Hi i was wondering if anyone plays from memory in their exams?I personally dont think i would ever be able to do that in an exam situation but my teacher never enters me until i can do my pieces without the music in front of her.

I've always been very good at memorising pieces but I'd NEVER do that in an exam. Another small side effect is that I have a REALLY annoying tendancy to look at the keys instead of trying to look at the music.

I wouldn't in an exam, however I would for a concert.

It takes me a long time to memorise a piece of music.
My kids always memorise their music!

I could memorise as a kid, but can't do it now to save my life. My own kids can memorise very quickly. I struggle to get them to play with maturity/expression, but yet I can't do what they can...

I memorise pieces actually, I know it's wrong to play from memory during an exam, but I can't concentrate whether I should look at the music or at the keys

Sorry for barging into the piano forum. On the flute, I can memorise really easily, but I'd never be brave enough to perform from memory in public.

I might consider playing from memory in a performance, if I'd had plenty of performance experience with that piece(s) previously. For an exam I probably wouldn't, nothing to be gained really.

Speaking of memory, last night I got to the end of the penultimate page in one piece I'm learning, but then forgot. Gutted, but I'm still pleased that I got that far :-)

I have played from memory in my two exams so far and will play from memory again in grade 6. There's nothing wrong with looking at the keys - the concert pianists hardly close their eyes during the difficult bits. I find slow pieces a lot harder to memorise for some reason, probably because I can sight read them more easily.

I don't think you should risk not taking your exam pieces into the exam room,
you never know what your brain will become once you're nervous.
As the proverb goes, "the music score is a pianist's greatest security."
However, it'll be most appropriate to play in memory during performances,
you don't have to worry about dropping papers or books and making a fool of yourself.

Why is it wrong?
If you perform best when playing from memory then that's right for you.

A few of my piano students tend to learn their exam pieces off by heart and then play them without the music in the exam. I think they see it as being a mini performance really, so it's all good practice. Don't know how some of them do it though! I think either way is ok really, depending on the child and whether they want to play from memory.

I can always play my pieces off by heart, having practised them so many times and acquired the finger memory and everything, but I always have the score in front of me in case something goes wrong. I usually find that I really need the adrenaline for exams and performances...but for my last one I think I 'calmed down' too much before it and then when I was playing, and not really reading the score, I went wrong, lost my place, couldn't find it again, AND lost finger memory.

Yeah, that is the downside to playing by memory, you can't help those memory lapses though I suppose.

I would never memorise my exam pieces again, but would perhaps play from memory when performing if I ever get around to doing any! I found that when I memorised a piece for an exam, I suddenly became over-conscious of what I was doing, and I just stopped playing, and then couldn't start from the same place (that was a fault of being underprepared of course ). It's difficult to describe, but it's never happened when I've been looking at the music and I wouldn't want to experience it again!

If I play something for long enough, eventually I will find I have memorised it. If I actually tried hard I could probably memorise something quite long, but I don't know. On the piano there's a limit to what I can play, most of my pieces are only a page long so it's not too bad for memorisation

I memorise things all the time: I really don't mean to, it just happens. I have, however, always taken my music into exams and I now wish that I never had done. At grade 1, to be honest, it probably wouldn't even have helped me if I'd got stuck! I was still working myself off playing solely by memorising at that time. Gradually it's become potentially more helpful throughout the grades. I've never actually needed to look at it in an exam yet and, although I don't generally play looking at my hands, when I'm under pressure my eyes are glued to my hands and I can't look away . So even though I've always had my music I've never looked at it.

I always used to say that I may as well take my music (even if it was no use ) since it's doing no harm; but when I get to the point that I have to turn the page I'll give up on it since it's causing me a potential problem and I don't need it (haven't hit this problem in an exam yet). However being used to having it now I feel less brave . I want to get rid of the having of music by dipABRSM standard (if I make it!) because I think it looks better not to have it then and page turning is just one more thing to worry about (memorising isn't a problem anyway, it's just trusting it). I don't want that to be the first time I get rid of it though so I'm planning to do it gradually.

I did my piece in the Staylybridge concert from memory and hopefully I'll be brave enough to play from memory in Leicester too , I'm trying to use the forum concerts to get used to playing without music before I chance it in an exam .

I've always memorised my exam pieces as I find that I play better without the music in front of me. My teacher always tells me to take the music in with me 'just in case' but I never look at it as I worry that it would put me off. I feel that I can concentrate more on the performance of a piece when I've memorised it as because I know it so well, I can put more into it if you know what I mean. It's not that I can't sightread as I often play with music in front of me at home if I don't know something very well but once I've got to the stage of knowing it inside out, I prefer to play from memory.

Lisa xxx

I used to be a memoriser - in fact I found the music in front of me put me into "information overload" and it was easier not to bother with it. Played without music at stalybridge and, although i took the music onto stage with me at the fist ever concert, I actually forgot to change over between pieces, so my second piece was played from memory with the music still on top of the piano abd something completely different in front of me!

However, I have found that I've slowly got better at reading music, and when I played "Farewell to Stromness" at Egham I not only had the music in front of me, and tuned a page, but also *couldn't* have played it without the music!

Some people see being able to play without the music as a graet achievement but I was actualy pleased that I'd played a piece whilst actually reading the notes off the page!! I've a feeling that the major advantage of learning when really young is that you really do learn to read properly. Not convinced I will ever be able to read music fluently.

I was playing through some pieces from memory last night. I was quite tired and had exactly the same experience as JenW - concentration went and I suddenly didn't know where I was, what was coming next.

I semi-memorise my pieces. I simply must have the music in front of me, but often I don't even glance at it, so it's more for security. Take the music away from me and I freak out.

I can't and don't memorise - I was asked to get one piece by heart in order to free up the musical expression, and was able to learn it, JUST long enough to get the expression right. Then, phoom! it was gone. My son played one of his grade 1 pieces from memory, and there was no doubt about the difference - for him, the music was a hindrance. I need all the dots in front of me, and all the pencilled comments and reminders to breathe, etc.

I have always found it easy to memorise but, in my youth, it never occurred to me to go into an exam without the music. In a guitar exam I had an examiner who wandered around while you were playing and knocked the music off the stand during one of the pieces but I was able to keep going because I wasn't looking at it anyway.

When I started playing recorder properly (at about 17) I always played in my auditions and concerts from memory because I didn't have a teacher to tell me not to. When I got my first teacher at university he told me not to beacause it was 'inappropriate' for a wind player - especially when being accompanied. He insisted that I always played from the score - although he did relent when I was playing a concerto with the university chamber orchestra.

Many, many years later I did a diploma exam which included a dissertation which I based on memorisation for recorder players. It seemed only logical that I should therefore perform my practical exam from memory and I felt much more comfortable doing this.

Following this, I did a Postgraduate course at one of the music colleges. One of the first things my teacher there told me was that I shouldn't play from memory...

W

I found exactly the same thing an achievement the first time I did it too . It was my ambition for quite some time!

Yeah. I think that's me too. I have obviously memorised part of it. I would have to have done with the more difficult pieces. I glance up at the music to read the 'shape' really, just to keep jogging my memory.

I ALWAYS play without the score. I think i memorize pretty well. I think if you play without the score you concentrate more on the music itself (of course provided that you've memorized it well !!! ).

If you play with the score infront of you, you lose some time and concentration when u read the notes and transfer them into music. This time will be better exploited if you have already memorized the music and perform it by heart, so you exploit this time in interpreting the music and playing it well.

I was just so surprised at the number of people in this thread who are against playing without the score. Did you see before any pianist play with a score in a recital ?? (I only seen it a couple of times before but almost 99% of the times it is not the case)

I agree fully with this.

I play from memory (albeit my pieces are not *that* long yet), and my teacher encourages me to do that when it's clear I'm much happier to do it. To play from memory with someone listening to you, you really have to have the whole structure of the piece firmly in place ie how the phrases link up and where and how patterns are repeated with small changes, how the right hand and left hand patterns interweave, and so forth. It can't just be muscle memory, there needs to be a conscious process. There is a wobbly stage where the music gets in the way but the piece is not fully embedded wherever in my brain they are stored. I do work on my sightreading but of course, the more pieces I learn the better my reading becomes. The only point extra I would make is that I need to check my memory from time to time by comparing what I play with the score!! Interestingly, the precise bars I tend to stumble on is where what I'm playing is incorrect, somehow some unconscious part of me knows I've got the "logic" wrong........

Loops

I think you'll find alot of people who think they don't memorise HAVE actually memorised it without even knowing.
I know that's the case with me. I say I haven't memorised because I don't make a conscious decision to memorise. However, once a piece is in full flow and you know it well, there HAS to be more than a small element of memorisation.

I know when I first sight read a piece, it lacks expression and meaning as you are trying to decipher what the piece is actually saying to you. Eventually, you know the piece so well, you can interpret it and just play it, and it flows, with or without the score in front of you.

I love playing from memory, but I always take the music with me for an exam for safety reasons!! I couldn't risk a memory lapse... it would be awful because if you started again you'd lose marks, and I would feel more under pressure than usual to get it right. Having said that, I don't look at the music much in an exam, as it distracts me a little from putting expression into my pieces. It's a comfort to have it there though.

Totally agree. I think it may detract from your piano playing if you place too much emphasis on whether you are playing from memory or not.

It's best just to enjoy playing without trying to analyse too much.

I much prefer the security of having the music in front of me... I like to have that safety net, even if I'm not really looking at the music any more!

For my Grade 8, I think I'm going to memorise the pieces, simply so I don't have to worry about page turns!

That's a bit of a generalisation isn't it? That people play better without the music? Just because some people play more expressively without the music, doesn't mean that others don't play better with it. There are certain conventions in recitals (ie pianists don't usually use the music, nor singers, whereas for other instrumentalists it's the norm to use it) but to make a blanket statement that people play better without the music than with is just silly... some people find it really hard to memorise (I'm lucky in that I don't especially) and for them it is certainly more likely that they will play more expressively *with* the music as insurance than without.

Whether someone has a good memory or not has very little bearing on whether they are a good musician. I have certainly heard people play without music and without expression, and saw a fair number of forum members today playing with music and with beautiful expression. It's not something you can generalise about, just because you find it helps *you* play more expressively.

I was really pleased when I saw you had quoted my posting here, as well as Poppy's, and said that you totally agree!! It's nice when experienced players agree with what I say....

Gosh thanks...feel a bit humbled. I'm not as experienced as alot of other pianists...always more for me to learn...always looking for new answers.
Thanks though!

[quote name='miochy' date='Apr 23 2006, 11:34 PM' post='308300']
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Gosh thanks...feel a bit humbled. I'm not as experienced as alot of other pianists...always more for me to learn...always looking for new answers.
Thanks though!
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You're welcome. You must be an experienced (as well as advanced) pianist though before you have Grade 8! We all have more to learn. My sister who teaches violin (she has Grade 8) says she learns a lot from teaching, and I thought once you're there you know almost everything!
I really look up to anyone who has Grade 8 on piano, as that is what I hope to have one day. I have a long way to go yet though!!