including fingering, until you can play it with your eyes closed. Literally, play it with your eyes closed, so that you're not just playing it from aural or intellectual memory, but kinesthetic memory, the feel of the keys. At that point the score is just a guide, a notational sketch that represents the piece, and is not the piece itself.

I'm making it a point of my current practice to memorize pieces that I'm taking seriously. Yes, it's partly to exercise my memory (intellectual, aural, and kinesthetic alike) for its own sake, and partly so I can sit down and play them at any piano. It's also so that I take the time to understand the piece in all three ways, so they reinforce not just memory but interpretation.

I don't know enough to say whether memorization is appropriate for all students. If an experienced teacher or performer were to say it's helpful I would probably nod in agreement, but if it's just another thing getting in the way of a given person enjoying the piano then that person shouldn't bother--unless they manage it accidentally.

I think there's a real problem here -- musicians' different uses of the term "memorization." It's easy enough to develop a kind of kinaesthetic memory, "muscle memory" essentially, that does not depend on higher mental functions. This is the kind of memory that is needed to play fast passages, and it can be used to learn whole pieces of music. But it is deeply unreliable. Most people find this kind of memory disturbed by even minor distractions, stress, or even by thinking too hard about what one is playing.

At the opposite end of the memory spectrum is to be able to write out the score from memory, without thinking about any mechanical actions. This is a kind of visual memory for most people who can do it.

I think that most musicians, when they say they have "memorized" a piece mean that they have kinaesthic memory of it. They could not write out the score and, in many cases, could not even describe its harmony or even its large-scale structure. If you are very lucky, that kind of memory will be secure and long-lasting but, for most people, it isn't.

My understanding is that most researchers who have studied musical memory in detail claim that, for secure memory, you need a mixture of kinaesthetic, audible, and visual elements. Of these, only the kinaesthetic is relatively easy to achieve.

I would say that I can't play anything from memory. Some things that I play a lot I have in "muscle memory," but I know not to rely on that. Sometimes it works out, but often it does not. If I had to memorize something for an examination, then I might get away with it just once. Or not, depending on luck.

Because I simply don't have time to develop "real" memory of a complex piece of music, and because I can't rely on "muscle" memory, I don't play anything that I can't play whilst following a score. I simply don't even try. I force myself to look at the score even when I think I have "memorized" the piece. From experience, I know that the kind of memory I have is not the kind I can rely on it stressful situations.

I don't see the risk there if one has good working habits in general. I do not stop using the score completely for pieces I memorize because memorizing has never been so solid for me that I wouldn't need to take out the score and "rememorize" after a break. Also during the memorization process I go back to the score frequently to check for things. I would only worry about this if one initially memorizes in a wrong way, not actually analyzing and fingering every part properly.

The good thing about memorized music is that it does become "your own" eventually and you can add your personal touch to it and even play a little different every time. No piece of music is "ready" after being notated, there's a lot more in it than what is actually written. Of course the same can happen without memorization, but for me personally it's difficult because my mind and imagination cannot flow freely when I have to follow the score.

Once you have memorized a piece of music, you can really start to work on the piece.