Memorization (when you hate it)

twocats · 2025-03-21T05:43:16+00:00

My friend, a very good pianist, is encouraging me to start memorizing some of my pieces. His teacher says it opens up another dimension to your playing beca...

ShiroKuro

I still haven't watch the video but.... 😅

keystring Back to the idea of hearing over and over. Will this still work for complex dense music if all you do is listen? I am literally unable to recognize complex chords by ear.

This is a good point. I don't recognize chords that way either. Although, if I'm playing and I play the wrong chord or one note is wrong, I can tell because it sounds wrong. But if I miss a note, or have the wrong inversion etc., I'm not likely to notice because harmonically it won't be wrong.

This is where reading comes in. I can see the notes, play the notes... (obviously)

twocats

ShiroKuro This is a good point. I don't recognize chords that way either. Although, if I'm playing and I play the wrong chord or one note is wrong, I can tell because it sounds wrong. But if I miss a note, or have the wrong inversion etc., I'm not likely to notice because harmonically it won't be wrong.

Yep, that's the trouble I was having with memorizing the beginning of the 2nd Ballade. There are very minor variations in the chord progressions (sometimes it's 2 notes, sometimes 3) but if you're not following the score they all sound more or less the same, so listening doesn't help.

If I was working on short, easy pieces I'm sure memorizing wouldn't be this much of a struggle...

ShiroKuro

twocats f I was working on short, easy pieces I'm sure memorizing wouldn't be this much of a struggle...

Yep, the piece in question is definitely relevant as well!

twocats

twocats If I was working on short, easy pieces I'm sure memorizing wouldn't be this much of a struggle...

Coming back to this... memorization still continues to be a challenge. Now one of my new piano teacher friends is also telling me that I should go through the process of memorizing, even if I end up playing from the score at the end.

But I started working on Chopin Étude Opus 10 No. 3 and there is nothing weird about the note progressions and I'm finding the first page almost memorized just from practice! The left hand is super simple, which really helps. The middle section is a bit of a bear to play but I think I may be able to memorize it as well, it's a series of progressions and I can learn the patterns.

I'm heartened by the fact that something actually feels achievable to memorize when I was struggling so much! I think I've been trying to memorize pieces that are too complex (not too complex for me to play, but too much for me to memorize when I'm not very skilled at it). Hopefully it just gets easier! 🙂

Sgisela

twocats apologies if I’ve shared this story before… when I was in high school, I did the Guild Auditions and one year I had a pretty bad memory lapse… at a particular point, for whatever reason, I couldn’t move forward but kept jumping back to an earlier spot…. Felt like I was a broken record. I’m not sure how I ultimately got out of it, but in any case, the judge suggested that I should work on this by being able to write the whole score out from memory! I nodded politely, but in my mind I was thinking, there’s no way I’m ever going to do that!

twocats

Sgisela the judge suggested that I should work on this by being able to write the whole score out from memory! I nodded politely, but in my mind I was thinking, there’s no way I’m ever going to do that!

What?!?! 🤣🤣🤣

This reminds me of when I was at the chamber music workshop last summer and we were all crammed on a tiny stage, and I wasn't syncing well with the cellist on an entry because it was difficult to see her. She said "have you ever seen Menahem Pressler [famous pianist from the Beaux Arts Trio] play?". I said yes. She said "he always tilts his head to the side watching everyone else the whole time, can you do that?". I looked at her like she had grown two heads and said "NO".

It's certainly a whole other standard to be a professional!

ShiroKuro

twocats "he always tilts his head to the side watching everyone else the whole time, can you do that?". I looked at her like she had grown two heads and said "NO".

🤣🤣🤣

That’s definitely a “yeah… no” moment. 😁

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