My teacehr and I got talking the other day about how impressive it is that pro musicians can play huge chunks of stuff from memory, eg concertos. It got me thinking that memory might just be an under-rated skill to have, eg occasions where someone asks you to play but you ahven't go the score and there's that panicky thing where you don't know if you couuld play it without mistakes.

To me, there could be a couple of benefits

1 It would obviously improve memorisation techniques.

2 It might allow the player to be more expressive, ie they wouldn't be over-absorbed in looking at the score.

Any views???


richiscoul

i agree, it definitely is a benefit to do stuff from memory. in one of my piano lessons, we were working on expression in the music. my teacher got me to play this piece i'd learnt from memory just to see if it made any improvements to my playing. i didn't have the distraction of having the music. if you have several pages, it's a good thing to learn stuff from memory cos you don't have to worry about page turns!

Haven't we been here before recently? Seem to remember reading something on another thread. Do a search and see what you come up with.

I can't play from memory to save my life!!!! I've tried loads of times but I just can't get a whole tune in my head. The best I've been able to do is to learn tiny sections of exam pieces off by heart when I had to play them over and over to practise them and thats usually only one hand!!! When I've been playing a piece for ages it doesn't mean I can play it without the music, it means that I can play it without looking at my hands, just by seeing the music. Is anyone else like this??

Luv u all
xxx

memorisation comes naturally when u've prastised a piece enough. sometimes when i think i've memorised a piece & try and play it without the music, i find that i skip the dynamics & expression cuz i'm too busy trying to remember what comes next ;;. having said that, i think it is a very good skill to have

I agree with you that it can make you be more expressive. However, I don't think memory should be taught or trained. Memory is a natural thing and it shows how much musical sense you have. If someone is trained to remember the score, he/she is like a machine. Music is a kind of art, I don't think it should be like this.

i learn everything i play to memory, it just makes more sense to get it stored up there in my brain than to rely on having it infront of me, becase anything could happen. The paper could fly away, my vision could go fuzzy, but if i know the peice inside out, modulations, keys everything its a lot easier to play, and yes you can improvise on it a lot better.

Duh - I misssed the main point of my message.

what I meant to add was, should maybe one of the exam pieces be a memory test, ie play it without the score.

richiscoul

If you consider the amount of practice most pro musicians have to put in - several hours per day most of them - not surprising they memorise their pieces - quite aside from the fact that i) it is a skill you can develop; ii) it's obviously more efficient if you aren't tied to 'reading music' to be able to play a piece.

There's a school of thought that suggests that you MUST develop memory skills from the start - ie once you have the confidence to translate a phrase on the written stave to playing it without having to work out where each note is.

So you avoid reading the music at all while you play. You start by memorising the first couple of notes only - put the music down and play them a couple of times. Learn the next couple...and so on. Soon you can encompass a phrase.

It also seems highly efficacious for sight reading and developing an excellent ear. But the real benefit is that you can all but close your eyes and express the music in the fastest possible time.

Needless to say, I was taught this way - I don't always practice it but I suppose its other effects on sight-reading etc has speeded up the assimilation of a new piece. I do have the music there for reference (and, hahaha, refer to it often).

I think that playing from memory is a good thing as it allows the pieces to really come from your heart so to speak because personally i find that i perform a lot better when playing from memory. However, i do not think that i would ever be brave enough to play from memory in an exam as i would be scared of messing up and forgetting what i am supposed to be playing, and then not having the back up of having the score in front of me seems like a very scary idea. I think the best thing is to know the pieces off by heart but then to have the music there in front of you just in case something does go wrong.

Memory certainly isn't an under rated skill and certainly not at that level - you have to know the music so indepth to be able to perform like that. Its like trying to recite a paperback, word perfectly.

However, once you have memorised something, then the really big benefit kicks in - it takes a different part of your brain to read the music than to play it expressively. So once its memorised you're sorted, you can concentrate you're whole brain on providing the best performance possible, rather than trying to read, express and worry about page turns at the same time.

Also you don't have the age old problem of having part memorised something, not look at the music when you're comfortable, then panic when you can't find where you are.

Thanks for the replies - very interesting. To Digby - when I said it was an under-rated skill, what I meant was that although people seem to appreciate there are benefits, it is not seen as appropriate for the exams. Personally, would like to see a short memory test in Grade 4 upwards (Idon't think it's necessarily great for young plaers to memorise everything, otherwise they ignore the scores and their reading can be weaker).

It would be nice to get a view from an ABRSM official.

richiscoul

QUOTE (Richiscoul @ Aug 16 2004, 04:22 PM)

Personally, would like to see a short memory test in Grade 4 upwards

NO WAY!!!

i find it hard enough to remember a short melody to sing back in the aural tests, let alone a whole piece!

It is very impressive, i agree, but it must make performing very nerve wracking, and to some extent put more presssure on the musician. I went to an amateur concert once, and a violinist was playing a long piece from memory. She was fantastic, but halfway through she just stopped, swore, and had to go back to a place she was sure of. It was a shame, and if she had used music, it might not have happened.

One of the other boards (Trinity I think) had a viva voce part to the exam, and if you play one piece from memory you get to skip the viva voce! Good incentive for memorising a piece I think!

Yes, in TCL exams you get to skip the viva voce if you play one of your pieces from memory

Great if you have a good memory and detest viva voce!!!

I'd rather do the Viva Voce!

the only way i memorise stuff is:

1) play the piece all over and over again, really concentrating
2) really 'get' into the piece..if u know what i mean!

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I kind of have to memorise my scores because it really hinders expressing my emotions.....and it does help especially since I am always super nervous during practicals...yea...at least by memorising....I will know which note to play even if I have forgotten where I have stopped.....it sort of recalls faster....

i'd prefere memorising all the pieces...as i'm trembling all over and can't talk during exams..

You can start learning from memory before you even get to the keyboard. Only play what you can remember. Hard work at first but you only need to go back to the music for the fine details, articulation etc. Then you concentrate on performance, not reading music. Like missfabflute says, you really get into it.

Playing from memory has it's advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
Boosts confidence and gives greater control.
Disadvantages:
You've got to be absolutely SURE you know the piece by heart otherwise it could become a nasty experience in the exam.
I have been playing pieces from memory all my life.
Rupayan.